Ayla spent her whole life being the outcast. She was the child of her father's affair and he resented her, so she spent her first twenty-two years being shamed and beaten by her father, step-mother and others in the pack. I am not sure how she turned out remotely as well as she did considering the abusive childhood she had. She was so optimistic about getting her wolf and hopefully a mate from a different pack! Rejection shouldn't surprise her anymore, but of course her fated mate, an alpha-heir in another pack, rejected her. Her beloved brother was killed in the brawl that followed and she barely managed to escape with her life; the mysterious Alpha of the lost pack saved her and brought her to their lands. While she is proving her trust and skills to the new pack, she starts to find what she was missing, acceptance. The new pack, and especially their alpha, begin to accept her and she even joins their pack! But just as she is feeling at home and figuring out the relationship with Kaden, her mate that rejected her appears and steals her back.

I loved this book and devoured it so quickly! I hated the abuse that Ayla endured growing up, but to see her transformation, skill, and confidence grow was amazing! I really, really, really wish we could have Kaden's perspective! I was dying to know what he was thinking throughout the book; I payed special attention to any scene involving him so I could learn as much as I could about him and his personality. ( )

This was a perfectly decent paranormal romance with a mates element. I like the concept of a rejected mates story and this one was pretty well done. I never felt blown away, which is why this is a three-star review and not higher. '

I liked where the relationship between Ayla and Kaden was headed but at the same time, I never felt like I understood why they liked each other besides the fact they both found each other hot. They are not mates (at this point anyway) so I don't even really have that as an excuse. I just don't think we got enough scenes of them together to really see their relationship develop. I think if we had gotten a few more scenes of them just talking and getting to know each other, I would have believed the relationship more.

the action scenes were decent but began to feel a bit repetitive at the end. There is also the middle section where Ayla is doing a lot of training that felt really dull to me. This book was a quick read and was generally interesting and held my attention. I just wanted a bit more for the first book of a series.

This does end on a cliffhanger and I will probably read book two because This was enjoyable and I'm reasonably intrigued. I may hold off on reading book two because I didn't realize that this series was incomplete and book three comes out in February so I may wait until closer to then to read book two. I would still recommend this book as a quick easy read, especially if you like fated-mates-with-a-twist plots. ( )

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