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Wilder’s Mate by Moira Rogers * I received this ARC free from the author in exchange for an honest review* Wilder’s Mate is the first book in a new series by Moira Rogers, Bloodhounds. It’s set in the wild frontier with some Steam punk elements thrown in. Satira is alone except for her mentor Nathan and her friend Ophelia. When Nathan goes missing she is determined to find him, no matter the cost. Wilder Harding is a Bloodhound and a member of the Guild. He was trained by Levi, Satira’s surrogate father and now he’s been enlisted to find Nathan. He is not happy about taking Satira with him and sets some ground rules to “keep her safe”. He doesn’t seem impressed with her weapons, until he has to rely on them to help defeat the vampire they are after. Satira is intrigued with Wilder. She is sexually attracted to him and is not afraid of his nature. She is witty and sharp and doesn’t take anything from him but she will do as he says when her safety is concerned. She is a woman alone in a man’s world with extraordinary weapon design skills that any man would covet but provide her with no value because she is female. Wilder lost his family years before he joined the Guild. He is called on for important and often times dangerous jobs. When he gets the assignment to track down and rescue Nathan, working beside Satira he realizes that he is missing something in his life. He is concerned that they will not be done before the new moon because he doesn’t want to hurt her, what he doesn’t expect is her response to him. The banter back and forth between the main characters kept me entertained. Satira is a strong female character that is able to take care of herself but isn’t afraid to ask for help if she needs it. She didn’t complain about their situation, she just endured. I think Wilder gets more personable as the story advances and we see that there is more to him than just a cut throat Bloodhound. He is lonely and doesn’t really notice the need until he starts spending time with Satira. She just wants to be needed by someone and she wants it to be Wilder. I loved the descriptions of the surrounding scenery; it made it so easy to visualize where they were. The gadgets added a neat touch to the time period and were interesting. It was cool that when they were used, a lot of the weapons used chemical based compounds to make them work. There was just enough background history sprinkled throughout the book to let you understand the characters but not overload the reader. I think the few secondary characters added depth to the story and opened it up for future books. I can’t wait to see who the next one will be about. Overall I really liked Wilder’s Mate. It was my first foray into the world of Steam Punk and I loved it because it brought me in nice and easy. It was action packed, the sex scenes were hot, and the characters were very easy to connect with. Overall I give Wilder’s Mate 4 Flaming Hearts.

2020-08-23 01:59