A Soulmark Series Book 1
Zoelle Baudelaire is a culinary studies college graduate who returns to her home town, with her grandmother, after graduating. Her parents and sibling were killed in a car accident and it turns out she’s from a long line of witches. Her coven is involved in an ongoing dispute with a pack of wolves who moved into their area.
Immediately, I’m not sure if I will like Zoe. She claims she doesn’t love her boyfriend and is only with him because he’s safe, or until so something better comes along. Such a revelation is not the best way to endear a reader to the female MC in the opening chapter. Apparently, she’s been burned in a previous relationship, fair enough, but it just feels a little cold. However, she does care about treating her boyfriend right as she comes to realise their relationship cannot continue, so that lifts her in my estimations.
Aleksandr Adolphus is the Lycan alpha. Zoe accidentally comes across the wolves in the forest and discovers they bear the same birthmark, or soul mark, which means they are fated to bond together for life.
He could be quite the alpha hole, but she really makes him work for it rather than puts up with his dominating behaviour. But that’s it, there’s no real depth to him. He reins in his primal urges to win her over, and she sets her own terms, rather than bowing to pressure.
There’s a lot of stuff going on in the background that I would have liked to feature in the story rather than be told what happened after the fact. Hey, this is paranormal romance, we want the magic, the spells, the action, as well as the emotional development of the characters and their relationship.
Less time could have been spent on her whining about what she should do and actually have her involved in the wider plot. I felt that despite her initial willingness to stand up for what she wants, she’s just tagging along for the last part of the story, letting others do what needs to be done, while she’s lamenting the loss of a relationship she admitted was only temporary in the first chapter.
As a werewolf romance goes it’s also decidedly lacking in wolves. We only actually see some characters in wolf form in chapter one, and that’s it. This book is okay for a bit of escapism. The plot is focused in some places, then brushes over things which I felt should have featured more predominantly. The characters are a bit hit and miss, but the tension and build up is decent, and fairly spicy once it peaks.
Plot: ⭐️⭐️
Feels: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
