Wild Magic

Triad, Book 4

By: Poppy Dennison

Narrated by: Robert G. Davis

Length: 3 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Joseph Anderson was heartbroken when his childhood best friend, Dominick Levent, moved away. Years later, Joseph is a successful real estate broker with good friends, an easy smile, and a stunning house. When he finds a dying mountain lion who miraculously shifts into Dominick's sister, Joseph must find Dominick and reunite him with the two young sons she left behind.

When mountain lion shifter Dominick gets a call telling him his sister is dead, he rushes home to protect his nephews and avenge his sister. Seeing Joseph brings back the feelings Dominick tried to bury and he dares to hope Joseph's newfound knowledge of shifters means they can finally be together.

©2013 Poppy Dennison (P)2014 Dreamspinner Press

My least favorite in this series

Joseph “Joey, stumbles upon his childhood friend and her two children, just as she’s morphing from a mountain lion into a dying woman. Wow! Talk about a mind melter! With her dying breath she asks Joey to take the kids and find her brother (his other childhood friend Dominick “Nicky”) because the kids are in danger.

Though he is thoroughly freaked out, he does as told with the help of his friend Vicky.

When Nicky hears about his sister’s death he’s torn up but he’s also a bit relieved because now he can share with his friend all the secrets he’d been hiding. It was those secrets that drove him away from Joey all those years ago. The secrets and his feelings for Joey.

Together, Nicky and Joey must figure out how to track the killer of Nicky’s sister, raise the “cubs” without a pack, keep the whole shifter thing a secret while both of them are at work and manage to confront the simmering feelings between the two of them.

Nicky manages to stumble on to Gray and Simon’s pack through a work related investigation and that leads him to the answers to several of his problems. He and Joey also manage to figure things out between the two of them and we are left with a very HEA.

**
I just loved the Triad series. I loved watching Gray and Simon’s slowly developing relationship, the intense world building, the climactic finish… all of it.

I’m not sure what happened here.

Joey and Nicky’s story as a couple felt like barely a footnote. It isn’t until 85% in that they even get together physically. Most of the book is about Nicky the boys and their need for a pack. That aspect was very interesting and I loved the tie-in to Gray’s pack and the involvement of Riley, but the story (for a m/m romance) felt really lopsided.

My need for Joey and Nicky to work on their relationship, to develop their relationship, to have a relationship was essentially given one chapter of 15 and could be described as anemic at best.

Watching Nicky find a place in the world again was fulfilling and I was so happy everyone found a home in the end, but I was disappointed by how little Joey impacted the ending.

Overall, I wouldn’t say this added much to the series and as a stand-alone was not very satisfying at all.

I give the book a 2.5 of 5 stars

Audio:

I found Robert G Davis’ narration to be of equal quality as his previous work. He still does a great job with dialog but has a tendency to lilt upward on his sentences in a way that can sometimes be distracting.

The sound quality and editing were good and I enjoyed listening to the book more than reading it as he does add to the experience with his voice changes and modulations.

(I still really love his kid voices!)

I give the narration a 4 of 5 stars.

Overall, I give it a 3 of 5 stars

Enjoyable audio :)

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would change the title. As a fan of the first 3 books, I was expecting the continual and steady flow that wove throughout those 3 stories, and that was missing in this book. I would title this a spin off or a novella in the series, but not book 4.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I liked it. I think I hope for more stories for the new characters, but again, I'd give it a new series title.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Davis is a great narrator, no complaints there.

What would have made this romance irresistible?

I would have liked it to have developed a little sooner, but that little twist in the top/bottom aspect was nice.

Short but good!

Nice closer to the Triad books...if this is the end... I honestly wish that Riley and his brother (Grey's son) get a book each!

Great m/m romance series.. not to be missed from the beginning... I don't the starting at book 4 will give a complete understand of what all went down in the other books.

This could be a stand alone...but much better in read in order of series.

Nice credit or sale..

Narration was good, too.

Book 4 or a fast written afterthought?

I loved the first story, didnt like the second (mainly because i didnt like one of the MCs) and liked the third - but a 4th? Didnt get the connection to the others at first. And i think she should have stopped at the third. There was some small enjoyable moments but not a good story in it self - it feels like she wrote it too fast and didnt give u a feel for the MCs. I really dont like this narrator -and the fact that i liked two of the books anyway makes me think that it migth be better to actually read the books for a more enjoyable experience. He kinds of have the wrong emotions in his voice when he reads - i dont know why some narrators seems to think that surprise or questionmarks belong in every sentence!