This second book in the series is well connected with the first, taking off right where Maverick's Mate left off. I really liked the higher level of emotions between the characters, the "gay pack" is beginning to take shape as a group, and Maverick and Cecil from volume one are back, adding more depth and additional perspective.

Hawk is almost as domineering as an alpha, but he also adds some emotion to this attitude. He changes the way he deals with his mate in the course of what happens. It shows that he has an ability to learn and adapt. I liked that a lot, because I thought it made for a better story.

Johnny is just so beaten down, it made me want to hug him. He's had nothing but abuse, to the point he truly believes he is worthless, even retarded. When he comes out of his shell and starts to develop as a person, I cheered him along every inch of the way. He suffers terribly, but his spirit is never broken. Absolutely amazing.

This is a story about change and growth for both characters. They help each other see what the other needs, and move forward together. If you like shifter-human interaction, with both partners learning about each other and adapting to their new situation, you will probably like this book.
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Lynn Hagen managed something that very few authors did in these past years, to convince me to read second book in a series as soon as I finished the first one. How did she manage to? Simply she introduced the character of Johnny in book 1 and I was fascinated by him, so much that I had the temptation to drop book 1 and go directly to read book 2.

I was always interested in reading a love story between a very protective man and someone who has a different perception of the reality… yes, this is a way to describe a simpleton, someone who is not totally retarded, but that is not even completely aware of everything around him. Sincerely I don’t like the word “retarded”, since it’s not like I see this character, it’s more something related to the perception of reality. Johnny knows what is good and what is bad, he knows the right and wrong (usually that is the way to understand if a man is emancipated), but he is bereaved of any protective layer, of that hardness deriving from experience. Johnny is completely exposed to the big bad world, and like that, I think it’s plenty right that his perfect match is a uber-protective man, someone who wants to shield Johnny from most of the ugly things of life, not since Johnny doesn’t have to know they exist, but since Johnny would not be able to react and protect himself.

Aside from this, second book in the series is pretty much similar to book 1. Actually, since I was more involved in the story, I didn’t notice any major editing issue this time, maybe they were not there, or maybe they were not so noticeable.

Sex was again good but light, and in a way, it was even more right to Johnny’s character: how he doesn’t have protective layers, he also doesn’t have inhibitions; for Johnny sex is something good, normal and joyful. Sex is again like a game, but it’s also something Johnny can do without being worried if he is doing it right or wrong. Sex for Johnny is freedom, and a playing field where he is at the same level of Hawk, of course being again the little omega man who is wrapping his big Alpha man around his pinkie finger.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004VA20LM/?tag=elimyrevandra-20