Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Matt and Shane both have secrets. Matt never believed he was anything but straight, yet he’s increasingly attracted to his best friend. Shane is comfortable with being gay, but when he discovers he’s part werewolf, he hides that part of himself, fearing Matt’s reaction. Suffocated by his uptight parents and conservative hometown, Shane begs Matt to run away with him.

But starting over doesn’t help. Matt still denies his desires, and Shane abuses alcohol to dampen his wolfish urges. When Matt breaks down and kisses Shane, the pent-up passion proves too much for Shane’s self-control, and his wolf gets free. Horrified, Shane flees—into deeper trouble. Before they can hope to accept each other, Shane and Matt must accept themselves.

 

Book Review

There is nothing that I enjoy more…oh, all right, you've heard it before. Ad nauseam. Well, too bad, I'm saying it again. I love shifter stories. I love hot and steamy shifter stories. With that in mind, you can understand how excited I was to read 'Denying Yourself', the first in Silvia Violet's new series 'Pisgah Mountain Wolves'. This book included a hot shifter, and his best friend who is supposedly straight. As far as I was concerned that made it a win-win in my book for entertainment.

Shane is eighteen, and graduated from high school before he finds out he's a werewolf. A little something his adopted parents forgot to mention. Apparently they weren't sure he'd shift because he's only half werewolf, so they never mentioned it. When he shifted on their kitchen floor for the first time, they pretty much knew it then. Shane knows he's got to get out of this tiny hick town and he begs his best friend, Matt, to go with him. Matt is a good ol' farm boy but he's been Shane's best friend for the past year that Shane has lived there. Matt has a secret yearning to open his own restaurant and cook for people, but he can't do that working his parents’ farm, so he leaves with Shane for Asheville. Shane hasn't told Matt about the whole werewolf thing and as time goes on it gets harder and harder. Of course, Matt hasn't told Shane about his secret desire for him, because Matt is straight. He's not gay. He can't be. Even though Shane knows Matt is lying, Matt refuses to admit to it. I guess the title for this book is pretty apt since both of them are denying who they really are.

As is to be expected, Matt gives in to his desires and at the end, Shane loses control of his wolf and shifts. Matt is afraid and Shane runs away. Two years later Shane is living on the streets, selling himself for booze, killing himself slowly. Luckily for him, he gets saved by Carl and taken to a rehab center for shifters where he finally gets sober and learns to control his wolf. Once he's ready to leave, Carl brings him to his wolf pack and to a life and job at Pisgah Mountain Resort in the Pisgah National Forest of North Carolina. Learning to live as part of a wolf pack is a challenge and one that it takes Shane months to grasp. It's been over three years since Shane has seen Matt but he's never stopped loving him or thinking of him. In an interesting twist of fate, and a little push from some wolves, Matt ends up running the restaurant at the lodge, putting Shane and him together daily.

I really enjoyed this book. As a shifter story it focused more on the human relationship between Shane and Matt, with the wolf pack being secondary. It was hard to watch the struggles Shane put himself through and it was equally as wonderful to watch him heal. Shane and Matt were really good together and I was very happy to see them work through their troubles and get what they both so desperately needed: each other. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 205 pages/50074 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	15-May-2013
Price	$5.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/denying-yourself-by-silvia-violet-4437-b