really derivative. ( )

I was looking forward to this new series. I've enjoyed everything Tyler has written so far. Her ARCO series with Larissa Ione as Sydney Croft is my favorite. That said, this book was lacking. The first half of the book so much information was thrown out. It was hard to keep track of the world Tyler was building. The book finally starting getting good toward the end. Hopefully the rest in this series will be better. ( )

Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Look, Dire Needs is another alpha male group of shapeshifters intent on saving those weaker than them!

Opening Sentence: Rifter needed a woman, Brother Wolf needed to run wild, and their appetites for sex and destruction mingled, rose with a hot howl as Rifter’s Harley roared through the winter night.

The Review:

I would like to start out by saying; there is nothing wrong with this book. The characters are intriguing, the love story is full of suspense and triumphs, and it delivers a sense of doomsday looming at the end. After all that is said and done, I didn’t like it. There are too many other novels/ series that are out there that are better. Nothing in this book, Dire Needs, leaves me with any memorable scenes or characters. I don’t feel the need to bite my nails until the next release. I most likely will not think about this book later on, unlike some other series I can mention (Black Dagger Brotherhood for one). That being said…

The Dire wolves are a group of six surviving alphas whose job is to monitor and protect their weaker cousins, the Were wolves. They are responsible for keeping the humans in the dark about both of their races. The Dire wolves main enemy is the weretrappers, humans that hunt and kill Weres and Dires alike. Each Dire has an extra ability, like being able to see ghosts, along with being stronger and faster than anyone else. It allows them the edge they need to take care of business, so to speak. But in a war, numbers count and they are only six against many.

Rifter is the defacto leader of this group of alphas. His special ability is to dream walk, enter into another’s dreams. He, like his brothers, have lots of excess aggression to work off and they do LOVE to work it off; either fighting or screwing or running as wolves and they don’t care in what order. He’s a man’s man, or wolf as it were, and is hard as nails, both inside and out. Until he meets Gwen. Then, he is just another misunderstood man looking for the right woman to make him complete. *sniff, sniff* Will Rifter choose love over duty? Can he seize this opportunity or will he drive it away? Will the other Dire wolves resent his mate, since they have little to no chance of having one of their own?

Gwen is a doctor in training who is dying. Her seizures are becoming more frequent and she can no longer do her job at the hospital effectively. With only a short time left to live, she decides to go to a biker bar and pick up someone to have a one-night stand with. She chooses Rifter because he was the “biggest.” But are her seizures a sign of a sickness or of something else? She’s a rare half-Dire/half-human and her medications have been suppressing her initial wolf shifting. Can she survive the change? Will she become immortal like the other Dire wolves? And why are the weretrappers so hard up on capturing her? Will she doom the last of her “kind” or help save them?

Out of all the scenes, the only one that interested me was when they make a reference to another series I happen to enjoy, the Demonica series by Larissa Ione. One of the Dire wolves, Rogue, is in a coma and Eidolon, a sex demon/doctor, from Underworld General Hospital comes to examine him. And, like I said before, the exam is just referenced and not part of the main story.

I’m sorry, but if you enjoy this type of storyline, proceed with caution. If you have yet to read anything similar and want to try it, do it. I would rather recommend this book as a nice library find.

Notable Scene:

Being good is so overrated. No one ever looked back on their lives and thought, Well, at least I was good.

She’d bet even Mother Theresa had regrets about that.

And so, when she’d gone to the bar tonight, she’d been looking to feed those long-buried instincts, her nerve endings tingling, as she’d downed the tequila, as if her body was thanking her for finally allowing it some enjoyment.

How long had it been for her? Felt like forever she’d had to choose between medicine and men. She couldn’t believe she was still a goddamned virgin.

She’d made her bed and now she was so ready to undo it and experience it all.

The Eternal Wolf Clan Series:

0.5. Dire Warning

1. Dire Needs

FTC Advisory: Penguin/Signet Eclipse provided me a copy of Dire Needs. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. I only get paid in hugs and kisses from my little boys. ( )

Dire Needs, Book #1 of the Eternal Wolf Clan series
Author: Stephanie Tyler

Synopsis:
The full moon is their mistress. They are predators of pleasure and pain. Feared by humans, envied by werewolves, the Dire Wolves are immortal shifters, obeying no laws but their own bestial natures. Once they were many, but now only six remain, a dangerous wolfpack forever on the hunt…

Rifter leads the pack, embracing the lifestyle and ethics of an outlaw biker even as he battles an ancient enemy who has become a new, powerful force. But with his Brother Wolf raging inside him, howling to be unleashed, he needs to satisfy his hungers. And when he meets a drop-dead gorgeous blonde drinking alone in a bar that caters to both human and inhuman, Rifter’s primal instinct is to claim her.

Gwen has her own desires, long unfulfilled. She hopes a passionate night with the leather-clad, Harley-riding biker will ease her suffering. The seizures that have wracked her body her entire life are incurable—and they’re killing her.

But none of that will matter if Rifter can’t stop the growing threat to them all–trappers who are determined to enslave humankind and use the Dire wolves as part of their nefarious plan.

Our Review [by Michelle L. Olson – LITERAL ADDICTION’s Pack Alpha]:
I was excited for this book from the minute LITERAL ADDICTION hosted Stephanie to promote the last Sydney Croft ACRO novel and she announced that she was working on bringing it to life.
When I finally received my Advance Reading Copy from Stephanie I set all other books aside and settled in, reminding myself that I needed to keep an open mind and judge based on what I was reading and feeling, and not what I had hyped it up to be. That wasn’t difficult, seeing as Stephanie literally grabs hold of the reader 5 pages in and doesn’t let go.
The Eternal Wolf Clan is comprised of 6 sexy alpha males who are the last of their kind and who have been thrown into the battle of good vs. evil to save themselves, their distant cousins the Werewolves, and humankind from a group of overzealous humans known as the weretrappers. The trappers basically have a grudge against any ‘others’, though their grudge has evolved into a nefarious plot to use the ‘others’ before exterminating them. To make matters worse, they have conned a coven of powerful witches into helping them, and that is just making things harder for the Dires.
This is Rifter and Gwen’s story, but it’s also a beautiful set up for the rest of the series and I can pretty much guarantee that readers will be picking their favorite Dire immediately upon meeting him in this first installment. Without breaking the flow, Stephanie gives great descriptions of each of the Dires and some of their backstory, making it almost impossible for the reader not to choose their own personal hunky wolf to champion.
Rifter is a fabulous male lead – the leader of the Dires with the weight of the world on his shoulders and a melancholy that he can’t shake just for the simple fact that he’s felt so alone for so long.
Gwen is a great female lead. She’s smart, sassy, strong, and while looking for her prince charming, doesn’t completely turn herself off when she finds him.
The story was beautifully told; extraordinarily crafted, not only as a standalone book but as a set up for the rest of the series. The world that Stephanie has built for the Eternal Wolf Clan is unique and fresh, not something easily done in today’s market of rampant shifter stories. The added twists of magic and the Dires’ individual gifts add another layer of intrigue to the mix and there were just enough secrets left untold to keep the reader wanting more.
I can’t believe that I’ve finished book one of this long awaited treasure already. I want book 2 so badly now, it’s not going to be pretty until the next release. I guess I’ll just have to satisfy myself with spreading the word about Dire Needs and the Eternal Wolf Clan series so that everyone can read it, love it, and be in misery along with me while we wait for book 2. ;-)
LITERAL ADDICTION gives Dire Needs 5 Skulls and would recommend it to everyone. It’s a great read for Urban Fantasy buffs, Paranormal Romance lovers, fans of the strong sexy alpha male, lovers of magic and mayhem… it’s a well rounded book for just about everyone.
Kudos to Stephanie for giving us an amazing new shifter world to fall in love with. ( )