Flight of the White Wolf (White Wolf, #3)

by Terry Spear

[llamareads]

This is the third in the White Wolf series, and like twenty-something in the over-arching Heart of the Wolf series.  I haven't read any books in this series before, and while I think this can work as a standalone, I think I would have enjoyed it much more had I been familiar with the rest of the series.

While this is a "fated mate"-type romance, thankfully, it isn't insta-love.  At the point where the main plot picks up, these characters have met previously, though briefly, several times - including once where a towel-wearing Amelia tasered Gavin.  I was initially interested because the idea of a private investigator who's afraid to fly and a secret-keeping pilot, both who are wolf shifters, crashing in the Alaskan wilderness sounded like the perfect recipe for lots of angsty adventure.  Unfortunately, it failed to deliver for me.  While the plot was interesting, I was never able to emotionally connect with the characters, and didn't feel the chemistry between them.  The investigation portion was well done, but I never was particularly worried that the characters were in danger (even after a plane crash! in the wilderness!) or felt like they wouldn't be able to eventually solve the mystery.  Even the reveal of Amelia's big secret was.... strangely unemotional.

I also found the writing somewhat stilted.  There's just so much background information, and most of it is presented in by telling the reader instead of showing, including information about a myriad of secondary characters.  I suspect many of these are characters from previous books in the series, but I was, at times, overwhelmed and confused by the amount of information provided around them (like, do we need to know that one of his partners have six-year-old triplets?)

Unfortunately, there was very little about this book that worked for me.  I think if you're a previous fan of the series, you may have a better time with it (though I'd imagine all the info dumping would be even more annoying), but if you're looking to get into this series, I'd suggest starting with an earlier book.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.