The Wolf and His Witch!

This is my second book by Alisa Woods, and l'm really enjoying her world building skills. I've listen too quite a few shifter stories over the years, but this is my first wolf shifter who mates a witch, it was a surprising good plot with interesting characters.

Olivia stumbles upon Jaxson when she saves him from being attacked in his wolf form. What she didn't realize, Jaxson had his attackers just right where he wanted them, but he can't fault Olivia for trying to do the right thing. He's investigating why shifters are disappearing. There's an immediate attraction, and pull between them. When Jaxson learns she is looking for a job, he hires her to be his secretary, and to help him find a mate between several eligible shifter candidates. Being the alpha, he is expected to take a mate. His wolf pushes him to mate Olivia; however, he is really just trying to delay mating, and an excuse to spend more time around Olivia. He is keeping a dangerous secret which is the real reason he doesn't want to take a mate.

Jaxson isn't the only one with a dangerous secret. When Olivia was younger, and just coming into her witch powers, something horrible happened, and now she is ate up with guilt. When she learns the truth about Jaxson, and why he doesn't want to take a mate, she puts a plan in motion to free Jaxson from the curse, so he can finally mate. She really comes to care for Jaxson, and is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Dougles and Delisha both did a great job on the narration.

I won a free copy of this audio from the author, and enjoyed it. I liked how this plot uses magic, and it kinda reminded me of the Mercy Thompson world, just not as long, or descriptive, and with dual POV's. For being on the shorter side, it was good, well developed, and really peaked my interest and wanting to listen to the other character's stories.

8 people found this helpful

3.5 "Spell Defying Love" Story/4.5 Narration Stars

Any additional comments?

3.5 "Spell Defying Love" Stars for the story and 4.5 Stars for the narration.

Reminiscent of a fairy tale like UF/PNR tale, Jaxon is an interesting, quick (just under 6 hours) tale. The debut of the River Pack Wolves Series appears to be laying down the framework for a band of shifter brothers who each have their own secret reasons for being unable to take on a mate and thus assume the alpha role for the pack, even as each book in the series tells the journey of how one brother finds his love match.

The underlying UF/PNR plot in Jaxson is fairly standard (shifters and witches that generally conform to many of the basic UF/PNR conventions we have become accustomed to in shifter/witch romances). In that regard, the witches are notorious for wanting to take on shifters as love slaves and thus feared and generally hated by the shifters--meanwhile a shifter's bite can be dangerous to a witch. Layered into this background relationship is a suspense conflict that evolves around an unknown threat against the shifters. Werewolves are slowly disappearing and the River Pack Wolves, who run a security firm, have been engaged to try and solve the threat.

Jaxson is presumed to be the only River Pack brother that can take on a mate and therefore is the current presiding alpha of the River Pack Wolves. Jaxson, however, is hiding a secret that he believes gives him at most one year to fulfill the political objectives he has for the pack since he can never mate.

It is with this backdrop in place that Jaxson meets Olivia Lilyfield, a woman he believes to be human, but who is hiding her own deep dark secrets. Jaxson doesn't understand why he has such a strong magnetic reaction to Olivia, but though he hires her under the guise of being his mate matchmaker (the person who is supposed to find Jaxson his mate), he can't help but feel the strongest attraction for Olivia. An attraction that Olivia feels just as keenly. But can there possibly be a HEA in the future for Jaxson and Olivia when secrets loom in the midst and danger lurks around the corner?

Enhancing the overall effect of the story is the well performed narration by Dougles Berger and Delisha Forest. Mr. Berger performs the chapters from Jaxson's perspective and Ms. Berger the ones from Olivia's. This style generally works well for this story giving the listener a clear differentiation between the POV being shared.

Mr. Berger and Ms. Forest are also generally adept at producing differentiated voices for each character, although Mr. Berger provides less differentiation among his characters, but nonetheless I had no trouble distinguishing the speaker in the dialogue scenes. Additionally, both narrators do a good job of acting out the mood of each scene.

Jaxson generally held my attention. Perhaps my only observation is that the romance between the hero and heroine had a bit of a love at first sight form of attraction to it. Given the natural animosity between wolves and witches--not to mention Jaxson's need to find a mate to remain as the alpha leader for his pack--I would have expected a little more conflict prior to the resolution on this point. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the fairy tale quality of the underlying UF/PNR suspense plot which held my attention throughout the entire listen.

Source: Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

4 people found this helpful

Jaxson

I am always looking for a good shifter book.
This series is going to be about these three brothers. I really enjoyed Jaxson’s story.
I like that humans know about shifters it really saved a lot of world-building for the reader and the shock that the heroine would get when she finds out the man she falls for isn’t human. ;) So yay for not having to go through all that.
I am not much of a witch person but I liked how it was woven into this story it was subtle and worked.
Olivia seems kind of meekish but she will show you her backbone and I liked that. She is stronger than you think. The interactions with her and her aunt will show you that.
I am intrigued by the other two brothers. This book had the romance element but I was missing the chemistry the underlying sexual tension.
Still, it was a good story. And the narration was good.

7 people found this helpful

Review of Jaxon

This is the second time around with my reading this series but in order this time. Really good character development within the story frame. I believe Alisa Woods writes better with others, not alone.

Yes

I really enjoyed this book!!! I loved the characters and the story. I could say that I wish there was more that’s only because I enjoyed the characters and want to know them more. I am very curious about what’s up with the brothers.... I’m definitely going onto the next book to find out why they can’t take mates.

Okay

Setting: Seattle Contemporary
Genre: Paranormal romance

Olivia Lilyfield has the hots for wolf-shifter Jaxson Rivers, and the feeling is mutual (at least on his wolf’s part). But there are a couple of things working against them. First, Wolves absolutely hate witches because they kill female shifters to steal their magic. And Jaxson has a specific and personal reason to hate witches beyond that species (?) prejudice. And that reason precludes him from taking a mate. And Olivia is a half-witch. Granted, she doesn’t practice, hasn’t even studied since the death of her parents when she was 12, but she really, really isn’t going to share her family background with the man she’s falling for, and who just hired her as an office assistant. To add to the relationship complications, Wolves from packs in the Seattle area are going missing, and the River Pack Security company Jaxson and his brothers run are responsible for rescuing the missing wolves and shutting the operation down.
Isn’t the cover art on this book delightful? I mean, yummy, right? As to the inside... The writing is good, as in no glaring grammatical or usage errors, and the dialogue moves the plot along — though I found the internal worrying at problems a little much. Less thinking, more action please! Character development is okay, but I will admit that I wasn’t in love with either the heroine or hero. The relationship developing between Olivia and Jaxson is as slow and tame as an old pony. In other words, not very explicit, so if the erotica is why you read the shifter subgenre, you won’t find a whole lotta sex here. There is some, but this is by no means an insta-lust kind of story. There is a subplot about Wolves from Seattle era packs going missing that is actually a little more compelling than the relationship conflict. Someone — possibly the government? — is kidnapping Shifters for nefarious reasons. Though that plot has been done betterby other authors, it was interesting enough to keep my interest. Although there is no cliffhanger, the resolution of that issue will likely happen over the course of the next two books about the other Rivers brothers. But I didn’t fall in love with the other brothers’ backstories, so I probably won’t continue with the series. Probably. The trilogy is in the Audible Escape collection, so maybe...
The narration was alright. I mean, each narrator did a creditable job, but I did not like the style of the performance. Ms Forest would voice Olivia’s lines in the midst of Mr. Berger’s performance of Jaxson’s narrative, and vice versa. I found it disconcerting.

Really Good

New Author to me. Good story, strong character and enthralling from beginning to end! Highly recommend +

Enjoyed it!

There wasn't anything about this book I didn't enjoy. A witch put a spell on Jaxson another witch Olivia took it off. The most memorable part was them being motal enemies and a wolf and a witch findiñg love. Olivia loved him enough to sacrifice her life for Jaxson. The narration was wonderful! Well onto Jaces journey. I am hoping it will be just as good. 😍😍😍

Jaxson & Olivia

A perfectly delicious, alluring, and intriguing journey to go on with Jaxson and Olivia. I was captivated from the beginning, and enjoyed every second till the end.
Douglas Berger and Delisha Forest are fantastic narrators.

Good light listen

I listen to books at work. This one was a good, light listen. Exactly the kind I like! So glad I finally downloaded it! No extra contrived drama, good sex scenes and HEA that was very sweet! Now on to book 2 and Jace.