ARC Review--Dawn by Alyssa Rose Ivy

It is always darkest before dawn.

Gage and Mary Anne are on the run and determined to break Hunter out of prison so he can finish changing Gage. They look to Mary Anne’s college friend Genevieve and the zany Dire Denny for assistance, but in the end, help comes from the unlikeliest of places.

Hunter must end the hunt even if it means destroying his own brother and giving up on the girl destined to be his. With betrayal surrounding him at every turn, his best chance at ending the hunt is someone he is sworn to hate. 

I received this ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.

Alyssa Rose Ivy draws a conclusion to the Dire Wolves Chronicles with Dawn, and I must say it was quite a read! I fell so in love with this series, guess because I tend to have a love for werewolves a lot lately! And Dires are basically the ultimate werewolf!

Things are pretty intense in this one. Hunter and his fellow pack members have been captured by the Pterons and are being held prisoners. I couldn’t help but feel some dislike this time for some of my once favorite characters! It was so weird, to see them as a sort of enemy for the time. They were holding the Dires captive based on old wars and grudges from their “fathers” basically. Talk about no forward thinking at all. I expected better from Levi. But it’s also possible, with all the reading in between and no clear cut idea of what this “war” was like, that each of them were entitled to their dislike of one another.

In the meantime, Mary Anne and Gage have recruited Mary Anne’s best friend, Genevieve to help them in their attempt to rescue Hunter and the others. Though this task is going to require far more help than Genevieve can provide. And this is where Allie and Levi walk in (again, since we’ve basically seen Levi already).

It was great fun seeing these characters mix together. When the series first started out, I thought this was going to be one that stands on its own, and while it still does that in a way, I like seeing it be connected to the Crescent Chronicles. Although, where it stands chronologically with all the other spin off series is still something I am unsure of. But that’s such a minor thing, it’s hardly worth noting, as our focus remains on Mary Anne and Gage.

Though I still always had a soft spot for Hunter. Not that I was on his “team” to say, because really? Falling in love with a girl you dreamt about and not knowing anything about her? That’s just weird. And a little creepy. Though, I never was really sold on Gage. Don’t get me wrong, he and Mary Anne have total chemistry, I guess I just didn’t like how he seemed to have snapped and realized he loved Mary Anne like she did him after all these years. I guess I would’ve like a more gradual falling in love process than what we got in this series, but again, that mostly just comes from my personal preferences in regards to romance in books!

It’s also in Dawn that we finally meet the elusive and evil twin brother of Hunter. Fielding was definitely an evil villain of sorts, but I felt like his page time was just so short. We had knowledge of the idea of him for the past two books, but when finally meeting the big bad, I felt like the conflict with him was resolved rather quickly.

I do truly enjoy the characters in these series! It seems that everyone worth noting is rather entertaining! I enjoyed Genevieve and her spunk! Then there was Michelle—who might have popped up in a previous series, but I can’t really remember, she might not have had a large role in that installment—but she was a delight! She was a very determined character working to prove herself and naturally, there might have been a spark or two between her and Hunter. It seems every character in these series will meet their true love and while it sounds kind of sappy, the reader in me is all sorts of happy about that!

The Dire Wolves Chronicles definitely wraps things up in this trilogy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two of these characters make another appearance in a new series! There was a shocking reveal in the midst of the climax at the end that left me wondering what a particular someone might think of said event. And there’s still definite potential to see more of the other members of Hunter’s wolf pack! So hopefully one or two or more of these characters will pester Alyssa to write their story!

Basically, Dawn was a pretty amazing read that draws a satisfying conclusion but will still leave you hungry for more from these amazing characters.

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars