A Wolf Apart (The Legend of All Wolves #2) by Maria Vale

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Can a human truly make room in her heart for the Wild?
Thea Villalobos has long since given up trying to be what others expect of her. So in Elijah Sorensson she can see through the man of the world to a man who is passionate to the point of heartbreak. But something inside him is dying...

Elijah Sorensson has all kinds of outward success: bespoke suits, designer New York City apartment, women clamoring for his attention. Except Elijah despises the human life he's forced to endure. He's Alpha of his generation of the Great North Pack, and the wolf inside him will no longer be restrained...

She sizes me up quickly with eyes the color of ironwood and just as unyielding.
"Thea Villalobos," she says, and it takes me a moment to get my breath back.
Thea Villalobos. Goddess of the City of Wolves.

Source: borrowed from Hoopla

If you'd told me months ago that I'd become enamoured with a shifter/paranormal series I would've given you the side eye because that's not something I was drawn to at the time. Reading The Last Wolf earlier this summer changed that.

A Wolf Apart is a terrific follow-up and adds more to the story of the Great North and its history. Elijah is an Alpha of one of its echelons and has spent the past three decades Offland serving his pack as a lawyer at a prestigious firm that handles the pack's affairs. Duty is of utmost importance and he has performed his well, always keeping the interests and security of his pack a priority. Lately though he's felt this unrelenting stirring within to return home. He's now developed a resentment towards his "human" life where he's forced to play up the big shot lawyer role, to be the big man around town when all he wants is to be true to his wolf instincts. Unexpectedly falling in love with Thea is a jolt to his system but being with a human can only complicates things. With his inner turmoil and the advancing threat on his pack and homeland that was exposed in the previous book, Elijah has to keep his focus and get is priorities straight. 

Once again the major appeal of the writing for me is how Vale offers us a view of human versus animal nature. It's like a mirror being held up to the reader to earnestly consider all the things we say and do out of habit or take for granted. Part of Elijah's distress (and one that he mentions a lot) is that he's constantly pretending at being a man or what human society dictates a man should be - all testosterone, physical strength and ego. But as demonstrated in The Last Wolf, wolves do things with purpose. There's a hierarchy and a social order involved but more importantly, the welfare of the pack is a driver. Elijah can't stand this self-serving life that he's been feigning for so long. He's literally itching to get out of his human skin. In Thea he has met someone who yearns for that simplicity in life, where one says what they mean, doing things with intention. Her admiration of nature and her comfort in being alone in the quiet are also why he loves her. But can he mix his two worlds and ever feel complete?

I liked the introduction of a mystery element that threw Elijah into a tailspin. Pulled in different directions where at times he's unrecognizably vulnerable. A Wolf Apart was a page turner for me with its grittier, harder and darker theme. I've fallen hard for this series and I'm ready for more!

~ Bel

The Last Wolf (The Legend of All Wolves #1) by Maria Vale

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For three days out of thirty, when the moon is full and her law is iron, the Great North Pack must be wild.

If she returns to her Pack, the stranger will die.
But if she stays…

Silver Nilsdottir is at the bottom of her Pack’s social order, with little chance for a decent mate and a better life. Until the day a stranger stumbles into their territory, wounded and beaten, and Silver decides to risk everything on Tiberius Leveraux. But Tiberius isn’t all he seems, and in the fragile balance of the Pack and wild, he may tip the destiny of all wolves… 

Source: purchased ebook and also borrowed audiobook from Hoopla


I've just read a book that I normally wouldn't have chosen on my own were it not for a glowing recommendation from another author I like. The Last Wolf is not my typical fare but I was ready for something different and I got an amazing story out of it!

Silver is a runt in her pack because she was born with a lame leg. But don't feel pity for her because she has learned how to survive with what she has and surprisingly, she does pretty well for herself. She may be physically slower than the rest of her pack but she has a smart brain and keen senses that have kept her alive this long. Tiberius stumbles upon them one night and starts a chain reaction that will affect the entire pack down the road. Since he's a shifter he cannot be trusted but he's wounded and without help, he'll die. Silver, at the risk of her own safety and guarantee of belonging to a pack, offers to help this stranger. What begins as an odd pairing ends up being one of the strongest relationships of the pack.

It took me about a quarter of the book to truly get in to the story. I think it's because it's a genre that's unfamiliar to me so I spent some effort trying to understand this world and make things fit my expectations. At some point Silver finally got my attention with her astute skills and observations, and then I began to notice all the many details that Vale has infused into this story. The world-building is fascinating from the centuries-old social hierarchy where the wolves are divided into echelons, to the culture of the Great North Wolfpack to which Silver belongs, how they've adapted to the modern world, to the myriad of differences between human and animal nature. Social networking and interactions for both wolf and human are detailed in such a way that also had me realizing that I've never noticed those particulars about people before. It was incredibly fascinating to me to read how the wolves established bonds and respect, also how they enforced discipline. I think one of the biggest "aha" moments for me was when Silver talks about the differences in communication. That wolves talk and move with meaning whereas humans tend to talk a lot but not really have anything to say half the time. Silver encourages Tiberius to get in touch with his wild side, to trust his animal instincts, while he helps her to understand her own human side. There is a funny sequence where she and Ti go into town and she tries to engage in conversation with the townsfolk that winds up going awry. It is hilarious! 

The Last Wolf is an enthralling debut from Maria Vale. On a side note, it still has me considering all the nuances of how we communicate with each other, and I love when a book has that kind of impact on me!

~ Bel

  

A Wolf Apart Spotlight

We're spotlighting the release of A WOLF APART by Maria Vale!

It's the second book in The Legend of All Wolves series and is a follow up to the imaginative and spellbinding first book, The Last Wolf. You guys, I was beside myself when I finished it and couldn't wait to read the next book. Now if you haven't read The Last Wolf yet, you're in luck because Sourcebooks Casablanca is giving away 5 copies and you could win one of them! And since we're celebrating its release, we have a special excerpt from A Wolf Apart for you to enjoy!  ~ Bel

 Can a human truly make room in her heart for the Wild?

Thea Villalobos has long since given up trying to be what others expect of her. So in Elijah Sorensson she can see through the man of the world to a man who is passionate to the point of heartbreak. But something inside him is dying…

Elijah Sorensson has all kinds of outward success: bespoke suits, designer New York City apartment, women clamoring for his attention. Except Elijah despises the human life he’s forced to endure. He’s Alpha of his generation of the Great North Pack, and the wolf inside him will no longer be restrained…

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Excerpt

Here Elijah visits Thea’s isolated cabin. He comes to the realization that his usual posturing isn’t going to work on her and he decides to try something else.

“Here’s the truth. I didn’t do anything. The letter you wrote for Liebling? The one that you showed me in New York? It would have been just fine as it was. A change or two maybe to make it stronger. Our letterhead, sure. But it was fine as it was.”

“So why did you say it was more complicated?” The smell of coffee hits the back of my throat as she spoons the grounds into the filter.

“Because I wanted to see you again.”

She stops for a moment before screwing the lid back on and returning it to the cold box.

“That’s kind of pathetic.”

“I know. I’m not used to being pathetic, but there it is.”

A thin wisp of steam starts to curl up from the kettle.

“And why are you here now?”

“Same reason. I wanted to see you again, and after yesterday…I wasn’t sure you would.”

“You’re right. I wouldn’t have.” She raises her arm, stroking her cheek with the back of her hand. “Your skin is so soft,” she whispers, low and deep and urgent [imitating me]. “You should never wear anything but silk.”

If I weren’t so humiliated by the words, the sound of her voice would have made me come right there.

She grins and hands me the mug and a spoon.

“When you’re done with that, give it back.”

“What?”

“The spoon. I’ve only got one.”

She pours milk into the bowl in front of her and then coffee, and then taking the spoon from my hand, she swirls the clouds of milk through her bowl of coffee.

It is so terribly, achingly intimate.

There is, I realize, looking over the rim of my mug, only one of anything here. A single cup. A single bowl. A single small skillet. A single pot. A single chair. A single plate. A single towel hanging from the bathroom door.

The only thing that might accommodate more than one is the bed with its thick duvet and four pillows.

Doug wanted to expand Thea’s cabin. Install a refrigerator, a sofa, a TV. What did he say? “That’d be nice, right?” He wanted more. More noise, more stuff, more him.

But he missed the point of this place. Thea’s cabin isn’t just a shelter that could use modernizing and expanding; it’s a bulwark protecting her solitude. And no matter what he thought could be done, should be done, it would not be done, because there was no room here for more Doug or more of any man.

But…I am not any man. I am not a man at all. And as wolves, we understand what it is to be wordless. We understand the primal importance of silence.

She stirs distractedly, staring at the silence beyond the window.

“How long have you been here?”

“Four years,” she says, “give or take.”

“That’s a long time to be in the middle of nowhere. Do you ever get bored?”

“Bored? Never. I like the quiet. Helps me focus. For me, things get muddled when there are too many voices telling you what to do or how to be. Can I warm you up?”

You have got to be kidding me.

I glare down at the mountain ridge in my pants, pointing out that the only thing this woman with a steaming pot in her hand is offering to warm up is my coffee.

My…brain suddenly goes all curious about whether Doug is out of the picture. Because I don’t want him or anyone else offering to refill her.

“You don’t get lonely?”

“Sometimes. Not a big deal. Then I just make more effort to see friends. But most of the people I see need me. I like it. It feels more real than when someone’s squeezing you into their schedule, praying that you’ll cancel at the last minute.” She taps at the window with her finger, then wags the same finger. Even I, who am a creature of the forest, can’t see who she’s reprimanding. “Do you?” she asks. “Get lonely, I mean.”

“Me? Pffft. I see people all the time.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

I think of all the clients I have spent time with, laughing and impressing and cajoling. And all the women I have spent time with, laughing and impressing and seducing. And in the end, have come home, vomited, and crawled into bed with a wolf-shaped hole in my chest.

“Yes. Sometimes.”

About the Author

Source: Goodreads

Maria Vale is a journalist who has worked for Publishers Weekly, Glamour magazine, Redbook, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She is a logophile and a bibliovore and a worrier about the world. Trained as a medievalist, she tries to shoehorn the language of Beowulf into things that don't really need it. She currently lives in New York with her husband, two sons and a long line of dead plants. No one will let her have a pet.

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