Book Review - Alpha Divided

Alpha Divided
Author: Aileen Erin
Series: Alpha Girl #3
Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 14th October 2014
Publisher: Ink Monster LLC
Pages: 200
Source: Review Copy - Ink Monster LLC
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon

Life has been crazy since Tessa McCaide moved to Texas. She's gone from being a normal-ish girl with visions to a super-powered werewolf. She's fought off vampires and broken a nearly unbreakable curse. And she's got a hot mate, Dastien Laurent, to keep her busy.

Things are looking up until the full moon ceremony rolls around. Before Tessa can strengthen her bond with Dastien, the local coven crashes the gates, demanding that Tessa - their heir apparent - be returned. If the pack wants to avoid a war with the witches, handing Tessa over is the only option.

Tessa doesn't want to cause an all-out fight, but joining a dark-magic coven isn't on her to-do list, especially if embracing her magic side means parting with Dastien. When the coven leader tries to control Tessa with dark-magic, Tessa realizes she has to dismantle the coven or prepare the pack for war. Either choice will change her life - and her world - forever.

The following review may contain spoilers concerning earlier books in the series.
If you have not read the previous installments, please proceed with caution.

The Alpha Girl series has been written and formatted in a way I've never seen a series done before. The first in the series, Becoming Alpha, focussed heavily on romance and character development, introducing characters and the world in which they lived, while Avoiding Alpha moved into more of an action styled read with a lot more at risk and more development in the different aspects of the world, while the romance took more of a back seat, so when Alpha Divided came along, I wasn't sure exactly what style of read I'd get, but the read I did get continued the quality and feel that the series has, and I am even more excited to hear about it's sequels.

Surprisingly, the feature I least enjoyed at the start of this series has become the heart and soul of it, and that's the romance, and while I don't mean that it takes over everything, because that's definitely not true, but without the romance, there really wouldn't be much a plot at all, and this was developed much more in this installment than I had been previously, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The aspect of the romance though, the whole 'bonding' and essentially getting married at 18, not that I have a problem with that, does feel a little, pushy and forced on occasion, but other than these features, the romance is the right amount of passion, tension, fluffy and sexy and Erin writes this almost perfectly. It's easy to tell that Tessa and Dastiens feelings are genuine, right down to the core, that their romance is realistic and honest, and that they've established a level of trust and care between one another which is so clear within their feelings when they're together, but also with one another when they're apart, to see them so shut down and affected, to see how deep their emotions go, and how much difference their bonded feeling changes their dynamics, but also with the pack they're more than likely going to lead at some point - it's wonderful to read and really brings in that extra level of enjoyment when you can enjoy the scenes that the main couple in this series has. There's nothing I don't like about their romance, and there's nothing I can say about it at this point in the series that I haven't already said before.

What really was enjoyable, so much so, it absorbed me straight into the plot, was how Erin backtracked a little onto Becoming Alpha back to Tessa's past and her visions to develop that part of her character much more. I mention in my review for Avoiding Alpha that there didn't feel like there was enough information or develop on Tessa's witch half part of her character and while there still wasn't a huge amount in this novel, there was at least the opportunity for more and there was more development in the direction of the new characters involved and the characters we'd already met before. Seeing Tessa's new found confidence with her wolf was a wonderful addiction, but seeing her still struggle with her witch was just as important and the messages that Erin gave throughout this installment, that she needed to work with the both of them, not just with one, was so vital, it said so much about us all - we need to accept all parts of our personality and not hide behind one when somebody doesn't like another, to accept yourself and feel confident in what you're capable of, you need to accept every part of you, and that's exactly what Tessa began to do in Alpha Divided. Seeing and meeting the new characters, and getting a taste of what is involved when it comes to the witches coven was a wonderful new addiction, but sadly, when it comes to being connected to the new characters easily, that's were the length of these novels plays a part. If they were longer, there would be more room for the world building, more room to become attached to the characters we meet, and there'd be more room for much more action and the series would definitely improve in rating and enjoyability, but the size reflects how much can happen - I only wish they could be larger. As with the premise installments, the plot itself was a little predictable in parts, but this is something I always find myself dismissing because the rest of the novel is usually really that good.

What was the biggest surprise about this installment was finding out that it was in fact, not the end of the series, and this both made me sad, and made me insanely excited about what's to come, because although these novels are short, the series themselves continue to grow, which allows for more development and more sides of characters personalities to be introduced. The idea of actually learning more about the witches covens and Claudia, Tessa's cousin, is insanely exciting, so to actually have the next novel be entirely about that, is really intriguing, not to mention the idea of having a different perspective is really interesting too. Then to find that there'll be even more from Tessa, Dastien, Meredith, Donovan, the wolves and the witches this time next year is even more exciting. I need more of this world and these characters, I need even more development from Tessa because it just never quite feels like enough, and most all, I will never say no to more romance, and boy does this book have it. Alpha Girl is a series that just keeps on giving and I will most definitely not stop taking what's offered. I'm completely invested on the outcome on this series, and if Erin continues to write this series for another year or two, I definitely won't be disappointed.