Trial By Fire (Raised By Wolves #2) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
(May contain spoilers)
Published: Quercus Publishing
Published: 13th June 2011
Pages: 357
Main Characters: Bryn, Chase, Devon, Lake
Date Started: 17th June 2012
Date Finished: 20th June 2012
Rating Given: ***
Blurb from Goodreads:
There can only be one alpha.
Bryn is finally settling into her position as alpha of the Cedar Ridge Pack—or at least, her own version of what it means to be alpha when you’re a human leading a band of werewolves. Then she finds a teenage boy bleeding on her front porch. Before collapsing, he tells her his name is Lucas, he’s a Were, and Bryn’s protection is his only hope.
But Lucas isn’t part of Bryn’s pack, and she has no right to claim another alpha’s Were. With threats—old and new—looming, and danger closing in from all sides, Bryn will have to accept what her guardian Callum knew all along. To be alpha, she will have to give in to her own animal instincts and become less human. And, she’s going to have to do it alone.
Bryn faces both the costs, and the rewards, of love and loyalty, in this thrilling sequel to Raised by Wolves.
I only read the first book last month but the lovely publisher of Quercus saw that I was reading it and offered me the next two books and who was I to turn them down! I need to say a huge thank you to Quercus for giving me the opportunity to continue on with this series and even though I knocked it down a star from the first one I still very much enjoyed this book. I would have rated it more but I preferred the first one so it didn't seem right giving the same stars to both the books when I liked one more than the other.
The cover is very similar to the first one but this time we see a bit more of the girls face which she doesn't look happy but I guess she wasn't very happy in the book either. It is also a different colour to the first one as this time it's in red which I think I prefer the blue cover on the first one but that's just me. Again I love the way that it has a metallic finish to it as I kept looking at it as it made it shine especially the moon.
This is only my second book written by Jennifer Lynn Barnes which again is written in a way that keeps me guessing and sometimes I can't even guess what is going to happen which doesn't happen very often. Barnes seems to build both of her books up until closer to the end when everything kicks off which makes me want to keep reading although because of this I find it a bit slow at the beginning. Although I didn't have much of a wait in between these book I know a lot of readers would have at the time but I don't think it matters how much time you leave in between as there are subtle reminders of what had happened.
With this book a bit more going on than in the previous book which I usually like but I felt like I was easily distracted from this book it just couldn't keep my interest at all times which was a shame as when it did capture my interests I found it a very entertaining book. I liked the way that this time around we was seeing how Bryn was coping with being a human alpha which did lead to some sad moments but also fun moments. I loved that there was more twists and turns that I just can't wait to find out more.
Bryn was more at battle with herself in this book as she never knew if she was doing the right thing which did make her more likable to me. At times I did forget that she wasn't a wolf but just a human girl which I think that could be because that was how Bryn was feeling. I loved Devon he is definitely my favourite character in this series so far as he is so funny whenever he was in a scene I found myself smiling. He did show a more serious side to him which just made me love him all the more. Chase is still a bit of a mystery to me all we know is how he feels about Bryn which was great to see it develop even more. I was glad that we got to see more of Lake as she is a very strong female character. We got introduced to new characters in this book but I'm not sure about any of them as they seemed bad but then the next minute they was good but the more I learnt about them the more I understood and I'm sure for some of them we will get to find out a bit more in the next book.
Overall not as good as the first book but it's still a very good book and I can't wait to continue on with Bryn's journey.
