A Wolf in the Garden

Lost Moon: Unravelling Monsters Universe, Book 1

De: Allegra Hall

Narrado por: Ali Jaynes, Drew Mehrtens

Ellie never expected to see him again.

Two years after the Unravelling revealed monsters and their hidden realm to the world, garden designer Ellie Harding seems to have her life together, living out her cottagecore dreams on the picturesque island of Motuwai, New Zealand.

What she never expected was for Van Livingston, the wealthy American she grew up with every summer, to walk back into her life nine years after a tragic event destroyed their romantic relationship. What's more, it turns out Van is a wolf—a hybrid werewolf/wolf-shifter, to be exact—with two wolves and two wolf forms. He's just as handsome as ever, and without the glamour, his gold eyes and towering height have her feeling hot and bothered all over again.

Van was her first love, and she could never blame him for how things ended… but that doesn't mean Ellie's ready to take him back. She has her own problems to sort out, including a secret that's been eating away at her.

Van's wolves know that she's his mate.

He wasn't supposed to find Ellie yet. After breaking away from his father's pack, Van's plan involved settling into his newly purchased vineyard on the island of Motuwai. Only then did he plan on tracking Ellie down—to apologize, grovel, and beg for her forgiveness.

But the moment he scents her in the unlikeliest of places, he's done for. His wolves won't let it go—Ellie is his fated mate—and this time around, he's not going to ruin things.

However, Ellie isn't quite the same woman he used to know, and something sinister has been lurking in the shadows. Van's alpha instincts drive him to protect her, but will it be enough to keep the danger at bay?

A Wolf in the Garden is a first-person, dual-POV novel, and the first in the Unravelling Monsters universe. It is a monster romance that features a female lead of mixed New Zealand European and Māori descent who is not afraid to love her man in both his human and his werewolf form. HEA guaranteed!

©2023 Allegra Hall (P)2024 Podium Audio

Great start to series

Narration: This is dual narration. Ali Jaynes has an awesome accent that is fun to listen to and Drew Mehrtens has a delicious growl/rasp that made my brain feel warm and fuzzy.

Story: This is the first book in the Unraveling Monsters series. The story is so good and there is plenty of spice. The world building was well done and didn’t feel intrusive to the main plot. I really enjoyed all the nods to Māori culture and customs. The author lives in New Zealand and you can tell they have done their research. I am excited to continue reading this series since the next book isn’t in audiobook yet.

Such a good story!

I was so surprised by how much I loved this. I kept putting off this book for no real reason and I am so sad I had! This is one of my favorites now! It has an interesting twist on the shifter-verse. I can't wait to read more by this author!

Second chance love

Van’s family spent a couple weeks each year in New Zealand near where Ellie lived. For years his family practically adopted her. And then the family quit vacationing near Ellie. Then years later Van shows up again.

I really liked the mix of supernaturals and how Ellie’s Māori background was worked into the story.

Enjoyed it!

Loved the female narrator. She seemed to struggle through the first few spicy scenes, but got the hang of it by the end. The male narrator seemed like an odd choice though... I don't know where he's actually from, but he didn't quite nail a generic American English accent (certain words and vowels just sounded off) *OR* a Kiwi accent. His version of a New Zealander comes across somewhere between South Africa/Afrikaans and a generic UK English accent. Bad enough to distract from my immersion in the story. Ouch.

Enjoyed the story though. A bit unique for this genre. Fun, fresh setting. Good world-building for the first in a new series.

...A little confused by the random foreskin convo in the story though. Like circumcised penises are some great mystery or need special care?? If you need extra lube, you're doing it wrong. :-/

Perfect spicy and storyline!

Loved it! If you like a good knot love story. It's perfect! It's become one of my favorites now

perfect amount of smut

could use a little more story. I want a sequel! I need to know about their future pups

Cozy smut

I loved this from start to finish. It gave me really great almost cozy fantasy vibes, but then it gets into the spice and stays pretty heavy through the whole story! Just a really great recipe for a cute but smutty story!

Second chance - childhood friends to lovers - fated mates

The only things for me that would have even pushed this over the top - if the narrators each performed their own lines between chapters. Having this be read more like it had a full cast would have just kept me so much more immersed. listening to each of them try to do a voice for the other main character just sort of breaks that immersion when we already get the pleasure of having two narrators - and Secondly the resolution to the problem with the fae was just sort of quick and I personally would have loved just a little bit more of a fight from them.

I want more from this author and can't wait to see what the next book brings!

steamy wolf shifter romance

I just finished the audio book combo for this one, I truly enjoyed it.
Loved the Maori representation, the maturity of their relationship, and the message it conveys: it's fine to have feelings and be vulnerable. The vulnerability of expressing emotions and crying is not hindered or hidden as prototypical toxic masculine behavior in males in our society.
It was such a sweet romance to read. As far as the smutty parts, like KNOTTING, the author ensured there would be a plethora to enjoy.

Sexy Alpha

Great narration, especially if you like a deep, gravely male voice. Lots of steamy scenes, so prepare yourself for that. Fairly good storyline. Enjoyed the listen!

Pretty unique

I love the world building in this story. The second chance relationship is so nice and I'm here for it. It has an insta love feeling but like it's already earned. the only thing I wasn't a fan of was the female narrator. Her character voices weren't the most consistent and she was fairly monotonous, even during action scenes. She had no urgency and limited feeling. It's like she was speaking in a dreamy haze. I also really liked that MMC/narrator got just as page time as the FMC.