Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The third book in the River Wolf series is crafted into a well written episode of what could be a popular soap opera.  Ms. James has expanded the role of minor characters from her previous books while still weaving in the major characters from them as well.  If you are looking for romance, jealousy, triangle romances, office politics and strong family ties, this book has it for you.

The main focus of the book is the romance and friendships between Leo, an alpha wolf shifter trying to get ahead in pack hierarchy, Sam, a rogue omega wolf who lost his pack due to hunters, and Foster, a coyote shifter who has gotten separated from his pack.  Leo really does not want to be bothered with taking on an omega as a mate.  However, his hormones seem to be telling him otherwise when he is around Sam, the rogue omega he has been assigned to assimilate into the pack.  Sam meanwhile enjoys his friendship with Foster while secretly wanting Leo.  But Sam thinks Leo is into Foster.  Foster is under the assumption that Leo lusts after Sam and is trying to do everything to get Sam to realize it.  If he cannot have the hunky alpha wolf, he wants his best friend to have a shot at him. 

Meanwhile Stone is causing all sorts of trouble in the pack, as usual.  He is trying to mate as many pack members as possible and has his eyes set on Sam.  Jax is beginning to realize that he will never want to convert to a werewolf and fears his time with the pack second David is coming to an end.  Elsewhere, pack members are grumbling that First Alpha River and his half werewolf First Omega Josiah had twin girls six months ago, the first girls to be born to werewolves at least in recent memory.  River ignoring the complaints have only made the matter worse.  While the main antagonist in the werewolf-human congress is gone, relations between the two species are still tenuous at best.  Can River keep his new family and his pack from forces both inside and outside the pack?

I love the characters in this series.  Josiah being half were and new to the pack leads to his continued insecurity.  His focus as lead omega, his mate and his young girls are the only things that ground him.  But they also feed his insecurity because of the looks he gets.  Sam and Foster are trying to make new starts for themselves but some inside the pack do not like strangers, whether were or human.  Foster still longs to find his true mate.  This affects his relationship to not only Sam and Leo but also to the pack as a whole.  The decisions made at the end of the book serve as a conclusion and a new beginning for the men (and girls) of River Wolf pack.  I highly recommend this book and the previous books as well. 

The cover by Written Ink Designs serves the book well.  It has three shirtless men on the top half while a pack of wolves dominates the bottom half.  The only quibble I have with the cover is that one of the main characters in the book is a coyote shifter.  I know wolves and coyotes probably would not peacefully coexist in the real world, but there might have been a way to represent Foster’s other half.

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Book Details:

ebook, 176 pages
Published July 16th 2016 by JMS Books
ISBN139781634861205
Edition LanguageEnglish

Series:  River Wolf Pack

First Omega (River Wolf Pack #1)