Release Day Launch and Review: Dire by Alyssa Rose Ivy
Gage was the first guy I ever wanted. He was my first crush and my first fantasy, but he wasn’t my first in any other way because he never saw me as anything more than a friend— at least not until the night that changed everything.
It was all Gage’s fault. He insisted we drive through the storm and take the back roads. By the time the storm hit full force we had no chance. One night of snowbound sex changed our relationship forever. The problem was at the same time I caught another guy’s attention. This other guy happened to be the alpha of a pack of shifter wolves. I thought the wolves were the worst of my problems, but I was wrong. When things went from bad to worse I had to make a lifelong sacrifice to save Gage, but what price is too much to save the one you love?
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EXCERPT:
A single howl made me stop short. “The wolves!”
“Let’s hope they are farther away than they sound.” Gage tightened his hold on my hand and pulled me forward.
Three more howls filled the night. “They sound closer.”
We picked up the pace, and I chanced a glance behind me. That was a mistake. Several large grey wolves came into view. “Run!”
Gage didn’t need to be told twice. He broke into a run without letting go of my hand.
I ran as fast as possible over the frozen snow, but we didn’t get far before the wolves started circling around us. “Oh my god.” Could things get any worse?
“You have to make a run for it.” Gage’s voice quivered. “They’re going to kill us.”
“I’m not leaving you.” I tried to stay strong, and I kept my eyes locked on the wolves. There were five of them. All of them were massive, much larger than any wolf I’d seen before, but one of them was even bigger and had a large silver streak running down its back. That wolf seemed to be staring right at me.
“I’ll distract them. You run. I’ll catch up.”
I spotted an opening next to one of the smaller of the wolves and went for it. I didn’t make it far before one of the wolves stepped in front of me. I froze, paralyzed with fear, before my legs were knocked from under me. Suddenly, I was lying in the snow with a giant wolf hovering over me.
“We’re fucked.” Gage voiced exactly what I was thinking.
The silver streaked wolf stared down at me. It’s almost glowing eyes bored into mine. Was I really going to die as half-frozen food for a giant wild animal?
Then things got hazy and the air seemed to buzz. Moments later it wasn’t a wolf on top of me—it was a man. A completely naked man with a faint scar across his face.
“What the heck?” I tried to scurry back, but Hunter didn’t move. His very exposed parts nearly touched me. I didn’t want to notice his size, but I did. He was huge. He also didn’t look remotely concerned with the cold.
His lips brushed against my ear. “Were you going somewhere?”
REVIEW:
Okay, I have several words to describe this book: weird, confusing, complicated, fast. The story for me was confusing until around 60% in. I had no idea what was going on until you finally start getting explanations. Things for our main characters went from 0-100 in about 10 pages. Mary Anne is the quiet nerdy girl and Gage is your all around jock/frat boy. They run in different circles but are from the same town and know each other because Gage played sports with Mary Anne’s older brother. Things progressed fast, extremely fast and then you are left confused. These Weres that we meet are aggressive and creepy however the thing that bothers me the most is I don’t get a picture. There were hardly any mention of character descriptions and this makes envisioning the story in my mind difficult.
After 60% some things start to make sense but you are still left with a million questions and I think the take away message the author was trying to prevail was you can’t control who you fall for. You meet a ton of characters, including Hunter who sounds like a creepy mid-aged man. In the end, Mary Anne sacrificed her own happiness to save Gage, but will Gage no longer be the Gage she knew? I can’t answer that question because the story ends with a huge cliffhanger. So I guess we wait till the next one, not sure if I am going to read it. I am really split and on the fence. While I wanted answers and the story kept me engaged, it also left me frustrated with way too many loose ends to tie up and way too many questions needing answered. Feel free to make your own verdict.
Alyssa Rose Ivy is a New Adult and Young Adult author who loves to weave stories with romance and a southern setting. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after moving to New Orleans for college. After years as a perpetual student, she turned back to her creative side and decided to write. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young children, and she can usually be found with a cup of coffee in her hand.
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