REVIEW Matefinder.

TITLE. Matefinder

AUTHOR. Leia Stone

RELEASE DATE. December 2014

PAGES. 296 

FORMAT. Ebook

GENRE. YA, fantasy

 

SUMMARY.

Werewolves, facing the threat of extinction, desperately seek their mates to bear young. Aurora, a human far removed from the supernatural world, is nearing her own end after being fatally injured in a car accident.

 

Kai, an Alpha werewolf, lurks in the nearby trees watching her bleed out. He chooses to save her the only way he knows how, by changing her. No one is prepared for what happens next. The tides turn in favor of the werewolves. The Matefinder has been found, and she is more powerful than anybody ever imagined. But is she prepared to be the most hunted werewolf in history?

 

STANDALONE or SERIES.

This is the first part in the Matefinder series, the second part is out already and the third one will be released later this year.

 

WHY this book.

I had a bit of trouble finding the right book to read. I’ve read a couple of amazing books lately and afterwards I get a bit indecisive about what’s next.. nothings seems good enough, or I’m not in the mood. I tried starting multiple books, but after a couple of sentences I put them away again. I hate it when I’m in this mood !

But I friend of mine told me about this series, and it was not a really long read and sounded interesting so I gave it a try.

 

FIRST THOUGHTS.

I really enjoyed this book ! It had its ups and downs, but overall it was really interesting. I even took notes on all the werewolf stuff ! I’m happy I picked this one up, and it was a good in-between read. 

 

PLOT.

So the story is about Aurora (love the name) and she just got turned into a werewolf after a deadly car accident. The man changing her, Kai, is the Alpha of the Mount Hood pack and she becomes pack. As it turns out she is a very dominant wolf and not only that, but Kai is her mate ! And.. she is a very special wolf, because she is a matefinder. Matefinders get some sort of visions about were the mate of other wolves are. Werewolves are on the brink of extinction and can one reproduce with their true mate, but normally it is rare to find your mate because they can be everywhere in the world, and everyone only has one mate, so he or she could die before you know it and you will never have a family ! So, Aurora is very high in demand. Oh and not only that, but if vampires (yes vampires exist in this world, just as witches and shamans) drink her blood, they can reproduce too ! But of course, vampires are the enemy and they start waging a war… 

 

I really liked this plot, it has lots of action, some romance, downside being that it can be a bit predictive.. but it gets harder and harder to surprise me lately, so that might be on me. 

 

Because so much keeps happening, and happing this first book is over before you know it ! The downside on things going so fast is that sometimes it becomes too fast. If I look back, it is like unrealistically fast, so much keeps happening. Because of all of that there is also not much room for personal development..

 

ROMANCE.

Even though I am not a big fan on Instalove, is was kind of okay in this book. I do think some things went a bit to smoothly, it could have more hurdles in the way so to say. But overall, their love was kind of sweet and cute. And they kept it real, Aurora knows it is going so fast and asks to keep it slow, because they barely know each other, a appreciated that !! 

Though their love it did not really make my heart beat faster. Only some kissing and promises, because they want to wait until they are married… Okay everybody has their own way, but I would have liked some more passion !

 

SETTING.

So this story is set in a world were three races of supernaturals live. You have the vampires, werewolves and witches. Vampires are the bad ones who hurt humans, werewolves are the good ones who protect humans, and the witches are neutral and serve both. I liked that that was established, that there are some ground rules. Like:

 

• Wolves can be made or born, but those who are made have an extra power when they turn (like immunity o to silver or super-fast changing).
• When a new wolf is made that person is in the pack of the maker, unless the pack of the birthplace claims him/her within 24 hours, then they have to fight about who gets the new wolf.
• Wolves are immortal, they grow until the beginning of their twenties, then it stops. They only start aging again the moment they are mated, and then they only grow like a year every 50 years or so.. 
• Of course, they can be killed, but only when they are being decapitated or bleed out. Like, the magic is in their blood, so without in no wolf. Otherwise they just heal, except when you poison them with silver, that hurts a lot and weakens them.
• Mates will recognise each other by the coat of their wolf form, it will be opposite (like a black wolf with a white spot and a white wolf with a black spot).
• When two wolves stare at each other, the first one to look away is less dominant then the other. Useful, and less deadly ! 

I really liked all the information about wolves and how things work, it really adds to the world building of the story. 

 

Also, Kai is Indian and the rest of his family still lives in India. I liked how they intertwined some Indian traditions and food into the mix. (Though I did get really annoyed how Aurora has been in India and knows everything already.. too easy !!)

  

Hopefully we will get to know more about the stuff with the other races, because I was really surprised that they have no problems with daylight !!! Kind of cheating..

  

CHARACTERS.

I had some mixed feelings about our main character, I liked how strong she was and independent, even though she has an Alpha as mate, she stands her ground and I really applicate that in my women. But, I do think some things come a bit too easy to her, that she accepts everything to easily. That really bothered me. So much changes for her, it should be more overwhelming and more getting used to I think. 

I like Kai, he is a good Alpha for his pack and a kind person. But sometimes he was just too confusing. One moment he tries to be dominant and she just gives in, and other moment he walks after her like some puppy. I wanted to shake him because of that ! You’re the big Alpha for God’s sake !! Stand your ground ! Be a man !! Don't be pussy wipped !!

  

THE BAD.

You know sometimes, when the main character turns from a nobody into some special snowflake ? Take that times 1000 and then you have Aurora. I mean REALLY ?? She is not just a rare female survivor of the lycanthrope virus , nooo she turns out to be really dominant, has a ton of superpowers, Kai instantly loves her and turns out right away to be her mate, oh and she’s the matefinder, so she can find everybody’s mate and save the werewolf population. AND she turns out to be part witch, and nooo not a normal one, she has to be the most powerful witch they have ever laid eyes upon.. Oh, and she can make vampires fertile too with her blood.. Oh !! And she has a black belt in karate and owns a goodwill company, Safe Haven, were she helps woman and children who come from abused homes. And she happened to be in India so she know everything there is about Indians.. Everybody loves her instantly of course, and she knows just what to do in every situation. I mean come on, at some moment you have to STOP ! ENOUGH ! She has enough powers and good things going for her ! Don’t make it too easy !! Can you say OVERKILL ??

  

FAVORITE QUOTES.

“Devon groaned. “I hate witches.”

 I jerked my head back so fast that I almost fell over. “Witches! Wait. You’re telling me witches are real too?”

Emma smirked. “And vampires.”  

I swallowed hard. Okay, breathe. Just breathe. “And fairies?” I added. Everyone busted up laughing as Kai placed a hand on my shoulder. Okay, I guess that’s a no on the fairies.”

.  

“Kai put his finger to my lips. “Shhhh! I have a reputation to uphold. Alpha’s don’t snuggle.”

 .

 “I stared across the lawn at Kai. He met my eyes. The walls seep inside of me, that I had built to keep me safe, crumbled. In that moment, the look he gave me, I could see my future with him. I could see what it truly meant to find your mate. He would never hurt me, more than that, he would protect me, support me. I had spent so many years learning to protect myself, teaching others to protect themselves. I didn’t realize that I had been searching for someone to protect me, to make me feel safe.”

  

FINAL THOUGHTS.

So overall, I really enjoyed this book, it was very interesting and read away easily.. But with the whole easy part I had some problems too. Everything seemed to be going too well for the main character and personally, I dislike that. A the bumps in the road of the storyline make for more excitement and emotions in the book. And I missed that. But I do plan on picking up the second part of this series in the future because it kept me interested in the story and it has great world building ! The author wrote it very smoothly and it really make for a nice read. So I think I will have to go for 3.5 Freyja’s and if you want a nice read for in-between I would recommend it to you !