From NY Times bestselling author R.L. Mathewson comes the next Pyte/Sentinel Novel.For readers who enjoy paranormal romance guaranteed to make them smile and keep them on the edge of their seat… As the top Alpha male of Boston, it's Drew's job to keep his Pack safe, keep the humans from finding out about their existence, and most importantly, not give into the urge to destroy the woman that never should have been allowed near his Pack in the first place. When fate steps in one night and changes everything, Drew realizes that his new mate is more dangerous than he ever thought…Kara has plans, plans that don’t include the Alpha of the Laymon Pack, but one touch changes everything and within the blink of an eye, everything that she’d worked so hard for is gone, leaving her at the mercy of the one man that could destroy her. Her only hope is to find a way to leave before Drew figures out why she was really in Boston in the first place.
New York Times Bestselling author, R.L. Mathewson was born in Massachusetts. She’s known for her humor, quick wit and ability to write relatable characters. She currently has several paranormal and contemporary romance series published including the Neighbor from Hell series.
Growing up, R.L. Mathewson was a painfully shy bookworm. After high school she attended college, worked as a bellhop, fast food cook, and a museum worker until she decided to take an EMT course. Working as an EMT helped her get over her shyness as well as left her with some fond memories and some rather disturbing ones that from time to time show up in one of her books.
Today, R.L. Mathewson is the single mother of two children that keep her on her toes. She has a bit of a romance novel addiction as well as a major hot chocolate addiction and on a perfect day, she combines the two.
In 2019/2020, R.L. Mathewson will be publishing Devastated, the first Anger Management novel, Tall, Dark & Furious, the 6th installment to the Pyte/Sentinel series, Irresistible, the long anticipated novel for the Neighbor from Hell Series as well as many more books throughout the year, paranormals, contemporaries, and YAs.
One of those that gets better as you get further in!
The following ratings are out of 5: Romance: 💙💚❤️ Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙 World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌍🌎 Character development: 😉☺️😟😤🥰 Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙 Narration Type: Solo Narration
The heroine:Kara - she was a wolf shifter, living in Boston. She knows how to get things done. Going to a bar that is impossible to get into, she brings dinner and dessert for the the shifter in charge of door security, Mick who happens to be her cousin and her and her human friend Maggie are inside the popular club without an issue. Kara some day wants her own shifter nightclub.
The Hero:Drew - He is the top alpha in Boston. He owns the nightclub Kara got into among other businesses. He is still unmated. He is not too happy that he is forced to allow Kara into his club, but Mick was his best bouncer, and he doesn’t want to lose Mick by being off putting to his relatives. Kara is determined to taunt and frustrate him to no end. He could no longer put up with her defiance, others are starting to think him weak.
The Story: Kara hated Drew, she thinks he is a prick and couldn’t wait for him to find his mate. She wanted to see him slapped upside the head by his mate. Kara only dates human, she doesn’t want to find her fated mate. Even though finding you mate doesn’t always equal finding the love of your life. Though males who found their fated mates can’t get it up for anyone else, apparently it doesn’t always work that way for the females as even mated females can be intimate with others and even enjoy it.
Drew needs to make Kara cower for defying her in front of members of enemy packs. He needs to make sure he looks strong to keep them as well as his own pack members from going up against him. However, when he touches her, he finds out she is his fated mate. She taunts him by saying that he won’t be able to have sex again while she can now go after unmated males.
I have to admit, I didn’t like Kara at first. It wasn’t explained well why she hated him so much, but it seemed to be jealousy since she went on about the revolving door of women that ended up in his bed. And I did not like their constant bickering at the beginning, Drew wasn’t much better, he was pretty sexist and just wanted Kara to be put up in his penthouse waiting for him when he needed her. Though they both got better as the book got going and I ended up liking the story about Kara’s mysterious beginnings.
This audiobook was told in dual points of view via solo narration. It was narrated by Celestine Wolf. I am not usually too fond of solo narration, though Celestine does a good job. She has a nice voice and is good at doing different voices for different characters.
Star Ratings: Heroine (Kara): 5/5 Hero (Drew): 4/5 Plot: 5/5 Grovel: none Cheating: none HEA: yes but would have preferred to have seen babies! Triggers: past torture but no explicit detail
Average score: 5/5
Best Lines: so many good ones including: “the most dangerous mated couple on the planet”
Worst Lines: all lines said by H at the beginning of the book because he was acting like an ass!
Personal Review: This was another great romance by RL Mathewson. It had the feisty, strong-willed and vulnerable heroine with a great asshole, redeemed alpha hero. Throw in some great banter and secondary characters (and of course the food jokes) and you have yourself a perfect love story!
Random Ramblings: •That dedication… •The mistress conversation had me laughing so hard! •The H was an ass in the beginning but he redeemed himself in my eyes by looking after the h through the years •I really don’t like Jill and I am in two minds about reading her story. Everything she does is selfish and it pisses me off how it always negatively affects her family (whom I adore!)
Overall Feeling: Special message to author: I hope you and your loved ones are safe and happy. Thank you for taking the time to write epic love stories, it is much appreciated!
I've been waiting not so patiently for another book in the Pyte/Sentinal series for quite a while. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with Fated. While the actual plot and love story was great, I felt like I had to dig to get to it. Pretty much the first half of the book felt like a NFH book. I kept waiting for jason to walk in and ask whats for dinner. And to be honest, I've thrown in the towel on the NFH series. Even before I gave up on them, I liked the Pyte books because they had a different tone to them. The humor was more subtle, and I felt like the plots were more substantial. In Fated, the first half of the book was just the two of them hating each other, and Kara being especially mean to Drew. That drives me nuts, but I can deal with it for a short time. But half the book was too much. After they got together, you get to the love story and plot of the book. Which was great, but there was so little of it. And there was a lot of repetition within that. Then, when it finally gets juicy, its over. It didn't feel like there was any closure at all. Now, I understand this is an ongoing series, and probably (hopefully) Drew and Kara will pop back up in future books, but it really would have sat better with me if the book went further into their future than it did. I don't want to spoil anything but at the end a pretty nice bomb was dropped, but it wasn't really explained what it means. And the author seems to be much more invested in the NFH series, so now how long is it going to take to get another book? And to be honest, this series is on thin ice with me as well. I'd really like to know what happens with Joshua and Jill and Kale, but I don't know if I can read anymore NFHish Pyte books.
I detested Drew so much I couldn't bring myself to read any more.
Out of all the books I have read over the years I don't think I have ever disliked a character quite as much as I do Drew because see, in PN books the alpha male ALWAYS puts his mate first. This bloke is too busy being a selfish, self-centred, self-serving egotistical jerk to worry about anyone else but himself and his needs. Add to that he thinks of his mate as a bitch and I'm done.
Today, I can finally say that I've read my last book from this author. 'Cause odds are, if you've read one RL Mathewson book, you've read 'em all. Every hero and heroine is basically the same character with different names.
DNF @ 41%. Dialogue is repetitive and silly and it feels like a NFH book (a series I gave up on) as much as the two MC' s are bickering. And the storyline is a hot mess. I'm done.
3.5 Stars. I really enjoyed Kara and Drew's story. The build up was great but became a tad repetitive only to have a rushed ending when everything was finally revealed. I would have loved a more balanced story as I love RL Mathewson's PNR! The characters were great, the humour spot on and the romantic anticipation fabulous. I love her knack for fine line of love/hate romances! Full review to come.
Well this stinks. I LOVE this series and was pretty pumped to get my hands on Fated since it feels like it's been forever since we got a Pyte/Sentinel book but sadly I was totally let down.
Here's why.
What I liked:
-I liked the hate relationship and animosity between the heroine Kara and the hero Drew. They couldn't stand each other in the beginning and I found their actions and banter hilarious.
-I liked both main characters, especially Kara. She was strong, relatable, and funny.
-I absolutely LOVE the "mate" premise. It's one thing I adore about this series, I love how everyone has that one "mate" that they either are waiting for or in Kara and Drew's case... dreading.
-The writing was done well and I liked getting both Kara and Drew's POV's.
What I disliked:
-Who the hell is Drew? Not that I didn't like Drew because I liked him a lot. But I don't remember him in any of the previous Pyte/Sentinel books and so I wasn't really that excited to read his story mainly because I knew we wouldn't get any of our favorite characters in this one. Plus, I just find it weird to have a book in a series with a character that we don't even know. I would've preferred Jill's or Joshua's or Kale's book instead.
-The plot. It was boring. Plain and simple. And it kills me to admit that. Kara's big "secret" did not surprise or wow me in the least little bit, the build up a total let down. There was no climax, zero action, not much conflict, and pretty much nothing happens. It never once said who completely stole Kara's identity. She gets fired only to go home to realize her apartment is empty and she no longer lives there, her bank account emptied and completely disappeared, and her purse and ID stolen. And it's completely swept under the rug like it's no big deal and never really mentioned again. I'm assuming that one of the packs that's after her did it? But like I said, who the hell knows.
-This whole book pretty much took place in Drew's bar and apartment over the bar. There were one or two times of them in the woods to run as wolves, and one time Kara is at the packs brownstone and a hotel, but that was it.
-I was let down in the steam department as well. There's a lot of emphasis on Kara going into her mating heat. It's supposed to be this big deal and she's supposed to have it worse than others and her and Drew are supposed to lose their minds in lust and blah blah blah. Well, that never happened. Her heat was tame and just seemed like a regular ol' sex scene. I don't know, I was just expecting. . . more. Plus the first sex scene didn't even happen until almost 70%.
-I missed the Pyte/Sentinel world... so bad. For the first 85% of this book you wouldn't even know it was based in the same world or that this was apart of the same series. That is, until the very end when the Sentinels are finally introduced. That was kind of a let down.
-And lastly. The ending. How lame. I felt so unfinished after reading this book and the ending felt weird, it just kinda ended. When I turned the last page, I was expecting another chapter not the Author's Note. I just felt like there were holes that weren't filled all the way with Drew and Kara's story.
Overall this was just okay for me but definitely my least favorite in the series. As a standalone shifter romance it was alright mostly but as a part of the Pyte/Sentinel series it just isn't as strong as the others. Hopefully Mathewson really gets it right with the next book because I heard it's Kale's and his story has to be completely epic! I still highly recommend this series!
This was pretty much a standalone story until the end when we see how it ties in with the rest of the books. I love Drew, he reminds me of Lucifer from the NFH series who also happens to own a bar and is also a cranky, but lovable character. I hope R.L. finishes the next book to this series and I can't wait to see what happens. I wanna know about some of the other characters like Chris's sister Jill and brother Joshua since they haven't been mentioned in a while (though at the end of this book it seems that the next story may be about Jill).
I love it!! Hands down full of drama and laugh out loud moments and a few tears there. Drew is a well known club owner for shifters and so on. His whole entire life and all he wants is to live it freely without be tying down to a mate. That all changed when he met this a annoying pain in the ass Kara.
Kara have been running her whole entire life, constantly looking over her shoulder in case they have find her. If you want to know the secret......you have read the book. Plain and simple ;).
I love the bickering between Drew and Kara. The bed wrestling are pretty steamy and the ending is perfect. Love it.
“Only to send him flying into the opposite wall a few seconds later, but thankfully Drew managed to land next to his mate, who was still nibbling on her sandwiches.
“Looking good, sweetie,” she said, not even bothering to look at him, offer him medical attention or even a bite of her sandwich.
“I think I’m dying,” he admitted, not caring that he sounded like a fucking wimp, because he was actually worried about internal injuries from the bastard tossing him around all morning.”
I've read everything R.L. has published and up until this book, I've enjoyed her writing. Now, I understand writers have their own unique styles, but with this book I felt like I was just reading the same 3 paragraphs over and over, just worded a bit differently (and sometimes NOT worded differently). Banter can only fill up so much of the page before it just becomes white noise. By 70%, I was skimming pages because it was the same information I'd read at 60%. And 55%. And 40%. Get my gist?
At this point in her career, R.L. has not only the experience but also the talent to grow and give her readers more than the same recycled material she's been using. I'll continue to purchase future books in this series, but if they are simply copy and paste, I'll begin returning for refunds.
I wasn't exactly surprised the cliffy ending of the previous installment had nothing to do with the current story. That has been the series trend and I've learned not to be disappointed. However, it does take the benefit of a cliffy ending out of the equation when reading this seres. I've been desensitized from clambering for the next book knowing the possibility of getting answers is slim to none.
The bright side of that is that this was probably the best book of the series. The beginning was so darn good. Too bad much of the middle sagged and was drawn out and not very interesting. It did pick up again.
SPOILERS
Problems, there was still the occasional overuse of one word in one paragraph. The world building confusing and unfocused at times.
Like if Cara's apartment was broken into, why couldn't she stay there? Why was sleeping in the streets or alley, her only option? The only reason is to fit the plot line the author was leading us to.
The other confusing thing was the world building surrounding shifters mating. Her grandmother suggested she had no right to mate. But from my understanding this is a fated thing that happens. So how could she be mad? If she meant, she wasn't allowed to touch someone to protect mating from happening, why didn't Cara wear gloves? Why didn't any of them if they were so against being bonded to one person including Cara?
And what was the hierarchy of who someone belonged to? Since Cara was mated, doesn't that supersede being a "bitch"?
Drew claimed he had the right to kill the shifters for being on his land. Yet, after he did so, he was worried about retaliation? Yet, I thought the shifter community bound themselves to rules. Thus, he shouldn't have feared reticulation.
I don't know. This author has something to this world except, it's not focused. If this had been beta read and edited by the right people, this could be great.
Other problems, as soon as she brought up the first matting heat, which had so much promise but fell completely flat. The promise of it sounded much like world building from JR Ward's Black Dagger brotherhood.
I also got flashes of Suzanne Wrights shifter world building.
Alas, this is the last completed book for over a year or more. I'm not holding my breath for more. I give this a 3.5, but will round up to set this book apart from the others.
Alright, lets try this again shall we.. Review take two!
4 stars! What a great shifter read! If you already love the Pyte/Sentinel series, you won't be disappointed; if it's new to you, you have to try it and you can even jump in with this book!
So I haven't read all the books in this series - loved the first one, avoided the second one, working on the other two - but I couldn't wait to finish the previous books to start this one. I was too curious on how she was going to handle a shifter story line. I was not disappointed!
This story has the whole shifter mate thing going on, which I can't help it, I love. The kicker is they hate each other. Like full on despise one another. A shifter has to make physical contact with their mate in order to realize they are destined for one another. Because of this, most shifters avoid contact with unmated shifters of the opposite sex. Same with Kara and Drew. They want to pummel each other, but avoid it because neither one of them wants to be mated, especially with each other. Of course the fates say otherwise and after accidental contact, they realize they are mates.
At the beginning of this story I was not a fan of Drew. He's a complete asshole. Part of this is because he hates Kara, but I think he's an asshole anyways. He's alpha of his pack, which immediately makes Kara alpha female. The problem is not only does Drew hate her, but the pack also hates Kara. She isn't part of Drew's pack, but has been allowed to "hide" with them the last 6 decades. Those reasons are part of her secret which she isn't telling anyone. Kara needs to start trusting someone though because someone is trying to kill her and run out Drew...
This is a enemies-to friends-to lovers story and Mathewson does it perfectly! It's also a bit of a slow burn romance which I normally don't like, especially with shifter stories, but it's not soooo slow that I got bored at all. Kara and Drew slowly start respecting each other, then liking the other, and finally falling in love.
My favorite part of this book is Drew's POV. After being with Kara more and more, he realizes that his hatred for her was more of the "boy pulls girl's pigtails on the playground" behavior and he actually liked her since he's known her. However, after years and years of this kind of behavior it turned into blind hatred so it took awhile for both of them to come to terms with being each others mates.
This story really does have it all. The H becomes less of an asshole the longer you read; Kara is a kickass independent alpha female which I think Mathewson wrote very well. The sexy times were well written and the author gave us dual POVs which is always a plus. There is mystery and suspense wrapped around this mating story and a great tie in with the series.
This was a great solid read which I devoured in a day. I can't wait to read what is next for this series!
This is pretty damn safe except for the lack of condom use which is normal when it comes to shifter reads.
Reread 20 Feb 2019 - R L Mathewson is skilled at writing romantic comedies. I generally love her books as a rule. This one was no exception, except......( I know what I did there), the male leads are pretty chauvinistic until the female lead comes into their lives. Plus why do almost all the females turn out to hate the female lead and are always hell bent on making her miserable?
Two words.
Cute werewolves.
Strike that.
Cute and hot werewolves.
Add to that the signature wit and humour of R L Mathewson.
Okay so I was waiting impatiently for this one and half of this book was worth five stars. However, the other half turned out to be a disappointment for me because I just did not like it. R L could have done so much to this story as this was the first one about wolves. For instance, take the mating when our couple first mate their chemistry should have been off the charts since the man could not have anyone but his mate for the rest of his life while the female could bang anyone she wants. I did not agree with this because if both are wolves and have mates then it should be to only each other they can have sex with not the way I mentioned before. Also, RL have written very hot sex scenes in her other novels and this one seemed like a rush to me as if she just wanted to get over with it. I love Rl her writing, the humor, love and the chemistry between the couple and I only got half of those things in this novel. The major bummer for me (giving it 3 stars) was the epilogue ahhhh don't get me started on that. RL cheated with this one as her epilogue was the shortest I have read in all her books. I loved NFH epilogues especially the first 4 NFH books. This one left me unsatisfied as it did not answer my questions about what was going to happen to the couple. When does our heroine give birth and all that happily ever after crap but again I did not get that. Its just unfair when someone reads a romance novel and do not get that epilogue it is like being cheated. Anyways, I love RL and am still going to read her other books but was a tad bit disappointed with this one. Hope she writes somethhing worth 5 stars next time!
Completely disappointing. My rating may have been higher but the first half of this book was so redundant and annoying, I just can't. As others have mentioned, this did feel like a NFH book "I hate you, no I hate you more". Personally, I like a little more love than hate in my books. That went on for almost the entire first half of the book. This wasted space that could have been used to explain who the hell Drew and Kara are and how they fit into this world. An epilogue might have been nice. The book literally just ended. Just ended and it made no sense! spoiler:
I've enjoyed all the other books in this series. I'll give this book a pass knowing (from the author's blog and social media) it took the author some time to complete due to personal obligations.
This book is between a 2 and 3 stars for me... Typically, I really like this author's work: I like the characters, the humorous banter, and the story line is interesting.In this installment, The H and h really dislike each other, which isn't usually an issue for me (often it adds great sexual tension), however that wasn't the case with Fated. Both main characters strongly disliked each other until at least 50% of the way in and the first real love scene between the 2 was at 63%...to me the antagonism between the two lasted way too long. I found the story was lacking until the last third of the book where it picked up and got much more interesting , but I found I was left with an unsatisfactory ending.
She basically writes the same plot over and over with little to no care for proper schematic or grammar. And seriously, that's gotten real old, real fast.
I am still trying to understand what was the point of this story. I mean, the first book of the Pyte/Sentinel series started and then things happened and it seems like Ephraim was building a extremely strong family for himself even without meaning to. Then there is the whole thing about his sons reaching maturity/adulthood (?) and his other "kids", one that was now a sort of mix of werewolf and vampire (maybe) and kind of on the bad side of things... anyway, there were so many things going on and then this book, "Fated", happened and I am lost. What was this about? How does this book contributes to that story? Or any story? As many pointed out, this book talks in circles. There are so many pages that just keeps repeating itself... there is no real plot here. And the worst, to me, was the massive resemblance to the Bradford's series. The banter, the food, the breakdown, driving her boyfriend/girlfriend/mate out of his/her mind... It felt like the same book, just switching names and settings (because there are werewolves here).
Drew is a Pack alpha. I didn't see ONE action of himself as an Alpha, not even his attitude is very Alpha in my opinion. He just seems cocky and stupid. Kara is all about the hard exterior but inside she is a marshmallow but her story, her past although tragic and bad it didn't really made me feel so sorry for her.
In the end, this book has nothing. It centers in Drew and Kara and stays with just them the whole time. No other characters or actions has any real impact or importance. The whole background of hers is the only thing that keeps you wanting to know what happened. When you figure it out it still stretches for about 3 or 4 chapters to finish the explanation, which besides boring is long, very very long, and confusing! So, to be honest, this was a book in a series that can be ignored because it brings nothing. Absolutely nothing... Maybe it will matter a little on a following book, but it still would be easier and maybe done better if it was just explained then the reason for their story.
I really enjoyed this book, even though it felt very 'apart' from the rest of the Pyte/Sentinel series. It was quite refreshing to have this new aspect introduced, rather than end up with a book that stuck with a tried and tested formula but brought nothing new to the table. Other than Kyle, we haven't seen a 'positive' side to the shifter population, this provided balance, plus opened up a whole world of possibilities with the twist at the end.
There was very little linkage to the previous characters and storyline, and what there was felt a tad rushed to me. The pacing was excellent for a good 90% of the story, but the ending felt just a little too easily resolved. That said I still LOVED Drew and Kara, and am very much intrigued to see what destiny and fate have in store for them. Their's is a passionate story, full of danger, mystery and the humour that is synonymous with this author's name.
Kara is one of my favourite heroines of the series, and even though I felt less connected to Drew I still really liked him. I could feel their emotions, believed in their connection and enjoyed every moment of this fast paced, amusing and steamy (Oh so steamy!) paranormal romance.
The book is not bad, but also not good as the first Pyte series. ( I loved them all) This storyline is not bad but I missed a bit more fun and more characters, it's seems so endless long before something excitement started. I don't know the hate between the Drew & Kara went on end on,I was close to stop reading because I didn't felt to be drawn into the story, which what always the case with R.L books, I was reading before.
I was happy to read when the name of Kale, Chris and Ephraim came and thought with excitement, well now let's start to enjoy the book.....but then it is finished.
I still would like to know what is happened with Joshua and Jill, because nothing comes up anymore, I really have missed all those characters, didn't would bother me to get new characters, but Ephraims Family is fun. And I missed them here a lot. No problems with shifters and other demons . And with the last story of Cloe and Christopher was as well there story about them both, but you still had got the insight from the Williams Family, what went on. So I missed this in this story, very!!
I have been waiting for this book since R.L. put a teaser as one of the chronicles probably about a year and a half ago and let me tell you if was worth it! I loved this book (and although I love all her books) and is definitely one of my favourites of hers. You will get the all the laughs you can expect from R.L. and more. I love the fact that this author can make a book so funny but ensure that the story gets told and not lost while the author is trying to make it funny (I have read books where authors try and add humour and it just falls flat). The tie in with the rest of the Pyte/Sentenial books was a good one and I loved reading the epilogue it was fantastic. I can't wait for Kale's book especially when he meets his match, I'm also looking forward to Jill's book. So if you (are not already a R.L. Mathewson fan) are thinking about reading this book you definitely should and while it is the fifth book in the Pyte series you can definitely read it as a stand alone but after you read this one you will have to go and buy all her other books because she is that good!
Drew is the Alpha of Boston and he has one major thorn in his side, Kara. Kara likes to push his buttons every chance she gets, she relishes in it. Too Kara, Drew is a manwhore who doesn't deserve her respect. However, when Kara and Drew realize they are mates all hell breaks loose. Drew doesn't want Kara and Kara has no interest in Drew but there is more to mates than being together and when Drew decides he wants to have Kara as his mate after all, he has to figure out how to convince her that he is being sincere.
This to me was the best in the series thus far. I loved this couple together and it reminded me of the Neighbor From Hell series with a Paranormal twist. Now I am eager to find out what is next in this series.
I like the book, but I found it hard to get into. Both MCs were kind of annoying to me. As they came to terms about their relationship they got better, but the beginning was hard for me to get through. Not much mention of our favorite family and even that was just a few pages at the end so that was disappointing. I felt like things were either over explained or under explain with little in between. The pack drama was kind of useless for me. Less pack drama and more Williams clan.
It pains me and saddens me to give this book such a low rating but this one just wasn't up there with the rest of this series for me...
There was just far too much bitching and fighting and moody bullshit!!! We live with that every day... don't still want to deal with it when trying to find an escape in a good book too!!
This didn't really have the same "feel" as other Pyte/Sentinel books. It's main focus was Drew's wolf pack and how Kara didn't really fit in. She's a pretty strong lady and is still fighting for survival.
The story bounced around quite a bit and sometimes the action scene was skipped and I ended up a little confused. I didn't like how wolf packs are portrayed here, so mean and vindictive. No sense of family or community whatsoever.
Drew and Kara hated each other with a passion...maybe a bit too much.