For coyote shifter Blue Shapely, becoming the new alpha of Maria’s pack is his long-awaited chance to be his own man and eliminate chaos from the town. Unfortunately, the pack’s patron is thwarting him at every turn. After being magically attached to the Coyote group for more than a century, demigoddess Willa Matheson has a soft spot for them—even the dangerous ones threatening to expose them to humans. She may have hired Blue to rein in the pack, but the two constantly disagree on strategy. She doesn’t want to upset anyone, whereas he’ll do whatever it takes to get his Coyotes in line. And to make things worse: all signs point to the anxious demigoddess being his mate. But developing a tenderness for Willa will be an obstacle to Blue’s determination to be as ruthless as he needs to be. If the duo can’t find a way to retract their claws, and soon, it may be too late to protect the pack’s secret—and their own hearts.
This was an ok book. My problem was with Willa. I just really didn’t care for her character, especially in the beginning. The rest of it was pretty decent.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

I am a huge fan of this author. I have read so many of her paranormal romances and never been disappointed.

This book has to very interesting characters that you wouldn't expect to make a great couple. They seem so different but really bring out the best in each other.

Willa and Blue are brought together when she needs a new leader for her pack of coyote shifters. She isn't able to keep them safe and wants to protect them. Blue needs to escape his father and his plans for him. He knows he can do the job but he and Willa have very different ideas on how to lead them.

Willa is very insecure because of her past and her family history. She has kept to herself and Blue brings her out of that shell. He challenges her.

Blue is a shifter but has been raised in a mob like family. He knows about family issues. Willa calls to him and he is determined to keep her safe.

They have great chemistry. The heat is there from that first meeting.

While many of the characters are part of earlier books, I think you can easily read it as a standalone as well. I would encourage you to the read the other related books too.

I am voluntarily reviewing a copy I received.

Another hit in the series. This is the story of the Coyotes' patron demigod Willa and the new Alpha Blue. I really enjoyed this one and had a hard time putting it down. Since both had obnoxious fathers they had an understanding of each other in a new light. I liked how they slowly progressed towards a stronger relationship and I liked how others from the past stories (this is book 4) pop in and out as well. Would like to see more with the cougars and happy to see the next book in the series touches on just that. Highly recommend this book, series, and author. I like how it touches on a variety of mythical beings instead of just one.

I had trouble with this book. It seemed to drag on and I lost interest. It took to long to get to the point and I gave up.

The Coyote’s Chance is an enchanting book that characters were a bit surprising because they were in no way what I was picturing. But this is a good thing because the difference added a whole different feel to the book and made it a very interesting read. The Demigoddess pictured a whole different personality but the surprise that the author had in store for me added a lot of depth to the characters and definitely had me emphasizing with the characters as I became totally engrossed in the rocky relationship growing between these two characters

The Coyote’s Chance is an enchanting book that characters were a bit surprising because they were in no way what I was picturing. But this is a good thing, because the difference added a whole different feel to the book and made it a very interesting read. Willa was the most surprising because her being a demigoddess had picturing a whole different personality but the surprise that the author had in store for me added a lot of depth to the characters and definitely had me emphasizing with the characters as I became totally engrossed in the rocky relationship growing between these two characters. As usual, Holley Trent manages to portray her characters with a vibrancy that makes it easy for readers to become caught up in the story as well as ensuring that the characters heat up the pages with lots of steamy passion.

The readers are also kept glued to the pages by the suspense that builds throughout the story regarding their respective fathers who cause some major conflicts for Willa and Blue and what their future has in store for them. Lots of action and thrills to keep reader’s on the edge of their seats but what’s more, the author adds some unexpected twists to keep readers guessing as to what will happen next or even if Willa and Blue shall overcome some major obstacles in their search for their happily ever after.

Holley Trent has added another enchanting book to her growing list of wonderful books as I was totally captured by Willa and Blue’s story and I can’t wait for the next Master of Maria book.

3.75 stars--THE COYOTE’S CHANCE is the fourth instalment in Holley Trent’s contemporary, adult MASTERS OF MARIA paranormal, romance series focusing on a large group of supernatural citizens who call Maria, New Mexico their home. This is coyote shifter Blue Shapely, and demigoddess/middle school music instructor Willa Matheson’s story line. THE COYOTE’S CHANCE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Blue and Willa) THE COYOTE’S CHANCE follows an opposites attract/ enemies to lovers building relationship between coyote shifter/ reluctant alpha Blue Shapely, and powerless demigoddess, patron of the coyote shifters of Maria, Willa Matheson. Maria, New Mexico’s coyotes are out of control, and Willa Matheson struggles as their patron goddess, a position assigned by her father, a god whose dislike of his daughter has been measured by our heroine’s years of suffering and pain. As the coyote’s patron, Willa is ‘magically’ attached to a group of shifters who see her as a push over; a woman who doesn’t have the ability or power to control. Enter Blue Shapely, coyote shifter, reluctant and temporary alpha, the man Willa ‘hires’ to rein in the wild coyote shifters of Maria, New Mexico. What ensues is the building romance between Blue and Willa, and the potential fall out when Blue comes face to face with a god who has the power to return our heroine’s supernatural abilities-for a price.

The relationship between Blue and Willa is slow to develop as our heroine has entrusted the coyotes of Maria, New Mexico to a man whose own life is beginning to spiral out of control. Promised to another, Blue’s attraction to Willa is more than just physical but a visceral and primal need to claim a mate but Willa’s dark and heart breaking past finds our heroine, pushing away the man with whom she is falling in love, in order to protect both of their hearts. Willa’s past is rife with emotional, physical and tortuous abuse that has shaped our heroine into the broken woman we see today. The $ex scenes are intimate, seductive and passionate.

There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including numerous coyotes, supernatural beings and humans from Maria, New Mexico; Tito Perez (The Demigod’s Legacy #1), Tamatsu and Noelle (The Angel’s Hunger #2), Ben (The Wolf’s Joy #3), as well as Blue’s sister Diana; his lieutenants Kenny and Lance, and his father Randall Shapely aka O.G.

THE COYOTE’S CHANCE is an emotional story line where one woman is unable to move on from her past, and one man struggles between his head and his heart. The premise is entertaining, dramatic and emotional; the characters are colorful, spirited and somewhat tragic; the romance is captivating.

Copy supplied by Netgalley for review

THE READING CAFÉ: http://www.thereadingcafe.com/the-coyotes-chance-masters-of-maria-4-by-holley-trent-a-review/


AMAZON.COM: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1HUNR78RVEXZ7/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0775L8DR6


GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2208437022


BOOKBUB: https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/110664259

B&N: (Sandy_thereadingcafe) posted

CHAPTERS/INDIGO: (Sandy_At_the_Reading_Cafe) posted

Sometimes a book is just not for me, and this was sadly the case here. I made it to about 30% into the book before I gave up due to my own triggers being pressed. There's a lot to love in THE COYOTE'S CHANCE, though, so please keep reading. It may very well be the book for you!

The set-up is this: Willa is the daughter of the god Apollo and a human. Apollo assigns all of his offspring to group of supernatural beings, in Willa's case it's a coyote pack. Because Willa is a) not a shifter, b) not exactly magical anymore and c) suffering from PTSD and related anxiety, she's not able to manage the pack on her own. This is where Blue comes in. He's taking charge of the pack (as alpha, natch) for Willa and, at the same time, temporarily avoiding an arranged marriage.

Willa is a middle school band teacher and her patient, sweet temperament is pretty perfect for the role. As the daughter of Apollo, she's been playing musical instruments for literally hundreds of years, and she's able to watch over some of the pack's children by being in the school. Blue is a bit rougher, but not like the rest of the pack. He's more of a law and order type, with an almost military-style attachment to proper dress and behavior. The rest of the pack he's set to manage is rowdy - the book opens with Willa about to leave a bar because her pack is getting drunk and about to brawl.

The two of them have an enemies-to-lovers opposites-attract dynamic going on that is usually my catnip. Between the rival cougar pack in town and Blue's family obligations, there are also external forces keeping them apart. The biggest obstacle, however, is Willa's father. (TW: emotional abuse, stalking, torture.)

Now we come to the reason I had to stop reading. In this book, Apollo is an abusive asshole. Willa is a demigoddess, but her father stripped away her magical abilities. He didn't save her from the Spanish Inquisition, leaving her to be tortured and burned at the stake. SERIOUSLY. In Willa's POV, we learn that he has systematically removed anyone and anything that she loves from her life. For over 500 years. The part that made my skin crawl (and this is a mark of Trent's skill as a writer), is a scene fairly early on when Willa arrives home to discover that her father has been in her house. She isn't sure if he's still there, and breaks down in a panic attack on the floor of her room. (Blue happens to be there and does everything he ought to do.) It's the creeping sense of that impending confrontation with Apollo that caused me to put the book down.

I am 100% confident that this won't trigger most readers, so I'm going to go on with another paragraph about Trent's writing style and let you decide if you'd like to try it out. This was my first of her books and it's full of amusing descriptions, honest characterization, and a nice slow build of tension between the two main characters. Trent's done an excellent job showing me who these characters are and what drives them in that first third of the book, I just can't stick around for the rest to see how they figure their stuff out.