Wake Me Up Inside

Publisher's Summary

A powerful Alpha wolf shifter and a strong-willed human overcome traditions ingrained over generations and uncover long-buried secrets to fulfill their destiny as true mates.

Regarded as the strongest wolf shifter in generations, Alpha Zev Hassick is surprised and confused by his attraction to his best friend. His very human, very male best friend. A male shifter has to mate with a female shifter to keep his humanity, so shifters can't be gay. Yet, everything inside Zev tells him Jonah is his true mate.

Maintaining a relationship with the man he has loved since childhood isn't easy for Jonah Marvel, but he won't let distance or Zev's odd family get in their way. When unexplained ailments begin to plague Jonah, he needs to save his own life and sanity in order to have a future with Zev.

Zev and Jonah know they're destined for each other, but they must overcome traditions ingrained over generations and long-buried secrets to fulfill their destiny.

Word count: 74,755

©2012 Cardeno C. (P)2017 Cardeno C.

Friends to Lovers (and Mates!)

Any additional comments?

Wow. What a difference the second edition makes! The POVs between Jonah and Zev are much more balanced, the story flows better with some changes to the dialogue, and it all works really well.

I'm still not a fan of the deliberate separation in the story, I mean...I can't help but wonder that there wasn't a school closer to pack grounds that Jonah could have gone to?

But I digress. Regardless of their separation, I love how much Zev loves and lives for Jonah, only wanting him to succeed and be happy. It makes my heart gooey.

Charlie David does a great job bringing across the emotion of the story, and it's an easy story to listen and get lost in.

This series is just wonderful, whether to read or listen to.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

so cute...

so the two mc's had basically known each other their whole lives. before they are even aware of anything, they had been meant to be. so cute and so sweet. love love love.
charlie david is really fricken great, he's one of them ones that I'm just amazed af about. whew.

Best romance story ever!!!

This is and will always be my second most favorite love story. The first for me is “where he ends and I begin!” (Go grab that books also) this is the greatest love story. The heartache of being separated hits me in my very soul. It’s beautiful and heart wrenching. I love zev and Jonah. How sure they were. How it was them forever.

amazing!!

love it !!!!!! amazing , funny , angsty, romantic, HOT!! on to the next one

One of the best shifter romances there is!

Zev and Jonah meet when they are both children. Zev lives on shifter lands and doesn’t have much to do with Jonah as a child – at first - but his other form, a wolf called “Pup”, does and Jonah and Pup become fast friends.
Later, Jonah and Zev become friends at school – best friends - and later, on the cusp of Jonah’s leaving town forever, Zev realizes that (though it should be impossible for two men to be) he and Jonah are mates.
Zev knows that if he were to claim Jonah as his mate, Jonah could never go to college or achieve his life goals. A) Once mated, the two would have to have almost constant contact or go mad B) Zev can’t leave pack lands since he is the new Alpha C) Zev hasn’t quite figured out exactly how two males are meant to “tie” in the ways of mates
Though it is excruciating for both of them, Zev and Jonah stay separated not only for the four years of college, but four more years of medical school and another four of residency. Near the end both men are sickly and nearly crazed, but they survive.
Their reunion and Jonah’s subsequent lesson into the world of paranormals comes none too quickly as there is danger on pack lands and it looks like it might relate to the death of Jonah’s mother nearly 30 years ago.
With the help of some good friends and family they solve the crisis and live HEA setting a new precedent for shifters everywhere!
**
This is an amazing book. The love between Zev and Jonah is so touching and the sexual tension is almost exhausting. By the time they finally do get together all you can do is release a huge sigh of relief! Though it was hard to see them separate, together they are scorching hot and they never lose faith with one another.
I loved that Zev shifts a lot in this book – so many shifter books never even shift! I also enjoyed the link with Book 2 (review to come) and the shifter universe Cardeno created here.
The way Zev has to navigate the new definitions of “mate” and how it relates to shifter politics is great and I loved how he and Jonah do not have the traditional Alpha/weaker-mate relationship but one that is truly equal.
Jonah is so funny and Zev can be too, I really enjoyed their dialog with one another.
I loved this story and the entire series – I recommend reading them in order.
5 of 5 stars.

Audio:
Charlie David does a great job with his narration. He does an even better job in Book 2 (more on that to come) but I loved his inflections and his voice is so easy to listen to. I give it 4 of 5 stars.

Overall Impression:
4.5 stars – I loved it!

it is so worth it

i love this series it is so worth it that you will not be disappointed it has so much u!i love this series

Misleading

The narrator was great, but at a quieter deeper slower voice I had to adjust my audio in my car a lot so it could be heard at the books low levels. The only problem I had with the narration was age/voice... They size/age/voice of the characters seemed off. Very young character had the same growly voice as older self. I would gladly listen to him again and hope for less children in the book.


About the book. It was false pretenses... The first part of the book was so misleading. It talks about a lost mate... The idea that the main character is so alone.
Then 75 percent of the book is about how they were in each other's lives constantly. We get the growing up story. It frustrated me horribly that key moments of plot were utterly stupid. So, I couldn't finish it, with over an hour and a half left, because it went too slow and too many odd interactions and over explanations. I didn't want to be under a stress of a slow smuldering finish waiting for a possible over dramatic point when I didn't see a reason to.

But.... It was a cute story. The main characters were likable enough. I enjoyed it overall as the world build and story pace was enjoyable, and I did love the narrators voice. If there were a few tweaks to the story it would be a great slow slow love story. Otherwise, the characters were idiots... I can't imagine anyone being utterly convinced and for any reader to believe that someone would wait 25 years to have sex because //some stupid reason// yet be so close to it. It went beyond cute frustrating... To annoying.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great Mates

I loved this friends to lovers and mates audiobook. The story flows really well building up to when they can be together.
Charlie David is perfect. His rich smooth voice brings across the emotions, especially for Zev. Perfect.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Poor audio

I liked the story and the performance was good, with the exception of the one voice that was given an echo effect.
The audio quality, rated under 'overall' in lack of a 'technics' option, was poor. Most of the chapters had a humming noise in the background, and the narrator recorded all his saliva noise.

I love a good shifter book.

This is the only audio I have listened to for Cardeno C and it will not be the last.
You know from the beginning that these 2 would end up together but the story inbetween is fantastic, what I thought different with this story is that you get to know the characters from a very early age and how their friendship turns into love even with all the obstacles in the way..
Charlie David did a great job narrating this book..