Ready or Knot

Knotted Paths, Book 1

By: Susi Hawke, Crista Crown

Narrated by: Silas Whitaker

Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

The Haven Center was supposed to be my new beginning. It was supposed to be where I figured out who Wyatt Stanislav is after kidnapping and abuse had torn apart who I was.

I wasn't supposed to meet him.

Jordan Peterson. The tall, buff bear of a man who saves me from my nightmares and calls me his own. His true mate.

Jordan wants nothing more than to protect me. It would be all too easy to disappear into his embrace, but his presence makes it imperative that I discover who I am, if only to become the mate he deserves.

A Team ALPHA and Alphabits spin-off series.

Ready or Knot is the first book in a brand new series by Crista Crown and Susi Hawke. We've loved our soldiers and our mafiosos and all the good they've done in the world, but what happens after the saving is over and the healing begins? As always, you can expect to find naughty, knotty scenes of steamy passion, and all the fluffy mpreg feels and crazy antics you’d look for from Susi Hawke and Crista Crown.

©2020 Hawke and Crown LLC (P)2021 Hawke and Crown LLC

'Knot' what I was expecting!

I like that the story continues from with new characters as well as some of the old memorables. The narration for me took away from the storyline and made them seem boring there was no thrill like in the other books no comic relief like in the other books and just not a lot of excitement. I still remain a true Crown and Hawke fan though and I can't wait for the next installment to Ready or Knot!

fives across the board

Ever story has it's own twists. makes you want more from each world. just wounderful truly beautiful.

Wyatt and Jordan

I loved that Wyatt kept facing his fears over and over again. His past is so full of pain and betrayal but he doesn't hold back from loving and trusting Jordan. Jordan's family is wonderful, accepting Wyatt with open arms and hearts. The Novak's showing up to make sure Jordan is good enough for Wyatt was delightful.
Highly recommended authors and series

Audiobook: decent narrator

Better than I expected

I'm not generally a fan of Susi Hawke's books, for various reasons. Her writing is good, but I don't go in for Omegaverse world building where every alpha is bisexual, as is the case with a good number of her fictional universes; I feel like it erases gay people from existence, or at the very least plays into stereotypes of them never being alpha males. Also a lot of her books are narrated by narrators in my " never buy" column, like John Solo.

So I bought this one with a bit of trepidation; I wanted to like it because the blurb was interesting but I sort of expected it to be another DNF. I was pleasantly surprised, then, to find that I very much enjoyed it. I liked both main characters, the setting, and the plot (which, though, a bit formulaic, was at least a wonderful example of the formula).

The only thing I really wasn't a fan of was the alpha main character's sister, Shelby, who is ostensibly brilliant enough to have her writing in the New Yorker but somehow decides it would be a great idea to ask an organized crime boss if they're involved in organized crime, and then heavily hint that she's going to write an article about them. Her complete idiocy dominates a scene that should have acted as a nice bridge between this series and the original one being spun off. I wouldn't have even minded much if the whole thing weren't spun as "Aw, shucks, that's our Shelby!" and "That little girl has spunk!" which struck me as unrealistic even in a universe where people turn into animals.

Lastly, let me talk about the narrator, Silas Whitaker, who is new to me and also everyone else, since he only seems to have narrated one other book. Let me get this out of the way first: yes, he has an accent which I can't place (somewhere in the Midwest maybe?) that causes him to say certain words slightly oddly, particularly "ready" and consequently "already." The reviews in the other book he narrated seem to be absolutely fixated on this for some reason. But you know what? His voice is pleasant--masculine and friendly--and I like the cadence with which he narrates. Also he does Shelby's character (she has cerebral palsy) justice, even though it must have been sort of a nightmare to do, giving her a distinct speech pattern that neither breaks up the flow nor makes her into a caricature. Most importantly he doesn't get overexcited and weirdly breathless during sex scenes unlike some overused M/M narrators. So he gets five stars from me.

Overall I really liked this book. I would definitely read another one in this series, depending on who the protagonists are, and I'd definitely listen to another audiobook by this narrator.

A Sweet Story...

Getting to know Wyatt and Jordan was a nice little journey. I'm curious about the the trauma that Wyatt endured as a sex slave and I'm thinking that having that knowledge might have answered some of the unanswered questions about who, what, when, where, why, etc. I forego the need for the information and went with the discovery of one's true mate which washed away all the presupposed trauma. Not sure where I am going with this...it was a sweet story, with not a whole lot of depth to the creation of the characters...Jordan sniffed his mate and Wyatt yearned for what his mate had to offer and then they had a baby...a sweet, enjoyable story...but it could have been so much more.