Book Review: Hunting Season by Kate Rudolph (Guarded by the Shifter Book 1)

     After a cult ceremony while Owen and his team were stationed in Germany in the Army they are turned into werewolves. In an attempt to cover what happened to them the Army discharged the group and now they have decided to start their own security business. With the General's contacts things are progressing well and when he assigns Owen to babysit a spoiled princess who has had 3 kidnapping attempts in the last year he doesn't hesitate. However, when he meets Stasia he soon learns that there is more to her than her daddy's money. In fact, his wolf is all but howling the word mate at this woman he is sworn to protect. Being a werewolf is still new to the team and this new development could make the possibility of leaving her after the job is through very difficult. 

    I listened to this book on the Libby app. Impulse audiobook download and I will say that this book has made me rethink an earlier decision of mine. A few months ago I was listening to a military romance and was bored so I assumed I was over the military macho man type and had finally gotten them out of my system. I thought wrong. While these boys are no longer active military they still default to a commanding officer and I have the biggest crush on Owen. Not even sure why. I generally go or brunettes instead of blondes and his personality is more class clown than anything else. Still, he's adorable and I'm glad he found his human. Stasia was a bit harder to love, only because of her closed off nature. She isn't the pain expected, and I suppose anyone who had lived the life she has would be detached as well. 

    This book is different from most shifter books in that they aren't born or bitten. Instead a cult-like ceremony was preformed on the team, who had previously not even known each other. The characters are great and I need to see who Emmie ends up with. She seems so hardworking and I low-key love her already. Some pettiness, sass, and a whole lot of talent wrapped in one pretty package. 

    Another difference with this book is being the first in a series you automatically assume you're going to be reading about an alpha. While Owen is decidedly an alpha male he isn't pack alpha or even second in command. In fact, at the beginning of the book he is referred to as someone that no one really depends on. It's interesting that the author chose to start the series off with him. 

    Now then, this book wasn't all peaches and cream. The job was to keep Stasia safe from kidnappers while her brother and father worked to resolve the issue. Sounds simple enough, but we never got an answer as to who was behind the kidnappings and what their true motive was. It annoys me when things are left unresolved unless it's part of a bigger background things. However, when it pertains to the story I feel those things should be resolved by the last page. 

    This book is available on Amazon for $4.99 by clicking here.