Review: Blue Mountain by Cardeno C.
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Where did you get this book: E-Arc from Author
Release Date: Out Now
Pack #1
“Exiled by his pack as a teen, Omega wolf Simon Moorehead learns to bury his gentle nature in the interest of survival. When a hulking, rough-faced Alpha catches Simon on pack territory, he tries to escape what he’s sure will be imminent death. But instead of killing him, the Alpha takes Simon home.
A man of action, Mitch Grant uproots his life to support his brother in leading the Blue Mountain pack. Mitch lives on the periphery, quietly protecting everyone, but always alone. A mate is a dream come true for Mitch, and he won’t let little things like Simon’s rejections, attacks, and insults get in their way. With patience, seduction, and genuine care, Mitch will ride out the storm while Simon slays his own ghosts and Mitch’s loneliness.”
I do enjoy shifter stories and Alpha/Omega ones especially. I liked Simon from the beginning of the read but I hard time warming up to Mitch. Initially, I really enjoyed the concept of him but his lack of communication and steamrolling over Simon both physically and emotionally was hard to read at times. I think a lot of the fear that Simon had could have been alleviated with just a short conversation and while I didn’t think that made Mitch a bully it made him dense. The concept of insta-mate/love can sometimes work for me but when the Alpha half of the pair just tells the Omega half how it’s gonna be without really explaining things it just annoyed me to no end.
I did like Mitch despite his obtuseness and overbearing actions that made that hard in some places. Use your words, Mitch. It felt a lot like the characters were talking at each other and not to each other. Each having a different conversation and frustrated when the other didn’t really understand what they were trying to get across. That, in turn, didn’t endear me to the first half of the read but made me frustrated as well.
It took me more than half of the book to start enjoying the relationship between Simon and Mitch. As Mitch started being less hardcore and Simon started warming up to him, relaxing in his surroundings and being less afraid this read took on sweetness that I liked quite a bit.
It was the getting to know you portion and relationship building aspect of the read that drew me in. I liked that Mitch acknowledged that he was bad with words and that by doing so he screwed things up in the beginning both for Simon and for me as well, tbh. Despite the rough start this ended on a good note and the last half of the read was much more compelling. I’ll be checking out the second book in the series for sure.
I’m giving Blue Mountain a C