2.5 stars

Parker is in his last year of high school, and is pretty much a loner, except for his best friend Shell. Parker has an unrequited crush on Colton, the most popular guy in school. He also has bullies who pick on him regularly. All that changes when Colton starts to pay Parker attention. Colton, however, is keeping secrets from Parker, as are a lot of the town. When a wolf starts harassing Parker, Colton ends up revealing his wolf side and doing something forbidden in wolf shifter culture, which causes a split in the pack. Colton doesn’t regret it, though, because it means that he can be with his mate with no opposition.

Soooo. There was a lot of sex in this once they started having it. A lot. Like, a LOT. Which I’m not opposed to, generally. It just felt as though it was there to pad the story, though, not add to it. I did like the fact that the small Timber Pack was inclusive of everyone, and that even if they didn’t all live together in the same site, that they seemed to gravitate together and enjoy just being around each other. I also liked that the one member’s family didn’t cut him off when he decided to join his friend’s pack, rather than staying with the original one. All in all, I think I enjoyed this? I looked up to see if there were more books in the series, at least, and considered buying it, which says that I’m curious to see where it all goes and interested in the characters. ( )

I kinda of wanted to rate it 2 but the epilogue was cute and I couldn't do it, so 2,5 stars is a thing now ( )

Reread.

This books was exactly what I needed. I wanted gay shifter smut and this is what I got. It reads like top tier fan fiction, which is meant as a compliment. I have read some things by fan fiction writers that made me literally weep.

Parker is the stereotypical twink and when rumors regarding his sexuality began flying the previous school year he outed himself to take control of it before it began to control him. He has a sassy black female B.F.F. who refers to him as "girl" and "hooker". And he has the major hots for the school stud, Colton. But little does he know that Colton also has the hots for him and is a 'lycan shifter' as they don't care for the term "werewolf".

They of course fall madly in love, but boy do they throw the local pack for a loop with all the ways that they shouldn't work, but do. They throw out all rules of normalcy, create their own and form a small pack with Colton's best friends.

There is conflict, intrigue, romance, danger, shifter fights, and lots of smut. ( )

Top of the pack

This was one heck of a shifter romance! I started reading it on Literotica and got so into it that I was compelled to find out who this awesome author was. Much to my delight, I found that the whole book was available via Amazon. So worth purchasing! There was the intensity of the bond between Colton and Parker. There is a palpable magnetic pull between the two of them. The super steamy sexy scenes were page and panty melting. Rob Colton knows how to describe a cock! ( )

I rate erotic and kids and blah, blah differently, so remember this is a four star rating for an erotic book, not a classic/drama or anything.

There are books out there where you just cinch with the characters. You fall head over heels with their flaws, their quirks, the way their personalities mesh together. That was the case for me here. I loved alpha Colton with his growls, protective night runs to Parker's window, cute over-eagerness to mark and claim with bracelet accidents, spilled sodas on shirts, all kinds of creative ways to subtly mark Parker until he actually can. The overabundance of marking everything was funny, but it worked considering he's a lycan, and I loved every minute of it. Then you enter submissive Parker who's picked on at school but awesome in personality, looking up with his big doe eyes at the dominant Colton, and everything's just an exhilarating, heady mix from there. Handclaps and paw shakes all around.

If you took away 10 sex scenes from this book, you wouldn't even notice them missing if you re-read, and if you were reading for the first time and it was missing these same scenes, you'd still think to yourself that, Damn. This book has a LOT of sex scenes. Because once they finally come together after giggly exciting buildup, its almost nonstop from there. Too much actually. After awhile it loses its effectiveness.

BUT the buildup to this was a lot of fun - with Parker not knowing who they were, the different dating and obsessive buildup, the sweetness of the relationship - they were the winning parts of this novel. There's a minor plot in there somewhere, kind of, but it's drowned out. The first part of this book was my favorite and I've already re-read key parts after the book has been finished. The second part has more of a key with pack buildup and structure, but the first half still stole the show.

They seriously talk too much during, and that just makes me cringe more than anything. The dialogue during their almost constant bedroom play was painful to me, but otherwise - big kudos points, especially the shower/locker encounter, the first kiss in the car, and I loved the neck claiming.

The other characters work too - the two tagalong friends/pack members, the distant parents, quirky best friend, all worked to make this book the fun enjoyment it was. Seriously couldn't put it down.

I'm usually not a fan of pack hierarchy, but I do love mated pairs quite a bit, so it worked here deliciously well. I'm always into the whole top/bottom thing too so the author wrote this pairing convincingly.

Not just steam, there's heart, and that always works.

( )