Review – Anchor by Jorrie Spencer

Publisher: Samhain
Publish Date: Apr 19th
How I got this book: Review Request from the author

 

She follows her dreams into his arms…and danger is not far behind.
Mala never outgrew her night terrors. At twenty-eight, her nights are a battleground as she defends helpless wolves from attack by their own kind. The effort costs her—one dream often leads to a week of missed work.

When her defense of a young wolf is rewarded by the mention of a real town, she finally has the chance to learn if her dreams are just as real. She never expected to meet an honest-to-God alpha werewolf, much less develop an instant, embarrassing crush on him.

Angus MacIntyre, de facto alpha of Wolf Town, is determined to see every fugitive wolf employed, educated and well-adjusted to life in the open. The arrival of a young wolf on the run isn’t all that unusual, but the human woman hard on his heels is beyond extraordinary.

The dark-eyed beauty possesses a dream-wraith ability that challenges everything he thinks he knows about his world—and stirs his mine instinct in a way he’s never felt before. Yet her gift makes her vulnerable to those who would try to use it to their advantage. But this is his town. His pack. His woman. And Angus will do whatever it takes to protect what’s his.

Warning: Wolf towns, bad guys, dreams and non-alpha alpha wolves, as well as an overabundance of family, and, of course, a healthy dose of romance and sex.
*Blurb from Goodreads*

 

Anchor was my first read by Spencer, and although there were a few things I stumbled over, I enjoyed the overall story.

Mala has always had weird abilities when she was dreaming, and the most recent dreams are getting more and more scary and terrifying. When one dream changes and instead of seeing a wolf, she sees a young boy, Mala wonders if maybe there isn’t something more to her nightmares than she realizes. She takes a chance and heads to Wolf Town at the off change she will see the boy from her dreams. But she never expected everything she found.

Angus is the local alpha, and wants to take in every wolf who needs sanctuary. When a beautiful human woman comes sniffing around and telling him some pretty outlandish stories, he decides to keep her close to find out exactly what she can do. But there is someone out to get Wolf Town’s newest members, and Mala’s strange gift may be the only thing that came save them all.

I really enjoyed the overall world building Spencer created for this book. The magical abilities of Mala’s was something I’d never seen done before in any other book, and I loved the way it was woven through the story line, how other characters reacted to her and  how she both loved and feared the ability. It was really well done, and probably my favorite aspect of the entire story. I’m not sure if this is the first book in a series, but if it is, I hope that Spencer dives more into the magical abilities of people within her world.

I wish that I would have developed a better connection with the cast of characters from this one. Mala was somewhat timid and constantly scared at the beginning of the book, and for me she didn’t seem to do a whole lot of personal growth throughout, although she was able to stand up to a select few by the end of the book. I enjoyed Angus’ character, but he could have been a bit more alpha growly (I do love my alpha’s all gruff and rough). The cast of secondary characters were a mix of townsfolk, and while many of them didn’t register much to me, there a few that stuck out that I hope to see more of, specifically Aileen. (Spencer confirmed to me via Twitter that she hopes to give Aileen her own story next!)

The romance between Mala and Angus was something that really took a back seat to the rest of the story. I would have like to see a little more from them, and felt like their relationship was somewhat out of the blue. Although the two were attracted to each other, they went from being wary around each other to jumping between the sheets; there was no romance spark for me. Hopefully if this does turn out to be a series, Spencer can give these two some more page time, and really show us more of these two.

All in all I really enjoyed Anchor. It had a few hiccups along the way, but the overall story and world building made this a good paranormal read. I give it a C+

4 thoughts on “Review – Anchor by Jorrie Spencer”

  1. I totally agree! I liked the dream aspect and the magical stuff..but Angus was too – complacent – and the romance came out of nowhere. I didn’t feel their love so much.

    But I still liked this one….I hope there is more.

  2. @Mandi – Jorrie told me via Twitter she wants to do Aileen’s story next, so hopefully we will get a little more page time with Angus and Mala. Hopefully!

  3. Pingback: Release day for Anchor « Jorrie Spencer

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