Book Reviews

Book Blurb

When Nox was fourteen, his brother Joth murdered their older brother, their mother, and a human girl. Nox survived, but the attack wrecked his womb. Shattered, Nox rejected the pack who fumbled helping a barren, grief-stricken omega cope. He built a new purpose for himself as a master craftsman. Mating? No thanks. He’s better off alone.

Humans studied Joth in prison until his father’s death ended the weekly visits. Joth demands Nox in their father’s stead in exchange for resuming therapy and tests… thereby risking the destruction of Nox’s carefully ordered world. Again.

The pack drafts alpha fixer Dio to untangle the mess. One sniff of the wary omega convinces him Nox is his mate. New medical treatments offer a slim possibility Nox could bear children, but if the past years taught shifters anything, it is an omega’s value is greater than his fertility. Reconciling Nox with his pack is more important. Laying to rest the ghosts haunting Nox is too. Learning to trust? Vital.

Dio just needs to coax Nox into one last try.

Content Warning: Omega mpreg and fertility themes, dubious consent, shifter knotting, an omega who rejects labels, and a bewildered alpha who wouldn’t have it any other way.

Book Review

Even though the description for 'One Last Try' is what drew me to the story, I really had no idea what the author had in store for me. Kari Gregg has written an intense character study that focuses on grief, loss, mental illness, trust, and the ability to heal. She also created a very nontraditional shifter world where many of the tropes are skewed or nonexistent.

Nox is more than a barren omega, or crazy and broken, as many believe. He survived a horrific attack by a loved brother and dealt with his mom and other brother's death at the hands of Joth. When he woke from his coma, Nox shifted and spent a long time alone, hiding from himself, his father, and his pack. So, in my opinion, he's far more than what many believe, and I think Dio recognizes that, and that is why Dio pushes for Nox to get help from the human doctors. Help in working through his grief and his rage, not just at Joth, but his own father who abandoned him, and his pack who did the same.

"My shoulders slumped. “I like my life the way it is.”
“You like your rut, but that doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Or healthy.”

Joth gave me more than the creeps, to be honest. His severe mental disturbance is far more likely to be seen in a human than in a shifter. His wolf is psychotic, there's no two ways about it. But Joth is criminally insane even if Nox is the only one who truly sees it. A serial killer who can manipulate to get what he wants. The fact that Nox makes the weekly visits regardless of how terrified he is, proves how strong and independent he is, and the very antithesis of what an omega is "supposed" to be. And, all of that made me care about Nox more than I expected.

Dio and Nox confuse the hell out of each other, although I was plenty entertained watching them. Nox is not a typical omega and Dio is definitely not a typical alpha. Watching them get to where they needed to be was a journey I relished taking. It opened my eyes to relationships and love in a way I hadn't thought of before, but also in very familiar, and comforting ways. I think the part that I liked the most was how they challenged each other in ways that went far beyond the traditional roles.

"The fierce pleasure he effortlessly yanked from my body was a pale shadow of what he did to me and all that being with him meant, though. He alone held the power to make the world and its ugliness vanish."

I'm not even sure of what I want to say about this novella. It made me think. It certainly provided me with an extremely unique omega versus what I normally read. The mix between humans and shifters was a part of the world building that I liked. I think what I loved the most, though, was the differences to what I normally read in this genre. There was nothing typical, standard, or normal in this story, and I adored that. Thank you, Kari, for giving me such a different view.

 

 

 

 

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

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novella, 155 pages/43915 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	19-February-2017
Price	$3.90 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/One-Last-Try-Kari-Gregg-ebook/dp/B06WRWNWS8