PendulumRating: 4 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Remus Black has just moved to a different part of the country. He left behind everything, including his abusive boyfriend and his college transcripts. Remus is just relieved to be in a new school and is trying to rebuild his life. His roommate has a plan for him however, as he takes him to a night at the coveted and secretive BDSM club known as the Lodge.

Remus keeps saying he’s not a submissive, but no one seems to listen. They certainly won’t listen when he is entered without his knowledge into the annual Alpha Pet contest run by the Wolf Pack. Remus instantly draws the attention of brothers Sebastian and Victor and before Remus even knows what is going on, he is claimed without giving his consent.

Remus can’t make sense of anything that is going on, including the reactions and protectiveness from both Sebastian and Victor and Remus’ entire world is about to shift as he learns that calling the guys wolves is to be used in the literal sense. Remus slowly learns that nothing and no one are as they seem and the answers he seeks may lie deep within himself–his true self. Remus must then work to reclaim who he is supposed to be and deal with two brothers set on having him for their very own mate.

There is so much going on with this book! It feels like an epic journey for Remus as when I finished the book, I looked back on how much had happened and how far Remus had come. The book offers a lot not only in its considerable length of pages (over 400), but also in content. The above synopsis doesn’t cover nearly everything that happens in this book and I am definitely being purposely vague. The book starts off going in one direction and while it continues on in the same direction, there are many storylines that branch out along the way.

Overall, this is Remus’ story. The book is told entirely from his POV and while so much of it is also Sebastian and Victor’s story, everything is filtered through Remus. At the beginning, Remus is looking forward to starting over and he’s wary but he’s still trying to please everyone. This includes his new roommate who convinces Remus to attend an exclusive club where Remus’ story truly begins. The club is run by a group of mysterious guys know as the Wolf Pack and stating that the title is literal isn’t giving anything away. Remus immediately catches the attention of Sebastian and Victor and in no time Sebastian marks Remus and claims him, which sends Victor into a rage. But nothing is at it seems at all and Victor’s reaction involves years of longing and waiting.

Also here, and a large component of the book, are the relationships between Remus and Sebastian and Remus and Victor. While Sebastian claims Remus as his mate, Remus does spend more time with Victor. It’s all fated mates love and I would have liked to have seen more relationship development past the we-are-just-meant-to-be-together, especially where Remus and Sebastian are concerned. There is nothing traditional about these relationships from any aspect, which completely worked for me and was one area that made this book even better for me. But this is billed as a love triangle and who Remus will ultimately wind up with is still left open as he develops a relationship with both brothers.

I liked this story…a lot. But I also feel that I had to make concessions for it as well. There is no world building and how all the paranormal elements fit into the larger contemporary world is not explored. Sebastian and Victor’s pack life is also not explored. Remus is understandably clueless upfront, but his willingness to just go along with every single thing began to grate a bit. Without going into detail, he was  learning so many things at once and then was expected to go along with it all. He barely asked any questions, but when he did ask and the answers weren’t offered, he kept on with whatever everyone else wanted from him. It all happened so fast for him and on one hand he had no way to slow it down, but he was so overly accepting of every single thing he learned. The Lodge is also a BDSM club and both Sebastian and Victor are dominants. There was one light BDSM style scene in the book and with everything else going on, it wasn’t well explored, there were definite areas of concern regarding the behavior of the dominants, and it was perhaps too much in a book already overwhelmed.

The book is easily the length of two novels, which in itself is not an issue. But there were times that it lost its way from a reader perspective. There were stories of folklore and long held blood feuds that for me needed a more thorough edit. There were areas that could have been streamlined to fit more seamlessly into one novel or those same areas could have been expanded to split this book into two novels. The title of the book as well is touched upon but then seemingly dropped. There were also too many simple typos to let slide that a thorough proofread could have eliminated.

The ending did exactly what I needed it to as far as one storyline was concerned. This story is far from over and book two is already available. While the book had some issues, I find myself willing to overlook some for the ultimate entertainment value overall. For a journey just beginning that begrudgingly puts brother against brother, with shifters, vampires, battles, and an age old legend brewing for war as Remus claims his place, Pendulum is that book.

 

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