Expectations are a funny thing. I judged the first book, Exhale by its cover, thought it was going to be a bit twisted and dark. While listening to it I quickly realised that wasn’t the case. So going into this book I expected more of what we got in the first book, some violence, a lot of pack politics and intrigue. Again I found myself being wrong. Bleed was darker than I expected, there was much more angst and hurt than I expected. It had all the elements I anticipated in the first book, but didn’t get, and I can’t do anything but laugh at that, at the irony of it all.
Vasil knows a couple of things. First his feelings and desires for his best friend and alpha, Mason, can never be known, barely even thought of, or he’d lose everything. But more than that he will get his revenge on the man that took everything from him; murdered his family and kept him prisoner and tortured him sixteen years ago. If it’s the last thing he ever does he will take Dominic down. He just hadn’t counted on what it would cost to do it. I won’t give too much of the plot away, you’ll need to experience it for yourselves, just know this isn’t a sweet or cuddly story. At times it’s brutal and raw, and you might just bleed a bit alongside the characters, but in the end it’s all worth it.
Kirt Graves is made for this series. He brings the books and characters to life. Most of the characters in this book speak with a heavy accent, and I’m impressed that Graves keeps it up throughout. I can only imagine how hard that must have been. I mean, it is one thing to narrate the occasional character with an accent, but a whole book – that’s another story. This might be a reason why his voices for the characters sounded so similar and sometimes mixed together. But in the end I enjoyed listening to him all the same.
I’ve loved to spend time with the Ursache pack, and these men. I don’t know if this book is the end of it or not. I can only say that if there will be more books in this series, I will happily stand first in line for a copy – the audio obviously – because that’s the best way to enjoy them. But if this is the end, it has been a great journey to take.
A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes.