Title: Unleashed

Author: Xemnas4

Genre: Paranormal/Werewolf

Quick Summary: Average Joe gets bitten, isn't a werewolf. Somehow.

Thoughts:

I had a couple of nitpicks, but for the most part this is the start of a very good read. Alex is a good narrator for this book and for once he's not the type of person that's a hypermasculine dick shoe, for which I was grateful for. And, even better, he has a best friend that's a woman and they aren't interested in each other, have never been interested in each other, and aren't going to be interested in each other. And that's such a refreshing thing. She pursues her own romantic leads - and Alex helps - and Alex has his own narrative absent of her, and they're very clearly two people who care very much about each other without needing to be in love. I love that. 

In addition, the writing is solid and the plot seems to be, too. There's so much that I want to know and I really want this to be updated ASAP because I have so many questions that need answering. Like, the fuck is up with Alex honestly I wanna know what is happening to him. A bomb gets dropped about where he ends up and why in the last chapter and I'm frustrated that that's where we stop - not in a bad way. 

But like I said, some minor complaints. 

In the beginning, Quinn felt... flat. When he and everyone else showed up at Alex's workplace, I had a feel for everyone except for him. He felt...Really out of place, like a bottle of ketchup in the candy aisle. Of course he develops later and that's done well, but his first appearance needs to either be stronger, or it needs to be moved to when Alex gets to the Masen household.

There's a segment in which Malcolm and Alex are interacting at a party, and it heavily, heavily heavily reads like Alex is checking Malcolm out. Normally I would be fine with this, except Xemnas has established that Alex is not bisexual and is not supposed to be checking Malcolm out... which means the description in that regard crossed a line. As I've already suggested, the tone of this needs to be altered so that queer people like me don't get confused. Or make Alex bi. That works, too haha.

Alex is allegedly not a werewolf, but he has all these powers? I'm really wondering what Xemnas is planning with him and with this book, and where the distinction is between a werewolf and... well, whatever the hell Alex is. Speaking of, his powers suggest more "catlike" abilities than "dog", which has me kind of confused. Like when he fell out of the tree and managed to land with minimal problems - that's more a cat thing. I think a dog would just fall on its face. I dunno.

Otherwise... I like Alex and I like this book so far and I really really want to see more of it. I hope there's an update soon!