Whispering Hills Books 1-2, Tabatha Austin

Objectively, these are pretty good books.  There's shifting, mpreg, hard-won romance, drama, sexy times, and happily ever afters.  Objectively, they probably deserve a little higher star ratings.  But there's just something about the storytelling, the characters, the world-building...just quite a few somethings that didn't jive with me personally.  They're not amazing, they're not bad, on the whole they're just acceptably nice stories with a whole lot of potential.

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On the run from an unsavory past, Alex finds himself trapped in a nowhere town by a bunch of freaks who think they can turn into wolves.  Oh, and they can't prove it.  And he's mated to a deliciously "country-handsome" man who is too nice to be believed.  Jake has been waiting for Alex and all the hopes he had pinned on finding a mate meet reality and nothing goes according to anyone's plans.

There was a whole lot of potential for these two men and while they had complicated pasts, I thought they, as individuals, lacked depth.  I had hoped they would spend time getting to know one another with their forced situation, but instead there's a lot of "you just don't understand," and both men are at fault for putting unrealistic expectations on one another.  Everything works out in the end, but getting to that point is filled with more disappointment than exultation.  There was a whole lot of description too.  Not like the author was telling rather than showing, just doing a whole lot of showing.  It's one thing to paint a picture for the reader, but to describe each brushstroke is excessive.  It took away from the imagination and artistry that could have been achieved otherwise.  As for the drama, it was excessively violent, I feel.

The world-building was confusing as were the terms and descriptions along the way.  I felt so lost in the beginning, wondering why Alex was treated the way he was, why they went about introducing him to the town and Alphas the way he was, and all that went into the agreement with Westley.  There was just something missing from each of those points that I had a really hard time staying with the story from start to finish.  2.5 stars.

Where book one wasn't as great with the definitions of terms, world-building, and individual depth, My Shifter Hero did much better.  Because Truman was excessively wordy at times and due to his personality, when he described something he did it well.  Where he was lacking, other characters picked up the slack when Luke had his big doubts and questions.  It wasn't entirely adequate, but it was better.  Their relationship felt more solid because of the way they learned to communicate, the little things they did to understand one another, and the way they had to earn their own individual acceptance before they could truly accept their mate.  Their trials felt more magical and emotional rather than physical.

One thing that was missing from their "welcome" to the pack was the Sheriff acknowledging the strengths of each man when they came back after their trials.  What they brought to the pack was more valuable, I feel than what I've seen others "offer", but that seemed glossed over.

A moment that stands out as being overly simplistic, showing a serious lack of creativity, and pretty absurd, was the "reasoning" given to the drastic change Luke's mother experienced.  I was pretty disappointed with that and it soured so many of the good things going on in that scene.  Other than that, the overly descriptive story is an improvement on the first, but I'm not sure that it sold me on coming back for more of the series.  It's not a bad read at all, it just wasn't my type of story in the end.  3 stars.