Elena's Reviews > Unsafe Exposure

Reread 20/08/2021
I’ve been wondering why I've never reread this book, given that it’s part of one of my favorite series and I’ve reread all the previous ones a few times before this one came out. I still stand by everything I wrote in my original review, but I think I’ve pinpointed the reason now that I’ve revisited the story and the characters: I didn’t completely warm up to Dylan. I have nothing to object to his characterization, his actions and thoughts, he worked really well as a MC and as part of the couple, but I can’t say that I ever liked him. It’s hard to explain, because he’s not a jerk or anything and I don’t always require liking a character to connect with them, but that’s the closest way I can describe my reaction to him. It may have had something to do with his abrasive way to react to things, although that trait of his personality didn’t bother me much until (view spoiler)[he applied it to the wolves of the West Minneapolis pack (hide spoiler)], or it’s just something as simple as bad reader-character chemistry. I didn’t dislike spending time in his head, though, and it didn’t prevent me from enjoying this second read anyway, so no real complaint here, I’m just glad I’ve maybe figured out something that made no sense to me on the surface.

Note on the editing: I saw I mentioned some poor editing near the end of the book in my original review. This time I’ve read the new edition and I didn’t notice any editing problems at all, so I’ve either become less observant or they got fixed before the rerelease. 😊

I’m also happy to report that a new book is indeed happening—it’s already happened, actually—and I’m really looking forward to finally read it now that I’m caught up with my reread of the series.

First read 11/09/2016
In this new book of the Hidden Wolves series there’s a lot more action than in the previous ones, not that that was an obstacle to the development of the romance, it just gave it a different setting to blossom and progress. It worked very well.

Dylan is a werewolf, but he doesn’t know it and, having been raised without a pack or any knowledge at all about werewolves and their politics, he doesn’t have standard werewolf reactions and behaviors.
Alex is a closeted gay werewolf, temporarily living away from his pack because of his job.
They meet when Alex rescues Dylan, who’s being chased by some members of one of the local packs. Alex is far from being a dominant wolf, but he finds himself forced to take the lead, since Dylan knows nothing about his second nature and the world that comes with it. On the other hand, Dylan is much more experienced than Alex when it comes to gay relationships and sex.

I loved how the author handled their unique situation. The dynamic between them could've been easily reduced to "more dominant wolf takes charge/less dominant wolf follows," instead it was much more balanced and complex.
Their connection isn’t insta-love at all, despite developing in a matter of days, and it’s strong, believable and not without its problems.

The last third of the book was a particular pleasure to read, I was looking forward to (view spoiler)[meeting the wolves of the West Minneapolis pack again and I wasn’t disappointed.
Simon and Paul are adorable as always, the parts with the cats were hilarious and seeing Aaron with Zach confirmed them to be my favorite thing in the series, no matter from what POV, although I loved Zach’s in Unwanted Appeal. I really hope we’ll get to read about their wedding and/or mate bond, eventually. (hide spoiler)]

Not much to say about the writing, apart that it was excellent, as it’s always the case with Kaje Harper. There were some editing mistakes in the last part of the book, nothing big, just a wrong word and some missing in a few places. It didn’t prevent me from following the story, I was just surprised to find them there.

I don’t know if the series is supposed to be finished with this, but I think there’s room for other stories, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.