Claiming Rys

Dark Forest Pack Series, Book 1

By: Annabelle Jacobs

Narrated by: Dan Calley

All that time apart and yet the pull between them is as strong as ever . . .

Rys: Ten years ago Gabriel Mason betrayed me in the worst way. He made me question my instincts because I'd trusted him with a bone-deep certainty, and for that I will never forgive him. Seeing him again after all this time sparks memories I thought I'd buried so far down they'd never surface. He's as beautiful as I remember, but I'm older and wiser now, and I refuse to make the same mistakes again.

Gabriel: Rys Calder, wolf shifter and the biggest regret of my life. I loved him, and yet I didn't share with him the one thing that eventually became our undoing. I broke his trust and I've carried that guilt for years. I knew seeing him again would hurt, but no matter how many times I'd imagined it, being on the receiving end of his cold stares and indifference hurt more than I'd anticipated.

Thrown together again with a killer on the loose, will the past continue to haunt them, or can they move past it and claim the future that fate always had in store for them?

Contains mature themes.

©2022 Annabelle Jacobs (P)2023 Tantor

Too many characters!

An uneven story and a rare miss by Dan Calley really made this book a disappointment.

First Calley. He has narrated so many books, and is such a go to narrator for me. I do not know what happened here. Time and again I lost who was speaking, there was not enough character differentiation. Add that to a huge cast of characters and you have a big problem.

This title is clearly world building for a series, with likely future leading couples seemingly around every corner. There were a few moments when I cared, but mostly it felt a bit thin.Not enough interest to continue with the series.

Great story,very engaging.

I think this story off to a great start. My only complaint is that the speed read is to fast. I had to bring it down to .90

Great story, not great narration.

This would have been better with dual narration or a narrator better at doing distinguishing voices, particularly with out two leads. Gabriel lied to Rys when they first dated years ago. Respectfully is now Alpha and Gabriel no longer hunts. Gabriel has become a paranormal investigator and arrives in Rys's territory to solve a case of werewolves going uncharacteristically feral. The latest victim is from an allied pack to Rys and he is called by their alpha to help. He isn't expecting Gabriel. They both have secrets but they must put them aside to find out why wolves are suddenly going feral. This was a slow start for me. That is partly because chapters are labeled with who's POV it is but randomly changes in the middle of the chapter sometimes and the narrator doesn't do enough to differentiate the voices. I found myself needing to rewind to focus more to figure out who was talking. I think I would have been better reading this one rather than listening. And I will be reading the next one for that reason.

Amazing Story

The back and forth that happened between these two. I loved it! It was intense.

Slow burn!!!! But a solid story.

The narrator was fantastic and carried the story during some slower spots. This was a solid story, but if you are looking for smut, I can only give it one 🌶.