ARC Review--Black Rook by Kelly Meade

She never saw this coming…

Brynn Atwood is a low-level Magus whose unpredictable precognitive powers have made her an outcast among her people—and an embarrassment to her highly-regarded father. After a frightening vision in which her father is murdered by a loup garou man, Brynn decides to prove herself by finding the killer, and stopping them at any cost.

Her target is Rook McQueen, the son of a small-town loup garou Alpha. Despite being the youngest of three, Rook is first in line to inherit the role of Alpha, a duty he isn't sure he's capable of fulfilling. When Brynn finally meets Rook, she doesn't expect the attraction that draws her to him—and him to her.

No longer believing him a murderer, Brynn and Rook strike an alliance to find her father's real killer. But when his older brother is targeted by an unknown enemy, Rook will have to choose between his growing feelings for Brynn and his duty as the future Alpha of his community.

I received this eARC from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


Omigosh, omigosh, omi-freaking-gosh! Kelly Meade's Black Rook was a totally and completely freaking awesome read! I wasn't expecting to get so engrossed into the story, but I was and wow, just wow!

While my reading obsession started with vampires, I have become a fan of werewolves for a long time. No idea why, werewolves are just cool! In Kelly's story they are called loup garou and I love going with this term, again, no idea why, it's just sounds cool and it's different! Basically I totally fell for this read from the beginning.

Brynn Atwood is a Magus, basically a magic wielder, but she's sort of the odd duck in her family in that she doesn't really have any powers or magical abilities. Except for the visions she gets. And they are always true, as to when the visions occur is another matter entirely. When she has one of seeing her father bloodied and dead with a man standing over him, she's convinced that this stranger is going to kill her father and despite not having a loving relationship with the man she calls dad, she's determined to save her father from this fate and take care of the would-be murderer herself.

Rook McQueen is a black wolf, the most powerful and strongest of the loup garou. One day he could take over his father's pack once his Alpha/father retires or resigns. He's that powerful and his two older brothers know it and would have to concede to this should Rook want it. I don't want to get into all the pack details and hierarchy because that would get lengthy, but it all does get explained. And when he meets Brynn, pretty much right away he feels a connection to the little Magus who wants to kill him. Go figure, right?

Brynn's plan doesn't pan out at all like she expected and she soon finds herself at the mercy of Rook and his family; the pack. But soon terror and tragedy strike nearby packs as they are heedless slaughtered and Brynn finds herself being a more permanent reluctant guest.

As the plot unfolds, we see more development with the world and characters within it; characters being the type, Magus, loup garou and yes, vampires! There's a lot going on and more hidden secrets than one would expect, but it makes for incredible story-telling! There's so much mystery going on alongside the supernatural politics that it is just spine gripping--you know if it was available as a real book instead of ebook, but that's not the point, lol!--!

I totally fell for the romance too. While it can be called sort of insta-love, there's reasoning to it. We see both Brynn and Rook feeling more than just attraction to the other but have no explanation for it. But while they have these feeling, nothing really romantic happens between them for awhile (although it's still just days for book-time-wise). But it was still quite the touching romance, I felt my heart melting a bit too!

There's a good deal of action in this one too, but that's too be expected almost once the first few events start rolling! And the best part about it is, that this is a trilogy series so we have two more books and those are going to star each of Rook's brothers as the main hero. And there's still quite a problem left unresolved in this one, I won't get into it, but I can definitely see this battle playing out over the next two books and I sooo cannot wait!

The characters were enjoyable too! Brynn was a marvelous heroine and while she had her flaws in the beginning, she definitely grew on you as time went on. And Rook, oh Rook! He was freaking awesome! Told in multiple third person point of view, we got mostly Rook and Brynn's perspectives and it was done remarkably! Getting to see what each one feels about the other and of course some of the other more plot driven parts of their tellings, was just incredible!

I could not get enough of this book and I sooo cannot wait to read Gray Bishop next once it releases! This is a series you do not want to miss out on if you love werewolves because it was really, truly, freaking awesome!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars


Black Rook releases July 15, 2014