Lauren Dawes

Happy New Book Saturday! This week's book is a little different. Surprisingly, it is not a phenomenal five-star reader. It's had mixed reviews on Amazon and Goodreads (4.2 star average & 3.7 star average respectively), but what caught my attention was this:

"This book took me for a loop. The ending very surprising. I would have never through it ended like it did. You must read it because the end is not common." ~ Amazon Review 

"I like how the main character is undefined.. strong personality wise. The ending was a shocker, and a cliffhanger." ~ Amazon Review 

"Was very good. Did not expect the ending. Looking forward to reading the other books in the series." ~ Amazon Review 

"Why, oh why, did you have to end it that way? I was so distressed..." ~ Goodreads Review 

Sensing a theme yet? From all accounts, the ending has a MASSIVE cliffhanger. What I can't tell is whether people like this cliffhanger, or not. From some reviews, it's pretty obvious they don't like it, but other reviews hardly mention it, so I'm intrigued. 

If anyone has read this book, feel free to share your own thoughts on it in the comments below! 

Ten years ago, Deirdre Tombs died. When she was reborn the next day, Deirdre had become a shapeshifter who can’t shift shapes. Nobody knows what animal she’s supposed to be. She’s definitely not a werewolf. The Alpha, Rylie Gresham, can’t force her to transform like other members of her pack.

Now Deirdre is considered an omega, the weakest shapeshifter in the pack—a vulnerable position when Everton Stark demands tribute from Rylie. He wants to be the dominant Alpha. The only Alpha. And he plans to make her pack submit whether they want to or not. Stark can make every shapeshifter obey him by force of will alone.

Every shapeshifter except Deirdre.

The shifter who can’t shift is the only hope for Rylie to win the war against Stark. It will take everything Deirdre has to survive undercover in his den. But can an omega’s will be stronger than that of a charismatic, deadly Alpha like Everton Stark?



Disclaimer: As always, I have no affiliation with this author, publisher or book. I simply chose it because I liked it. Happy reading!

A lot of you have been asking whether there will be a fifth Helheim book. Well, the good news is YES there will be a fifth book. I'm currently working on writing it, but my life has been crazy so it's taking a lot longer than I expected.

It's Brax's story, but it's also the book that tidies up all the loose ends and hopefully gives you all a sense a satisfaction that the series is over. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to all of my wolves, but like all goods things...

So, without further ado, here's the final excerpt from "Omega".


Brax mentally wrapped a leash around his self-control, holding that motherfucker in a death grip. He was standing in Andrea’s bedroom having found the thing without the need for directions or a detailed map. All he’d had to do was follow his nose, that sugary sweet smell of caramel leading him and his dick in the right direction. He was in over his fucking head. He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to scrub the dirty thoughts from his mind. He’d known the moment she’d made her way into the room. It wasn’t Ulf’s slight nod of acknowledgment that had tipped him off. It wasn’t even her caramel scent. It was his wolf. His wolf had sat at attention and the word ‘mate’ had whispered through his mind.

He forced himself to focus on the task at hand.

Find her bags.

Grab her bags.

Get the fuck out of there.

But it wasn’t that easy. Now that he was there in her bedroom, he had this sick desire to looking around, to inhale her scent from the pillow and bedsheets. Hell, he wanted to mark his goddamn territory. But once more, he tugged tightly on the choke chain and brought his self-control to heel. Sliding his hands through the two handles of her old-school suitcases, he belt at the knees and lifted. As he made his way back to the front entrance way, he paused when he heard voices coming from behind a closed door just to his right. He could hear the soft buzz of Ulf’s voice as he spoke to the alpha. Whatever. It wasn’t his business…right? He tried to listen a little harder, but movement at the top of the hallway caught his attention.

Andrea was standing there with her arms wrapped around her torso, hugging herself until her knuckles turned white. He would have thought she was afraid, except for the heat blasting off her body, the scent of caramel getting stronger by the second.

Mate, Brax’s wolf said again, its coarse voice louder than before.

He took a step toward her and her eyes widened. She sucked in a breath, pressing herself into the wall and looking away. It was almost as if she were trying to make herself smaller, to simply disappear.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he heard himself say, but his voice didn’t sound like his. It sounded gentle and reassuring, not the casualness he usually projected. She looked back at him and his heart squeezed in his chest. She was the most beautiful female he’d ever seen. Making a show of being as nonthreatening as possible, he lowered both of her bags to the ground and retreated a few feet. He walked back until the backs of his knees hit the edge of a chair and he sat down.

He watched her from where she was, noting the way she relaxed. Good. He didn’t want to upset her. He had no idea what her story was, but he would totally go all tween girl at a sleepover to find out if she was willing to share. He suddenly got a mental image of Andrea having a pillow fight wearing very little and he groaned. Subtly and, hopefully, unseen, he readjusted his erection pressing against the fly of his pants.

God, he was such an asshole.

Feeling the need to fill in the blank space between them, he asked, “Your name is Andrea?”

Way to go, Jackass. You know her name is Andrea.

“I mean…ah, fuck,” he finished, shaking his head. “Sorry. I’m not usually like this.” He blew out a breath and slumped back into the chair. He’d blown it.

Fucking. Dick.

“You can call me Drae,” she said softly. Brax looked at her just to make sure he’d heard her properly.

“Drae?” he repeated. She nodded and he smiled.

She inched a little closer, but still held herself back from him. Her fear was another entity in the space. She was a timid deer and he was petrified of any movement that would send her running and hiding. What in the hell had happened to her for her to be so frightened?

“Will we be leaving soon?” she asked, rubbing her arms as if cold.

Brax glanced at the closed door between them, trying to see if the conversation was wrapping up or not. He looked back and Andrea’s cheeks suddenly flushed with color. “I’m not sure. I guess all we can do is wait.”

And that is exactly what they did until the door opened and Brax watched Ulf and Avon step out of what looked like a library. Brax looked to his beta, trying to decipher what the expression on his face might mean. Ulf looked incensed. He wasn’t just angry. He was downright enraged by something. He looked at Drae briefly before pinning Brax with a hard stare.

Dropping his voice down low, he jabbed a finger in Drae’s direction and said, “Stay away from her. You hear me?”

What. The. Fuck.

“Yeah,” Brax said, confused. Who was Andrea? Avon’s mate? That would be the only reason for the keep-your-hands-to-yourself speech. He hadn’t sensed anything between them, but maybe they hadn’t mated properly yet. What if…what if Drae was Avon’s mistress and his wife was coming home so he needed to get rid of his dirty secret?

He felt like a douche for even lumping those words together with Drae—dirty secret and mistress. She would never be any of those things. He stared at her, like his stare alone would make all the secrets suddenly appear in thin air.

“Get the bags. We’re going to be late for our flight.”

A lot of you have been asking whether there will be a fifth Helheim book. Well, the good news is YES there will be a fifth book. I'm currently working on writing it, but my life has been crazy so it's taking a lot longer than I expected.

It's Brax's story, but it's also the book that tidies up all the loose ends and hopefully gives you all a sense a satisfaction that the series is over. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to all of my wolves, but like all goods things...

So, without further ado, here's the first of three excerpts from "Omega".