This is a series that I’ve enjoyed on audio since I listened to book one a few years ago. I love the trash talking humor, the kickass heroines and the heroes who are very alpha. So far, we’ve seen heroes and heroines with damaged pasts. This one is no different.
Roni is Nick’s sister and part of the Mercury Pack. As the sister of the alpha, her brother is very protective. Add in her past, and that makes him even more protective of her. Roni’s mother is quite the bitch. She doesn’t like that Roni is an enforcer and a tomboy. Roni also has a very tragic past, that she has hidden from most people, even her closest friends.
Marcus is an enforcer for the Phoenix Pack. He is a huge flirt. He has a history of “lovin’ em and leavin’ em”. He has a thing for food. He is always hungry and he doesn’t like to share, even with his mate. It was funny to see him so protective of his food and Roni’s need to eat off his plate.
Dark Instincts starts off when Taryn, Shaya, Roni and some others were in a car wreck. The wreck was no accident. Jackals try to steal Taryn and Trey’s son. The Mercury and Phoenix packs join forces to investigate and retaliate against whoever attempted to steal the child of one alpha and put the unborn child of the other alpha at risk. It was some pretty sick things that shifters do to each other in this black market business.
One of the best parts of this book. Roni’s relationship with Greta, Trey’s grandmother. She is very protective of all the boys in the pack. She thinks no one is good enough for them. She continues to berate the the girls, even after they are mated. I mean, Taryn gave her a granddaughter and the are still at each other’s throats.
“If I wanted you to know, I’d had said it loudly.”
The old woman humphed. “It’s rude to whisper, but I wouldn’t expect anything different from you. No manners”
“Are we back to this again? As you can see, you complaints are very important to us at Still Not Giving a Fuck World”
Roni does win over Greta to the amazement of Taryn. Greta is still one of my favorite characters in this series.
I do enjoy this series. It is written in third person. One thing that does annoy me a little, is it seems like we jump back and forth between POVs a lot. This is common throughout series, so if you’ve read/listened to the other books, this will be nothing new to you. The story is hot. The world is very well built and the characters are wonderful. Dark Instincts is full of humor, which really lightens the dark investigations that the two packs are doing. I do love the crude humor, which was exactly what I was needing at the time.
Narration
I love the narration of this series. Jill Redfield always does a phenomenal job with the sarcasm that is present in the Phoenix Pack series. The passion both in the sex scenes and the non-sex scenes.
There are some pretty emotional scenes in this one and Redfield nails them. I’ve read some reviews where people have a hard time keeping track of who POV while reading, I think the narration really helps with this, because I didn’t have this issue.
I like to thank Brilliance Audio for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.