Judith’s review of Enforcer’s Redemption (Redwood Pack #4) by Carrie Ann Ryan

Adam Jamenson has suffered through the worst loss known to man. The only reason he lives day-to-day is to ensure the safety of his Pack. As the Enforcer of the Redwood Pack, it is his job to protect all in his path, though he was unable to protect the ones he held dear. The war with the Centrals is heating up and Adam must try and grit through it in order to survive. Though the broken man inside of him may not want to…

Together, they must struggle and find a way to fight their pasts and present in order to protect their future. But the Centrals have a plan that might make their path one of loss and destruction.

I came upon this series quite by accident–trolling All-Romance eBooks one day–and I have to say I was hooked.  I have always liked wolf-shifter paranormal romance and this book was fascinating right from the start.  The Jamenson family is reportedly the most power family in No. America, with dad the alpha of the Redwood Pack, largest and most powerful pack, and target of the the greedy, power-hungry and evil Central pack whose alpha dreams of the day when he will be the most powerful alpha on the continent.  He has even aligned himself with a demon whose object is to use anything and anybody to create a portal through which he and his minions would ultimately have unfettered access to the human world.  The first three books in this series were about Adam’s older brothers and their adventures as they found their mates, all of whom were human to begin with.  The last thing Adam Jamenson wants is another mate.  The Centrals were responsible for abducting and murdering his pregnant mate years earlier and his grief has continued on unabated.  From time to time he has left the confines of pack land in order to wander in the hope that he can find some kind of balance in his life, some kind of closure, some kind of hope that the pain and sense of loss will someday be less intense.  It is during one of those sojourns Adam meets Bay Milton, engages in a “one night stand” that he subsequently puts behind him and forgets.  Now he is faced with Bay once again, and it appears that he and Bay have created more than just an erotic memory.

This novel is not one that is easy to read in the sense that it is about a terribly injured individual coming face to face with the absolute necessity of moving on, if not for Bay than for his child.  The emotions run hot and cold between these two, and while the pack and Adam’s family are open to her presence, Adam just can’t seem to get his head around the fact that he has no alternative but to claim Bay and bring her and their child into his life.  I think one of the reasons I really resonated with this novel is because I work with families who are dealing with grief quite often and I recognized the issues that Adam faced, the pain he tried to avoid, the memories he sought to drown with work or wanderlust, the unwillingness to leave his past relationship in the past.  Bay wasn’t the only factor that was challenging him:  he had his job as enforcer to deal with, the increasing danger from the Centrals, the memories that he didn’t protect his first wife and child, and his deep sense of anger at himself for failing.  It is the kind of residual fall-out that is so often present when a loved one dies violently.  Adam’s struggle is one that intrudes on our own circle of friends and loved ones way too often!

I read and review a lot of books and it gets more and more evident that there are writers out there and then there are writers–those who really know how to craft a story beautifully, know how to put characters together and design them as realistic people with the strengths and weaknesses we all recognize as being a part of us all, and who know how to make the individual strands of a story come together to make a fulfilling story that entertains as well as often is thought-provoking on many levels.  Carrie Ann Ryan is one of those who has found the secret to doing a novel well, who manages to get it all right and make it all hang together.  This is a novel that those of us who like this series have been waiting for–we met Adam early on and knew of his pain and anguish and many of us wondered how the author was going to resolve the multiple dilemmas in his situation.  Well, Ms Ryan pulls it off and it is a really terrific paranormal romance in every sense of the word.  There’s sexual tension between Adam and Bay, tension between Adam and his family, tension between the Redwood Pack and the Centrals, tension between Bay and some of the Redwood Pack members.  So it is a book that will keep the reader on the edge of  the chair pretty much throughout the novel.

Shifter romances are a dime a dozen, but good ones aren’t as plentiful as one would think.  This is one of the goods one.

I give it a rating of 4.25 out of 5.

The Series:

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Fated Desires Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.