Wicked Cravings (The Phoenix Pack, #2) in Vampires, Weres and Fae!

Feb 03, 2013 Mistress rated it it was ok

I liked this book, not as much as Feral Sins, but for a quick light read. The story was ok, but it was SO predictable. I like a twist to my books or some depth, maybe make me cry or bite my nails off with anxiety. If I don't get any of those things, then I want to be completely turned on and hot from the chemistry between the characters. There were a few hot scenes in this book, but really, I found it seriously lacking. I'm really disappointed because I loved Feral Sins so much and I was really ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Mar 13, 2013 Melindeeloo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-romance, arc

3.5 stars - Jaime has been crushing, pretty obviously, on pack Beta Dante, but when she decides to give up and give him the cool treatment, he suddenly realizes that while he's been fighting his attraction to Jaime, he just can't let her move on to someone else.

When I requested Wicked Cravings, I didn't realize that this series falls more on the erotic side of the paranormal romance spectrum and Romantica is not really my thing. So while I liked the back and forth tussling for dominance between 3.5 stars - Jaime has been crushing, pretty obviously, on pack Beta Dante, but when she decides to give up and give him the cool treatment, he suddenly realizes that while he's been fighting his attraction to Jaime, he just can't let her move on to someone else.

When I requested Wicked Cravings, I didn't realize that this series falls more on the erotic side of the paranormal romance spectrum and Romantica is not really my thing. So while I liked the back and forth tussling for dominance between Jaime and Dante outside of the bedroom, his need to control her in the smexy part of their relationship - ropes, and back door stuff -didn't really do it for me.

Still, I can't actually complain about the steam to story balance, because there was a very well developed plot and characters that kept my interest. I liked the pairing here of the control freaky leading man, pack Beta Dante - who has immersed himself in the role of pack protector at the expense of a personal life due to abandonment/commitment issues- and the rebellious leading lady, Jesse, who is keeping secrets about her traumatized inner wolf. I also liked how Jaime's job working with abused dogs ends up being really significant to the story.

Coming into this story, I also didn't realize that I was stepping into book two of a series - yep you can tell I didn't do my homework before diving into this one. I pretty quickly figured out that I was starting behind the curve when, at the end of the first chapter, there were at least 10 people in the room or mentioned by name. I debated backtracking but decided to plunge on in and I think that I was able to pick up pretty much on what went on before - Wright weaves enough references about the past leads and their travails to bring a new reader like me up to speed.

While I do think that I did end up with a pretty good handle on the Phoenix pack world even with skipping Feral Sins, the one place I might have been missing out is with respect to all of those people in the room at the start. I don't know if more of those pack members had parts that brought them out of the woodwork last time. This time though, with the exception of the past and present leads, only a handful stood out: Dominic and his cheesy pickup lines - which I thought were funny - the next up lead, Nick, Jaimie's friends and the guys' nasty piece of work momma - I love Jaime snarking at that mean old harpy:)

So, bottom line... Even though I probably would have been excited about seeing all of those hunky wolfy guys again if I'd read the first book and despite the sensuality level was just a toe or two over the line for me, I liked Wicked Cravings, and I am invested enough in the next up pair, Nick and Shayla, that I might check out the next Phoenix pack story.

ARC via the Amazon Vine ...more

1 like · Like · see review