MATE SET by Laurann Dohner.STORY BRIEF:Most humans are unaware that werewolves are living in their community. Mika is a human who was adopted by Omar's sister. She knows Omar is a werewolf and keeps the secret. She lives in California but visits Omar for a few weeks a year. Omar loves her and is protective of her. This year she unknowingly visits during werewolf mating season. Large numbers of werewolves visit the area and will rape her if they get the chance. Omar asks Grady to live with Mika for two weeks to protect her from the males. Grady is sexually drawn to Mika but won't touch her because of her uncle's threats. A rival clan member wants Mika and tells Grady he will take her unless she is marked by Grady. To avoid a werewolf war and save Mika, Grady is forced to mark her. Now that she is marked he must have frequent sex with her or go insane. She likes it.REVIEWER'S OPINION:This was pretty good at the start. I liked the following conversation (at 380). Omar's girlfriend Minnie is talking. "I was mated when I was younger and it sucked. Being mated pretty much makes you a damn slave that a mated man thinks he owns lock, stock, and barrel. He orders you around and treats you like property because you are his. It's in their damn blood when they mate to take it to the extreme." I also liked a cute scene in which Omar is going to assign a guard to Mika based on which man looks at her body the least. Mika didn't want a guard so she dressed as sexy as possible. This caused some gaping expressions.But as the story progressed I became more and more disappointed. The main conflicts between the two were based on inaccurate assumptions and vague communication. Mika was falling in love with Grady, but he didn't reciprocate. Mika felt rejected because she knew he wanted a werewolf for a mate. She was angry at Grady for various "assumed" reasons. The major conflict causing her to leave was based on hearing Grady talk about someone else and thinking he was talking about her. When Grady tried to explain she refused to listen. In fact she threatened him with something if he even talked to her. Thus he was forced to be quiet and not explain anything. This was such a cheap device to extend the conflict I was angry. It overshadowed the good writing from earlier in the book and I had to lower the stars. There was an odd scene near the end with Grady's brother wanting Mika. I wasn't sure if this was true or if he was trying to make Grady jealous. That felt thrown in and not developed enough by the author.I would have preferred the author show how Grady's feelings change during the book. We don't see how or why he fell in love with Mika. We do know he didn't want her in the beginning - other than for sex.The sex scenes were pretty good. There were a lot of them.DATA:Ebook story length: about 3 hours. Kindle count story length: 3587 (309 KB). Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 15. Setting: current day city of Bartock. Copyright: 2010. Genre: paranormal romance.
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