Wolf, Becoming (Jaime’s Review)

Title: Wolf, Becoming
Author: Rory Ni Coileain
Publisher:
Reviewer: Jaime
Release Date: February 24th, 2016
Genre(s): m/m Paranormal/Shifters
Page Count: 102 Pages
Heat Level: 3.5 flames out of 5
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Blurb:

Volyk learns very young that he has to hide what he is—oboroten’, shape-shifter—after his father is killed and skinned by a hunter, and the pack that takes in his pregnant mother is hostile to his kind. When Volyk is ordered to fight the pack’s beta to prove his fitness, but instead obeys his hormones and tries to mount him, he’s declared an abomination and forced to flee.

Ilya, too, hides a secret. Being young and gay in modern Russia is dangerous, and he knows it. But the truth eventually gets out, and his brothers lure him into the forest to kill him. They’re stopped by Volyk, who hides the mortally wounded Ilya in his den. The only way to heal the human is to turn him into an oboroten’.

Unfortunately, Ilya’s gentle nature is ill-suited to the life of a wolf. But when Volyk’s old pack returns, seeking to take away Volyk’s magickal den, Ilya will have to embrace—truly become—the wolf Volyk made him to save both his mate’s life and his own.

This was a very hard book for me to read. I almost DNF’d it as it just had to many backward phrases, broken sentences and pronoun/noun conflicts. However, I kept going because I knew the author was using language like that to show the primitive thinking of the wolf and how the wolf is driven by base instincts.

This story deals with being gay when gayness is not accepted nor tolerated. Both the MC deal with it differently, one as a paranormal shape shifter and the other as a human. Volyk is confronted with his attraction to males when as a teenage wolf he is suppose to fight another Pack’s beta wolf and instead he mounts him and attempts to mate with him. Ilya hides his attraction to men until one day it gets out and his brothers beat him almost to death, leaving him for dead – until Volyk rescues him and in an attempt to heal him changes Ilya to an oboroten or shape shifter.

While learning to adjust as a wolf Ilya has difficulty transitioning from his calm and gentleness to having to hunt for food and eat it raw. It isn’t until Volyk’s previous pack comes back and threatens the couple that Ilya accepts what he is and helps to defend himself and his mate.

I have to admit that throughout this book I was frustrated at times just because of the writing style as mentioned above, however once I got past it and embraced the story it was a good story. I would have liked to have more story after Ilya finally accepts being a wolf and chooses to mate with Volyk – however, maybe the author is planning a sequel.

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