Review: Blain's Mates by Sayde Grace

First off I am going to begin this review by quoting what I believe the wolf on the cover is saying:

"ARRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Now I'm not going to say that Blain's Mates by Sayde Grace is a total dog, however it's not anything to howl about either.  I have done my best not to let my expectations going into the story temper my review, though I do think many readers may start out under the impression that since the story involves werewolves and bisexual men they are going to see werewolves and at least a little guy on guy action.  Well, instead of giving us a hot werewolf scrumpin' scene like the one shown in the film version of The Howling we get a story that has less werewolf in it than The Howling: New Moon Rising (which was 95% scenes of line dancing and beer drinkin', 2% awful werewolf costumes that would not have passed in z-grade 60's horror films and 3% bad acting).  As for the guy on guy action, well it is certainly alluded to but never really materializes.

Blain's Mates is basically the story of Blain Jacobs, second in command and male lover to Shawn Sanders, the Alpha male of the local werewolf clan.  To secure his position as the leader of the clan Shawn must have a (female) mate.  Enter hot and much sought after female member of the clan Raylen Walker, who both are hopelessly in love with (as well as being hopelessly in love with each other).  Magically the participants must all mate together at the same magical moment to seal the three of them as being mated for life, which sounds pretty hot, and it probably would be if it was handled much better.

A majority of this extremely short story is centered on Blain waffling on whether or not he is going to actually join the bond, as well as him thinking about how hot Shawn is (though with a lack of any sexual flashbacks).  The length in the end is the real killer, and the story comes off as neither erotic or very romantic.  Had Ms. Grace perhaps written more it would have made a huge difference, because as I have said before sometimes stories do work and work really well without the elements the readers are expecting in them, but in the case of this story Sayde Grace does not give herself that much else to work with.  Instead the reader is suddenly dropped into a story and Universe without much reference as to what is going on.  It is listed as part of Grace's Moon Creek Series, however thus far Blain's Mates is the only entry and I cannot see that it is enticing enough to get readers to purchase future stories in the series.

In all honesty I have to say that I do think the Ms. Grace has some good ideas and concepts.  However, she needs to really spin this tale out in a longer format.  Her writing style is not awful, but it is not overly thrilling.  I rate Blain's Mates Three Stars, and I hope to see if Sayde Grace does better with stories written in a longer format, because she certainly has imagination.  It just needs to be expanded upon and refined.

Here is where you can find Sayde Grace's Blain's Mates:

All Romance eBooks:  http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-blainsmates-513132-139.html
OmniLit:  http://www.omnilit.com/product-blainsmates-513132-139.html
Smashwords:  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/39608

Master Vyle