REVIEW: Forever Wolf by Maria Vale

In Forever Wolf by Maria Vale, Varya is known as the Shielder, a wolf responsible for protecting the wolves of the 12th. She is not known as being kind, and most are afraid of her. Even the Alpha of the 12th, Lorcan, wants to mate her for a power exchange but he doesn’t even like her. One day she discovers an injured lone wolf named Eyulf. If anyone finds out she’d be in trouble, especially since his one blue eye and one green eye is believed to be a sign of the end of the world. When it becomes clear that humans and shifters are determined to attack the Great North, the pair will have to come together to save all the wolves, but at what cost?

I’ll be honest and say this was almost a did not finish for me. I had a very hard time getting into it. Varya comes across as cold and angry. She’s harsh with the children of the packs, she scares the other wolves, and there’s absolutely nothing that made me care for her. I hadn’t read the book blurb and for the first couple of chapters I actually thought Varya was a male. The book is told from her point of view, but it did little to help me understand her.

When she meets Eyulf, she softens somewhat as she puts herself on the line by saving him. Still, instead of trying to bring him to the pack and asking for help, even knowing the pack has taken in both humans and half-shifters in the past, she leaves him out in the caves to take care of himself. I also didn’t feel much chemistry between Varya and Eyulf, but I was confused as to why she would agree to mate with Lorcan if she supposedly had feelings for Eyulf.

The epilogue threw me off. The book was told from Varya’s point of view, but the epilogue, still in first person point of view, is from someone else’s point of view. It threw me off and I think it would have been better if maybe it hadn’t been written in first person.

I haven’t read the previous two books, but I have to wonder if I had if maybe I would have understood and enjoyed the characters more. As it is, I didn’t really care for any of them. Lorcan, who was supposed to be an Alpha, was childish and threw fits when something he didn’t like happened. For example, when Evie, the Alpha of Great North, called Varya Alpha, Lorcan volunteered Varya to be the 12th’s representative to do patrols of the territory. He doesn’t come across as being a leader, and Evie, who doesn’t agree with his decision, doesn’t call him out on it.

I wouldn’t characterize this as a romance, as most of the book seemed to be focused on the threat to the Great North. If you’re looking for a paranormal romance involving wolf shifters, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.

I’m sure there are people who will love this book but, unfortunately, I’m not one of them. It just didn’t work for me on several levels and I found myself struggling to make it through to the end.

Book Info:

Publication: March 26, 2019 | Sourcebooks Casablanca | The Legend of All Wolves #3

Born with one blue eye and one green, Eyulf was abandoned as an infant and has never understood why, or what he is…Varya is fiercely loyal to the Great North Pack, which took her in when she was a teenager. While out on patrol, Varya finds Eyulf wounded and starving and saves his life, at great risk to her own.

Legend says his eyes portend the end of the world…or perhaps, the beginning…

With old and new enemies threatening the Great North, Varya knows as soon as she sees his eyes that she must keep Eyulf hidden away from the superstitious wolves who would doom them both. Until the day they must fight to the death for the Pack’s survival, side by side and heart to heart…