Charlie Adhara

Review: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by Charlie Adhara

00:00

Title: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Big Bad Wolf #4)
Author: Charlie Adhara
Genre / Themes: Shifters /Murder mystery
Release date: 2 March 2020 

Author's links: Website / Twitter/ Goodreads

My rating: 5 Stars

Blurb

Agent Cooper Dayton and his partner, Oliver Park, are going undercover—at a retreat for couples who need counselling. They do say the best cover story is one that’s close to the truth…

Agent Cooper Dayton is almost relieved to get a phone call from his former boss at the Bureau of Special Investigations. It means a temporary reprieve from tensions created by house hunting with Oliver Park, his partner both in work and in life. Living together in a forever home is exactly what Cooper wants. He’s just not keen on working out the details.

With a former alpha werewolf missing, Cooper and Park are loaned to the BSI to conduct the search at a secluded mountain retreat. The agents will travel to the resort undercover…as a couple in need of counseling.

The resort is picturesque, the grounds are stunning and the staff members are all suspicious as hell.

With a long list of suspects and danger lurking around every cabin, Cooper should be focusing on the case. But he’s always been anxious about the power dynamics in his relationship with Park, and participating in the couples’ activities at the retreat brings it all to the surface. A storm is brewing, though, and Cooper and Park must rush to solve the case before the weather turns. Or before any more guests—or the agents themselves—end up dead. 

Review 

This is the fourth book in the series following the same couple who have already gotten together and now we see them navigating being in a relationship, something none of the MCs has much experience with while simultaneously investigating another criminal case involving werewolves.

This story is well written and the suspense plot is very engaging. I liked how atmospheric the setting was, we get a strong sense of the place where the story is set, a picturesque mountain retreat, simultaneously isolated and lush, dangerous both for humans and werewolves,

Oliver and cooper went undercover into a couples' retreat for werewolves. and were forced by te circumstances to talk through a lot of the things between them. On top of the close quarters, they got caught in a brutal storm deep into a murder investigation. I liked seeing them opening more with each other, talking about their fears and doubts. They get the chance to learn more about teir partner but also to discover new things about themselves. 

The issues they faced in their relationship felt real to me - (self)-doubt, are you good enough for your partner, do you want to same things in the long term. And all this ad the added bonus of one of them being a werewolf in a world were werewolves existed but few humans knew about them.

Among of the strengths of the book for me was the inclusivity of the world it created - we see m/f, f/f and m/m couples. I also liked the way PTSD and anxiety were presented in the story. Most of all I liked how Oliver and Cooper's love was show as caring and protecting your partner. This resonated deeply with me.

This is shaping into a great rom suspense series and I can't wait to read the next book with more of Oliver and Cooper's adventures coming out in 2021. 

Add on Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

Book recs

10 Enemies to Lovers Romances

02:10

Next post in my series of posts with 10 romances on a specific topic/trope. This time I am focusing on one of my favourite tropes, enemies to lovers. I love it because of the high tension it provides and for the journey the characters have to take to get their HEA. 



1/ Headliners by Lucy Parker - True enemies and professional rivals though he has harboured a secret attraction to her for ages. Forced to work together to save their careers they become friends than lover (after a heart-felt and sincere apology on his part). 
Add on Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

2/ Luck of the Draw by Kate Clayborn. God, the tension here, the pure hatred he had for her and her desperate desire to atone for the past and the hurt she caused him and his family. I absolutely love it.
Add on Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

3/ Hard Knocks by Ruby Lang. Not so much enemies as finding themselves at the opposite sides of the line - she is a doctors warning against head injuries in hockey, he is hockey player standing up for his sport. In the end they discover thy have much more in common than it seems at first glance. 
Add on Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

4/ The One You Fight For by Roni Loren. This one is heart-breaking. He is the brother of the school shooter who changed their lives forever, she is a surviour of the shooting which took her younger sister's life. They are the two unlikeliest people to get together, and yet they do, overcoming doubts and anger and regret. My favourite in the series. 
Add on Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

5/ Something Human by AJ Demas. They are warriors in opposing camps. They come from two different worlds. They help each other, they care for the other and feel for each other and ultimately, make each other happy. 
Add on Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

6/ Pansies by Alexis Hall. A bully romance like no other. One of the MCs was part of a group of boys who bullied the other MC in school. And he just discovered he is attracted to men. Not a promising start of their relationship. Lots of anger, hurt and pain to deal with before they get their HEA.
Add on Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

7/ Never Loved by Charlotte Stein. Another bully romance but wow, did the author manage to make me care for the (former) bully. It’s a heavy read but very moving at the same time and relatable, real people with real issues, nothing is black or white and people are growing and changing. 
Add on Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

8/ Burn Down the Night by Molly O’Keefe. Heroine kidnaps the hero who is a biker wanted by the authorities and his former biker brothers. Lots of tension, some real fear for one’s life, the highest stakes to save your loved ones. 
Add on Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

9/ Behind the Mask by Carolyn Crane. He is the notorious criminal she is after. Neither knows this when they meet. There is passion and anger and fighting the bad guys and falling in love amidst chaos. 
Add on Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

10/ Fool Me Forever by Ainslie Paton. On the surface he is everything she despises but he is also the only one that can help her. A tumultuous relationship that shakes them both to their cores and makes them re-evaluate their views of themselves and the world. 
Add on Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

Honourable mentions: 
I want to give a shout-out to two YA fantasy romances that are gorgeous and feature MCs who are enemies in the truest sense of the word. They hate and chase each other for most of the stories and their getting together is just glorious, pure magic! 

The Folk of the Air series of fantasy romance by Holly Black, no greater enemies have ever come together as lovers than Cardan and Jude! 
Add to Goodreads / Buy on Amazon

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo, The Little Mermaid retelling where he is a pirate prince chasing the mermaids who are feared sea monsters. 

Add to Goodreads / Buy on Amazon


Flickr Images