I really enjoyed the story and liked the twist and turns of the deceit within the boulder pack. It made every pack members actions and interactions questionable and also kept the story propelled further in mystery. I of course liked the tidbit about August and am excited how that will play out in the next book. But I still question some of Lucas's behavior that got quickly covered up with fascination. There are a lot of things still at play and how things will turn out. Overall, the boulder community is nicely built and complex with all the interactions and history, it was rich in details but clouded with mystery and dished out enough tidbits that kept you entranced with finishing the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Twig Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review! This book isn't coming out until the end of April but if it is up your alley, check it out and consider pre-ordering!

The world and story:
The world is modern day Colorado and Wildenstein did a good job describing pack history throughout the book. This is my first werewolf/changeling book and I still had some questions about their motivations, but I was satisfied with the amount of "world-building" for now. I read the whole thing in about two sittings, the story definitely kept me going. The little murder mystery aspect was as interesting as the competition, but I also had no problem staying involved when she was describing the friend outings or building relationships.

The writing:
Solid writing! The book flows well in first person and is well edited. Even when writing text messages from phones, it flows smoothly enough and I can always tell who is talking. There are a lot of flowery examples at first but I like the point of view when I feel like I am there.

The characters:
I really liked Ness. Main characters that are passive drive me nuts. She doesn't let the boys intimidate her, doesn't back down from the competition despite being taunted, waylaid, and eventually blackmailed. A true strong female lead! Liam is everything an alpha should be, and has a soft spot for Ness. He doesn't let her preconceived notions of him stop him from being a decent guy, and he saves her life at least twice. These two have a slightly cringe worthy hate - to - love relationship, for half of the book I was saying "just get together already!" Typical young adult angsty miscommunication nonsense!

The other main characters are Liam's friends in the pack, a generally decent group of guys even though they come across as pigs sometimes. I liked the "bromance" element. Sarah was a wildcard, as were some of the other characters mentioned, but most of them ended up being pretty generally good people. A few of them seemed to act out of character at times, like Matt towards the end, it all worked out though.

Overall:
It was overally appropriate for young adult. I would probably let 16+ read it if it were my kid, but the warning states 14+. It really was hard to put down, kept me interested, and makes me want to read more books by Olivia Wildenstein, because this is my first by her and I like her style! Recommended for fans of YA, werewolves, with a romance bit. 4/5 stars and looking forward to the next release!


This review appears in full on my blog.. I will make sure to advertise the post closer to the release date as well! https://onenursereader.wixsite.com/onereadingnurse-1/home/a-pack-of-blood-and-lies-by-olivia-wildenstein

Let me ask you this, do you love, hate to love tropes? A strong female lead? Werewolves? And angst, oh the angst. Then this book is for you.
Man, I was hooked from page one in this book, it has all of the right elements you want in a YA.
The book has an amazing cast of side characters and the authors writing is just so engrossing it made the book really hard to put down.
Nessa is officially my homegirl and I can't wait for the sequel.

This was a fun and engaging read about werewolves. I have not read any of Olivia Wildensteins books before but I will definitely be looking for her now. I like that the characters all had flaws and baggage to overcome.

A PACK OF BLOOD AND LIES by Olivia Wildenstein is a first book in a new YA paranormal romance trilogy. And what a GREAT start it is!

I must say that I LOVED everything about this book. The PLOT was ENTERTAINING. The CHARACTERS were FLAWED, hence, PERFECT and real, well developed, some of them were very lovable, especially, LIAM. The WORLD was INTRIGUING. The ROMANCE was BEAUTIFUL.

The thing you must remember is that they are not humans but werewolves, therefore, their believes, culture and way of life will not be the same as ours, however, MC Ness does fight the sexism and is not quietly accepting of the way of these wolfs. Even though her pack is flawed and at times quite horrible to her, at the same time they are also protective, loyal and easy to fall for. I enjoyed the dynamics between her and the pack.

I liked Ness a lot but I LOVED LIAM. Liam is everything that you want a werewolf alpha to be. I enjoyed the chemistry between Liam and Ness. I enjoyed this thrilling story with all the ups and downs. There was tension, romance, bromance, action, danger and excitement filled pages. I ENJOYED IT ALL.

This book was everything a werewolf book should be and more. I CAN’T WAIT TO READ MORE. I want more of Liam and Ness, of their and Boulder wolves pack’s story. I’m so very glad that I got this ARC from NetGalley because otherwise I could have lost an opportunity to read one of my new favourite books. This book put Olivia Wildenstein on my radar, as I will be checking out her other books now.

5 STARS TO THE BEST WEREWOLF BOOK EVER.A Pack of Blood and Lies by Olivia Wildenstein is on my list of TOP10 books read in 2018. And this new trilogy is number 5 on my most anticipated books of 2019.

(Review on my blog coming soon)

A great read. The plot is complicated yet easy to follow and absolutely gripping from the beginning. The characters are interesting and engaging and have enough background information to make them easy to understand. The writing style was beautifully descriptive and flowed throughout. Easy reading but no lightweight. I'm definitely looking forward to more. I recommend this one for anyone who enjoys rhe supernatural

A Pack of Blood and Lies by Olivia Wildenstein is the first book of the new The Boulder Wolves series. This is the beginning of a young adult romantic paranormal fantasy series of which is probably obvious by the title and series names features Werewolves.

Right before her eighteenth birthday Ness has to return to Colorado and her pack which she had run from years before. The Boulder Wolves were an all-male pack with the exception of Ness. Being the only female born to the pack in years Ness was not exactly welcomed and really still wants nothing to do with those she left.

However, now that The Boulder Wolves need a new Alpha Ness sees this as her chance for a bit of revenge by challenging Liam Kolane for the title. Liam’s father had been the pack’s alpha for years and was as mean as they come so to keep the pack out from under another Kolane would be all he incentive Ness needs to win the challenges.

I have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with werewolf books but having read other series by Olivia Wildenstein and enjoying them I had to give this one a try. Thankfully I was right and this was a much better wolf story than the adult versions of “your my mate let’s hop into bed”. A Pack of Blood and Lies centers around pack politics and the mysteries of previous deaths in the pack along with the secrets and lies being uncovered within the pack. While I wouldn’t say it’s overly original in content it was a fun read and I’d be interested in seeing what the next book brings.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Hello, I will post my review to Instagram, blog, and Goodreads on April 16th, 2019. Review will also be added to Amazon and Barnes & Noble on the publication date (if applicable). Links to reviews will be added when they are public, thank you.

Title: A Pack of Blood and Lies
Author: Olivia Wildenstein
Publication Date: April 30th, 2019
Rating: 4 stars
eARC provided by publisher through NetGalley

A Pack of Blood and Lies follows Ness as she returns to her hometown after her mother dies. One Secret Boulder keeps is that there are werewolves. Ness is one and since being absent her pack is all but inclusive especially because of her gender. As she vies for the alpha role, she must confront her past head on and the secrets that could change everything.

Ness is a girl who is strong and independent and her background has molded her into that. She is loyal and stands up for what she believes and doesn't back down when times get tough. Even though she is cocky at times, her actions are always normal human responses and I appreciate her being so real. The banter between the younger pack members was wonderful and made me want to be a part of their bunch. The relationship in this book is your typical hate/love and it had its cheesy moments but I was all for it!

Going into this book I wasn't sure what to expect and frankly I was pleasantly surprised. I love a good werewolf plot and this one did not disappoint. There were a lot of twists and even though a few were obvious, a couple of them took me by surprise. There is romance, murder, and unique family dynamics like the wolf packs.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable read and even when I took a break from reading I still kept thinking about the book and what could happen next. It drew me in and I literally can't wait for the next book to see what the pack is doing. If you are a fan of Twilight (but prefer werewolves) or just enjoy a good werewolf romance then this is the book for you!

5/5 stars

I feel like I've been waiting to read another fast paced, slow-burn, fantasy YA romance for awhile and this one hit the spot! There was so much more to this story than just the love story including murder mysteries, werewolf pack and family dynamics. It had a tendency to keep me up past my bedtime and want to ignore the real world. Naturally I loved every second of it!

Ness, a teenage werewolf, is pulled back into the world that cast her out after her father's murder six years ago. The pack is currently seeking a new alpha after the most recent and sudden death of the late alpha. His son, Liam, has been training his whole life for this and is currently vying for the role. However, if they think Ness will sit by on the sidelines while they chose the next leader for their male-only pack, then they have another thing coming!

Ness was such a feministic firecracker! I loved her personality and her dedication to her loved ones from the beginning. She always gave up her free time and earnings to care for her mother and neighbor. She definitely made some idiotic choices within the book, but it went with her hot-headed nature and only helped move the story along.

Now, if you love your hate-to-love relationships in books this is definitely one not to miss! Most of the interactions between Ness and Liam had me smirking, laughing and smiling. I loved the back and forth even when it was more serious in nature. It felt like a case of Pride & Prejudice where neither truly knew where the other party was coming from and miscommunication flying everywhere! Speaking of love interests, I'd honestly enjoy seeing more of the female werewolves mentioned in the next few books possibly with love interests of their own!

I would have to say the interaction and comradery between the younger pack members was so well written from all angles. I loved reading the guys ribbing each other and the females joking around. It truly felt like they knew each other a long time and I loved feeling that closeness through the pages. I hope we get to see Ness interacting even more with female werewolfs in the next few books since she originates from an all male pack.

I really liked the overall story and how it all came together in the end in preparation for the next story. I'm already antsy and excited waiting for the next books in the series to be released!

Thank you so much to Twig Publishing for allowing me to read this ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

**I received a copy free from Netgalley for an honest review. **

In the very diverse and populated field of paranormal stories, this managed to still different and new. There are a lot of things that are handled the same, such as pack hierarchy, shifting as a secret from humans, and strife between packs. But, what this book does differently is that, moving away can stop shifting, and that in this pack, there are girls. Now, these both become in the story, and I really like how that becomes important to the story.
However, this story revolves around the murder of the old Alpha, and the selection of the new.
Since I don’t want to spoil everything, I’ll just say please give this book a chance. I know I’m already looking forward to the sequel!

First off thank you for allowing me to review this book. I really enjoyed it. It was definitely a solid read and I can honestly say I flew through it. I do love me some wolves, brooding male leads and snarky female leads! Some solid writing from Wildenstein indeed! My full review on my blog (mediashadowreads) is linked. Thank you again!

“People often hated what they didn’t understand. No one understood why a girl was born to the pack, and that inspired hatred.”

Ness Clark is forced to return to Colorado, to the life she and her mother escaped without looking back. Now that she’s back, she is forced to deal with the pressure of being the only female in a pack that does not want her, to deal with people that only wish to see her gone. Until she stakes claim to the Alpha post everything goes awry from that point. Secrets are uncovered, and with Liam Kolane, the son of the Alpha she’s sworn to hate, in the way, things become rather interesting.

In this contemporary YA we are introduced to a friendly type of shifters, werewolves, I say friendly because I thought they were cute! Ness is our heroine, and the only woman in a pack of men. Fun, huh? I liked that Ness wasn’t intimidated by the pack, she was relentless despite being a female. Although sometimes assertiveness is confused to being bitchy and downright rude to other people, this is aplicable to most of Ness attitude towards most of the guys in the pack, which honestly, not wanting to be in a place where you aren’t wanted either would turn me into a bitch too.

I liked the shifter world, how Ness shifting is described in detail, and her thoughts in wolf form. It reminded me of Twilight, but way better. The plot is about Ness trying to unravel the lies and deceit around her leaving Boulder. There is some romance going on. but is not overwhelming or downright annoying. There is no an insta-love between the characters, which I liked too. To me, Ness is likeable, yet I am somewhat hoping for more development to her character, because it was two dimensional. I can feel some potential for this series, but we’ll see.

Mainly, I am interested with the whole pack interaction, rules, and mysteries going around this first book.

I totally recommend it if you are into paranormal, YA kind of books, it has some twists that makes the book unputdownable, but be patient! It took a while for the book to grown on me.



This ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange of a review!

Ness's world turns upside down after her mother's death when some of her extended family shows up unexpectedly and forces her to return to Colorado and face the hurt brought on her family from years past. On top of that, she's returning to a place where she feels unwanted and her family and the pack don't exactly make it easy on her - so she's got her defenses up. The Alpha, one of the people Ness hates most in the world, has died and there's a spot open to lead the pack. Maybe this is her chance to turn things on them, or maybe these people and this situation isn't what she thinks.

We've all read a werewolf book or two, let's be honest, and this book has the things we all want, conflict, morphing, and a hot werewolf or two. I mean, I was crushing on Liam and August a little! But I love that that's not the main focus of this book. There's a lot of real-life issues: If a woman voices her opinion and holds her ground, does that shed her in a bad light? Are women less strong, less important than men? Are some of our preconceived notions about the opposite sex altered when we let our guard down and let other people in? Vulnerability and strength are both beautiful things when it comes to both men and women and all of these things are explored in this book. Ness does not want to be hurt again and therefore has a fortress around herself, but she and everyone around her learns a thing or two about assumptions in this book. Another reason I couldn't put this book down is that while there were a couple things I could guess with the plot, I ended up being surprised in the end! This book will definitely hook the reader and make them think about perceptions.

A Pack of Blood and Lies is coming out in April 2019 so make sure to add it to your TBR list! Thanks to Netgalley and Twig Publishing for providing me a copy to read. This book was provided to me but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

It’s good to know this book is part of a trilogy. Even though many details are wrapped up at the end, there’s one very big relationship situation that must be answered! I look forward to future books in the series.

I requested A Pack of Blood and Lies by Olivia Wildenstein on a whim after being sucked in by that gorgeous cover. I haven’t read any of her other work but I was enchanted by the idea of a female challenging a male for alpha status. I am so glad I was sent this book. I had such a tough time putting it down and even pushed off some of my other projects because I had to know how everything worked out.

I enjoyed Ness for the most part. Her character, exhibiting gumption laced with the recklessness of youth, had me cheering and scolding in equal measure. We meet her after her mother has passed from cancer where she is working as a housekeeper alongside Evelyn, a grandmotherly type that essentially took over parenting Ness. Suddenly, her estranged uncle and his family show up and force Ness to move back to Colorado, back to a pack that didn’t want anything to do with her because she was the only female wolf to be born to the pack in generations. One thing leads to another and Ness challenges Liam’s ascension to Alpha, motivated by her hatred for his late father. While I admired Ness’s decision to participate in the challenges, she truly did have a couple of moments where I wondered aloud if she was too stupid to live. The challenge of reading YA as I get older is it’s easy to forget how a seventeen-year-old can make such risky decisions only to realize that she is probably taking her life into her hands when there is no turning back.

Liam is intense and passionate. I love how the author wrote him as an alpha male type without sacrificing respect for Ness’s boundaries. It made the tension between the two of them increase tenfold and made the mechanics and growth of their relationship seem more realistic.

The only complaint I truly have is regarding my confusion with the timeline of events. Did Ness visit Heath before or after the family showed up to take her back to Colorado? I don’t know if I missed it but I wish it had been hashed out a little more.

I am really looking forward to reading more about the Boulder Pack. If Lucas and Sarah don’t get thrown together I will be so upset. Also, I need to know what on earth is August’s problem and the poor man needs to find his own lady. I definitely plan on stalking the release dates for Wildenstein’s future work and will circle back to try out another series.

Alana from Dream Come Review

A she-wolf that fights for alpha... I'm in! I'm all about female empowerment. Such a great read.

I loved the characters and how I was never able to predict who was good and who was bad. Nothing was predictable and I never wanted to put it down. Definitely recommend.

*Rape and domestic violence is mentioned, but briefly.*

This book blew my expectations out of the water. I loved the idea, the characters and the writing a lot. The author takes the commonly used concept of werewolves and changes it enough to make it a refreshing read. In particular, I was intrigued by the idea of the MC being the only female in an all-male pack, and I enjoyed reading the dynamics and the change Ness brought to the pack.

The plot is quite simple but that, along with the writing, made it easy to breeze through the book in a few days. There were no pacing issues and I was always engaged. I feel like the book was a little short, or rather that it was over a little too quickly, but this is most likely because I enjoyed it so much and just wanted more.

I also really loved the romance. I felt it progressed at a reasonable pace and Ness and Liam, the love interest, really suited each other. I appreciated how Ness' character developed, especially in regards to the initial prejudice she had towards Liam.

I did have a few niggles over some things but they were minor and didn't affect my rating. First of all, there were moments where I was confused over what was happening and things weren't explained well enough. For example, I didn't even realise Ness was the only female werewolf in her whole pack until later since I initially thought that female werewolves just weren't allowed to have a say in pack decisions.

As well, a downside to the plot being simple is that the events in the book were quite predictable and easy to guess. I could already tell who would become Alpha at the beginning of the novel. I also felt that the plot could have been a little stronger if the book had detailed more on Ness' present situation away from the pack at the beginning of the book instead of diving straight into Ness making the decision to move back.

It would have also been nice if some secondary characters could have been fleshed out just a little more, because I couldn't always gauge their personality. The last problem I had was that it didn't seem convincing enough that Ness would come back to the pack and contest for Alpha for the reasons given, though I do understand that without her doing so we wouldn't even have a novel.

Overall however, A Pack of Blood and Lies was a great read and one I highly recommend. It ends nicely but at the same time leaves some things open and I'll be eagerly awaiting the sequel.

4.25 stars!

[ARC Provided Generously in Exchange for an Honest Review]

Things I felt while I read this book: Confusion, worry, and frustration.

I do not necessarily think it is a bad thing that I felt all those emotions while I was reading this book but it was certainly a lot to digest.

Let's unpack my confusion: The protagonist had me feeling all over the place because she was all over the place. The main character, Ness Clark, is a young girl who is basically forced to move back to where she grew up as child but it is also a place that pretty much turned their backs on her and her mother. She is now older and on her own. The place, Boulder, does not hold many warm memories for her. I think my almost constant state of confusion was trying to figure out why the author chose to not give the readers any flashback scenes with Ness and the many people she encounters that she grew up with. The book is from Ness' POV, but as the reader, I only know so much in the moment. I think if readers were given some flashback scenes of her as a child interacting with supporting characters like Liam, August, and even Everest then maybe I could understand more of her as a person and her character traits.

I think worry is an obvious emotion given the content. Ness was always dealing with something major, and I had major anxiety for her always.

My frustration stems from Ness' interactions with many of the male characters (which there are many). Liam, Everest, Lucas, Julian, and August are at the top of that list. I think once you read the book then you will understand why. I just was always waiting for the other shoe to drop with her and these characters. I feel like I will get some insight and clarity in the next installment, A Pack of Vows and Tears. At least, I am hoping.

Overall, I feel like this was an intriguing novel. I am interested in more, and I don't feel that very often.

While this wasn’t a bad book, I struggled to connect with the characters and the plot couldn’t really hold my attention. The romance part felt rushed.
Sadly, this book just wasn’t for me.

I received a free copy of this book for reviewing purposes from Netgalley.

Effective composition based on a seemingly misogynistic were-pack with underlying intricacies. Wonderful character development, and a plot-twist (a few realistically) which were effective. A couple of controversial plot-lines which were used effectively, and not as throw-away plot devices. Romantic plot line shows the development and maturing of characters throughout the novel.