Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply

March 7, 2016
The Silver Town Wolf series, spun off from Spear’s long-running Heart of the Wolf books (A Silver Wolf Christmas), kicks off with this anemic paranormal romance. With two alpha werewolves in the lead roles—park ranger Eric Silver and forester Pepper Grayling—why is their courtship so low-key and ultimately disappointing? Pack leader Pepper isn’t satisfied with her dispassionate first mating with a beta (who then gets himself killed, conveniently for the later romance plot). She knows a fellow alpha would be a more interesting and exciting mate, but also a threat to her authority. Eric is eager to involve himself in Pepper’s life, but he woos her subtly to avoid scaring her off. By convincing her that he’s strong enough to be her mate, yet not so strong that he’ll overpower her, he nearly eliminates the animalistic sexuality that readers have come to expect in shape-shifter romances. Instead, the action focuses on weed-growing werewolves using San Isabel National Forest in Colorado as their base of operation, and the machinations of a dangerous pack leader attempting to win Pepper as his mate.

March 15, 2016
There are too many packs of werewolves in the same Colorado mountains. The Silver pack, well-manned and well-resourced, runs Silver Town and its surrounding territory. Eric Silver, park ranger and cousin to the pack leader, is on the hunt for a second pack, which may have been growing huge tracts of marijuana on the grounds of the local national park. But instead, he encounters a small, more agreeable pack led by the most beautiful she-wolf he's ever seen. Pepper Grayling is a perfectly capable alpha who's not interested in a mate, but she has to call on Eric and his family when a new danger threatens both of them. While Spear (SEAL Wolf in Too Deep, 2016, etc.) has written 18 prior books in the series, the worldbuilding is thorough enough that a reader can follow the pack structure and nature of the lupus garous without prior knowledge of the universe. There are certainly things a new reader can only guess at, but most of it is irrelevant to the story. A questionable number of alphas in various packs notwithstanding, the story is...readable. It's certainly a page-turner, but the entire story arc is little more than lukewarm. This is unfortunate considering the promise and importance of introducing an alpha female who is also a good pack leader. How many female alphas are there in paranormal romance? But the execution, from meeting to mating, as well as conflict and denouement, is just OK. Limited drama, minor angst, and mediocre writing.

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May 1, 2016
Pepper Grayling is the pack leader of a group of werewolves who are perfectly content following an alpha she-wolf instead of a male. Most of the men who try to court her are after her land, viewing Pepper as a secondary prize. After the death of her beta mate, she is not keen to look for a new companion. Park ranger Eric Silver, a werewolf from the neighboring Silver Town pack, is determined to change that. He is instantly taken by the strong-willed woman after bringing an injured pack member to her camp. Eric may be an alpha, but he is not after Pepper for her pack or territory, and it's up to him to prove that he is a very different man than she expects. Known for her were romances, Spear (A Silver Wolf Christmas, 2015) presents the sixth in her Silver Town Wolf series. Though she delves heavily into wolf politics, which some readers may find slow, Pepper and Eric's cautious courtship does not disappoint, making this essential reading for werewolf-romance fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)