Title: Unexpected Mate
Author: Toni Griffin
Cover Artist: Reece Dante
Publisher URL: Silver Publishing
Buy Link : Amazon Kindle
Genre: Werewolf/ Shifter Paranormal M/M
Length: 115 pp (short novella )
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 rating points
A guest review by Raine
Summary Review: Unoriginal, and certainly cliched but with a certain warmth arising from family scenes.
Blurb: After being rejected by his parents and kicked out of his pack for being gay, Brian gets in his truck and drives. Breaking down outside a small town, Leyburn, Brian never thought he’d meet his mate , let alone have his mate reject as well because he’s straight.
Marcus is shocked by the unexpected appearance of a cute man claiming to be his mate. Marcus can’t be gay. He’s the police inspector of a small town, and those two things don’t go together well.Let alone the fact that all his brothers are gay.Someone needs to get married, settle down and have a family to continue the Holland name.
Can Marcus come to terms with the fact his mate is a man or will he risk loosing Brian forever.However, not everyone in the pack is entirely happy with his mating.
Review
I understand this is a first novel by Toni Griffin in a series based around the four gay werewolf Holland brothers. I also understand first novels are a step on the ladder of improving skills.
The story is set in Australia. There is no sense of place at all. No accents, Aussie slang, or description of landscape- not even a kangaroo.
The main characters follow recognisable patterns, Brian, who becomes ‘Baby’ uncomfortably quickly, is the submissive, cute, giggly, homemaking florist. While Marcus is a police inspector, dominant, straight and hopefully father of unborn Holland cubs.
The werewolf mating compulsion kicks in as usual to get our characters together and Marcus after originally rejecting Brian and leaving him in tears by his broken down truck, very quickly comes to accept him enthusiastically. All of the usual werewolf instincts are in play here including bite marking and mind talking. The added sexual detail of penis knotting is one I’ve come across in heterosexual breed erotica. I didn’t find it added much to the proceedings.
I thought the family scenes were written with affection and the warm relationship between the brothers and their parents worked well. They all quickly accept Marcus’s changed circumstances.
The tension in the book is introduced by Stacey, an ex girlfriend of Marcus’s who refuses to accept them. She issues Brian a challenge to the right to mate with Marcus, even though the challenge is not even based on correct shifter protocol, Brian agrees to fight. Actually, even though they are both werewolves, I instinctively found guy fighting girl slightly unfair.
I found this work to be limited in originality; containing stereotypical characters and cliched language. I only found one thing ‘unexpected ‘ in this novella and that was that any writer could use this piece of dialogue,
“I said you’re beautiful. You look damn sexy when your angry……..”
with no hint of apology or humour.
The story flows along nicely, unfortunately the content is just unremarkable. However, I could see this series improving as it goes along. The next one is ” Determined Mate ” and involves Brian’s best friend Jason, and Marcus’s older brother, the pack Alpha, Alex.
When I realized they were in Australia I was hoping for a bit of Aussieness as well, not to be found. Not sure that was the author’s choice to limit it or a publishers decision to white-wash the location.
I did find it stereotypical and for what it was it was a quick light read. I was surprised that Marcus accepted his gayness in about 45 min. I thought at least a couple of days. I read the next one too, I had a couple of plot hole issues with it, but again, when you’re in the mood for a Doritos read as I call them (sometimes you crave the junk food), they are an okay choice.
Thanks for commenting Tam, I can see what you mean about a ‘Doritos read’ – I like that phrase.
I was just disappointed. I think Josh Lanyon said ( something like ) that your first book should be the best you can do.
I read this and limped through to the ending… being the masochist I am, I picked up the second. It’s about like the first. I think a little more story than sex, but it’s still cliched and trite.
Like Tam says, sometimes you just need a little junk food in your diet. 😀
Hey Merith, thanks for the warning, now I know about the second one I’m not volunteering to review it. I had thought about it, to be fair, to see if there was growth. 🙁
I guess as you say it takes all sorts of books…….
Raine
Just when I was about to offer Determined Mate to you for review. LOL
Ooh a green balls moment….. :blush:
Yes, the writing is pretty dire. I enjoyed it anyway, and also the following story, Determined Mate, even while cringing at some of the dialogue and realizing that the antagonists’ behavior doesn’t make any sense. It’s sort of sweet, and I guess that pushed the right buttons for me. But the writing? Not good.
I think Gail if you enjoyed it then Toni Griffin did a good enough job, cos thats what its about.
I usually can’t get enough of werewolves, but I think I’ll pass on this one. Probably the most damning word in a review of a shifter or paranormal book is “unoriginal”. The whole motivation behind reading these genres is the unique societies and world building. If the book doesn’t bring anything new to the table… it’s missing the mark.
Thanks for the review.
I really agree with you Diane about the world building. There has to be some kind of spark to light up the constant of the werewolf world. I love it when a writer can do that, particularly when its with new and unusual characters.
Well there was this kind of original thing that had to do with a penis and a prostate which made me wonder WHY anyone would want to be a top. The bottom got the better part of that deal. :sex4:
That is indeed a relevant question Tam- but not one I feel qualified to answer- can I pass this over to the floor…………?
Speaking as someone who lived in Australia, I found the lack of settings in the novels to be a loss for the reader. Not sure why the author even mentioned it, as it could have been Small Town, USA for all I knew.
Book #2 is better, but that story is a rape recovery one, so heed the warnings. I love werewolves too, but this series fell flat for me. Maybe by book #4, it will improve?
I had recently reread Laney Cairo- Undercover Blues and Bringo Spring, both of which are full of glorious Aussie detail, so yes the lack of any at all was a sore point for me.
Will you carry on with the series ?
Thanks for this review. This book keeps coming up in my Recommended for you queue at Amazon but the preview/sample was just boring.
Glad to see I made right decision by passing on this.
Hi aquina,
Amazon’s persistence on my Recommended was why I reviewed it! The trouble is without a jessewave review for myself I can make bad choices……
The one thing that could have made this werewolf story unique was it’s Ozzie setting.
Good thing Reese did the cover 😀
Ingrid I don’t think I’ve come across any Australian werewolves, have you? Lost chance really.
You know the cover is pretty spot on for the characters- but you would expect that from Reese.
Yes, there are Australian werewolves. Or dingoes (weredingoes?). Shifting Perspectives by Nerine Petros had book 1 in an Australian shifter series come out not that long ago. Not super Aussie, but moreso than this series. It said book 1 so I assume there are more to come.
Not that I’ve met a REAL one, I don’t think. 😮
But unfortunately Shifting Perspectives was even more badly written than Unexpected Mate. Which was too bad, because I was interested in the characters and the situation.
Damn -short halt to new hobby! 🙄 Thanks Gail.
Thats quite a cute title too. My fave one Is Shift Happens which I havn’t read yet……ooh 💡 but I think I will now.
Ok Tam now I have super new hobby, I’m checking this out….Weredingoes sound good.
I have read Australian shifters. But no m/m ones yet. Lexxie Couper has a great m/f series called Savage Australia. One of the female shifters is actually a Tasmanian Tiger.
No I need M/M Australian shifters, I will not be distracted.
Best tiger shifter ever- Quinn from Trueblood books, a long time crush of mine.
So, I don’t read creature features, and I wouldn’t be picking this up regardless, but after the book I reviewed yesterday, Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela, I can say that having the setting be a character in itself is a boon for the reader. It made a good book a great one for me and many others who commented. I’ve, too, read many books where the setting could be Anytown, USA between the lack of locale description and local flavor, such as slang. Good job, Raine.
Thank you.Your cheat sheet for posting reviews is awesome Aunt Lynn, :god:
I always think Harper Fox gets a real sense of place in her books.
Where the Allegheny meets the Monongahela had me intrigued just for the title.I had been wary of the angst, but am going to give it a go now.
Awesome review Raine, so not for me. These days I read less and less shifters, and if I do it needs to be something original, like The thread of deepest black :), standard fare with mating booooond/ instalove forever would drive me on the wall.
Hey Sirius, yes this one is really not for you……I love Aunt Lynn’s term ‘creature feature’- I am still addicted, but with slightly sore fingers.
I enjoyed The Only Gold- thought Reid really unreasonably mean to Jonah at work for too long, so took me a time ( like Jonah I guess! ) to warm to him.Great to read something so different.
I am so glad you enjoyed The Only Gold :). Yes I was sympathizing with Jonah right off the bat too and it took me a while to warm up to Reid myself 🙂
Yeah, let me second you Raine :), very awesome. And where Alegheny meets Monongahela is so so so good, even if I am tongue tied every time I try to say the title 🙂
I just read this book about a week ago, and book 2 also. I have to agree on the generic location. Didn’t even realize it was in Australia just from reading the book.
I did like the second book more than the first. A little more emotional depth to the characters at least.
Hello Beth,
There is certainly a compulsive keep reading flow in the book.I’m glad you thought the second one was better. I’m sorry I’m still passing on it ! 😀
Raine,
Thanks for the review. Ive had this one on my kindle for awhile and finished it today. The blurb got me on this one, it didnt quite follow what I expected but I enjoyed the book. Im reading the 2nd of this series as well.
Probably one thing that bothered me most, was how much I paid for what I received.