Guardians of the Pack

The Other Wolf Series, Book 2

By: Heather G. Harris

Narrated by: Alyse Gibbs

Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

I hate finding corpses. For some reason, my enemies think dead bodies work as a communication method. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer a letter.

When I find a pulverized gargoyle on my lawn, I can’t help but think things are about to get rocky. The gargoyles don’t expect me to look into the death, but who can ignore murder on their doorstep? Ex-soldier Greg Manners knows all about violence and he thinks that the ogres are involved. Deadly or not, I’ll go toe-to-toe with their lethal king if I need to. I’m determined to find justice–but just when I start investigating, one of the pack’s children is snatched.

I’m in a race against time to find him when it turns out that Bobby isn’t the first stolen child. I’ll have to navigate Other world politics to work out what the purloined children have in common. Maybe if I know why they’ve been taken, I’ll discover who took them. Because the clock is ticking and I am all out of suspects.

Esme and I have to work together to find the kids, before it’s too late….

©2022 Heather G. Harris (P)2023 Heather G Harris

Better than the Original!!

Book 2 picks up not long after the events of book 1 and sees Lucy still trying to come to terms with her role as the Alpha of the Home Counties Pack. Having solved the murder of one of her pack and the attack of others, as well as uncovering Connection spies Lucy is feeling a bit more confident in her role. She even manages to rescue a Unicorn that becomes the Mansions guard Unicorn.
However, things take a turn for the worse at the start of book 2 when a dead Gargoyle is found pulverised on the perimeter of the property. Turning the body over to the Gargoyles so that they can dispose of it how they see fit, Lucy and Greg don’t really discover a whole lot, however, Greg does think that the Ogres are involved, given the state of the corpse.
As Lucy and Greg start to look into the death of the Gargoyle, one of their young pups, Bobby, Sonia’s son, is kidnapped from his school. With no idea why and no ransom, Lucy and Greg launch into a full investigation, using every resource the pack has and those outside of the pack as well, including Amber DeLea, Jinx, Emory and Steve Marley. They quickly learn that another child, belonging to the Elementals, has also been taken.
Politics comes into play in this book, as Lucy discovers several different things, (no spoilers), but one is that the Elementals can’t share, and she and Greg find themselves on their own as they look for the missing kids.
As the two investigate, there are all sorts of things that they find out, and we learn some fascinating things about The Oher’, including about the Ogre King and their kind. Ogres are powerful creatures that just as soon prefer to pulverise you than look at you, and Lucy finds she is in dangerous territory (just for something new), as she seeks information about the missing kids. But this isn’t the only thing she will learn, and it may not only be the kids that find themselves in extreme danger.
As with the first book, Guardians of the Pack is told from Lucy’s point of view as the Alpha of the pack. Together with her wolf Esme, Lucy is a wonderful character. She is able to communicate easily with her wolf due to her Piping ability, something the other Werewolves can’t do. As a result, Lucy and Esme have come to an agreement, in which Lucy has control of two-legs, Esme of four, and on top of that, Esme provides a lot of Werewolf and Other Realm law to Lucy also. Lucy also has the fun (which provides for some of the funniest bits in the book at times), of explaining human concepts to poor Esme, who just doesn’t get Humanity at all. The interplay between these two is brilliant, and leaves you in tears at times you are laughing so hard. This book continues to grow Lucy’s character, we see not only her developing her relationship with Esme, but also the Pack as she tries to understand her role as not just the Alpha in an administrative sense, but how she has to care for those under her. She isn’t a normal Alpha, one who rules by brute force or aggression, she is one that rules through understanding, compassion and intelligence – and when she needs to – she will let Esme tear her enemies apart. Whilst some in the Pack are slow to adjust to this, in this book we see how her methods have an impact.
The biggest impact is on Greg Manners, her second. The relationship between these two only intensifies in this book, as they rely more heavily on each other, and grow to understand each other. They also really start to develop strong feeling for each other, but Lucy is really not sure if she should be thinking of Greg in that way, given she is Alpha.
There are so many outstanding characters in this book, not only Lucy and Greg, but the rest of the Pack, from Archie, Liam, Mrs Dawes, to Sonia, Elena even Tristan. Along with them there are the outside parties, the Gargoyles, Vampyrs, Griffons, Elementals, Dryads and more, all of which are incredibly well done. Harris has gone to a lot of trouble to create each of these races with wonderful detail, making them her own, but also paying homage to the original legends.
The world building another exceptional aspect of this series and makes it something special. From the menagerie of creatures to the magic and the clever details of the Common and the Other Realm. All of it create this captivating and engaging story that leaves you only wanting more.
Guardians of the Pack is a thrilling and intriguing mystery in which Lucy and her Pack have limited time to find not only their missing child, but the other missing kids to. Lucy is also battling with several political intrigues that she is still trying to come to terms with as Alpha, both inside the Pack and in The Other, as well as learning everything. On top of that, Lucy has Jinx trying to find out who her real parents are. This book has a lot of fascinating things that unfold as you get into the book that really make the story compelling, and only make you want more.
This is an exceptional spin-off series – one of those few that are almost better than the original and if you liked The Other Realm – you with love The Other Wolf Series!!
Alyse Gibbs has such a beautiful voice, you can listen to it endlessly. She does such an outstanding voice for Lucy, who you know has a voice that is just as stunning as she is. Gibbs tells the story wonderfully from Lucy’s point of view, creating a range of both male and female character voices, each voice slightly different, so that you can easily tell who is who, without having to be told. Gibbs is a wonderful ‘Voice Actor’ instead of just a Narrator, providing not only the narration, but also the emotional aspects of the story, really bringing each of the characters to life, along the story. Harris has written this with an audiobook in mind, in that there is not a lot of ‘He said/she said’, and the narrative flows very nicely (even with Jinx’s lie detector ability). With Gibbs characters voices, and the lovely narrative flow, it makes for a really wonderful listening experience, especially given that Gibbs has such a beautiful voice. This is one of those Audiobooks, in which the quality is so good that it is far better to listen to it than read it as you get so much more from the Audiobook!!! This is a must listen!!

Great series!

Heather G Harris was my favorite new author of 2022
I discovered her when I read the Other Realm series.
If you have not read this series don't miss it!
The creation of the new world, the characters, the emotions.
This trilogy is the second in The Other world.
Alyse Gibbs does a great job with the narration. I love the British accent!

Great Read

I love continuing series with family & friends crossing over into sister series. I think Lucy makes a great heroine - I just wish Jinx was written to be as good a friend as Lucy was to her. Lucy dropped everything when Jinx needed her but Lucy could only get a phone call. Hopefully that gets fixed in the next book.