Mind Magic by Poppy Dennison
Nice and almost “familiar” paranormal romance, it was like the author was thinking, it’s already a paranormal story, why I have to overdo it with special effects? And so Simon is a next door guy who happens to be a mage, and Gray is a single dad who happens to be the Alpha of a werewolf pack. But both Simon than Gray are leading a simple life, Gray is not some sort of general in command, and while he has enforcers, they are more like friends than soldiers.
When Simon rescues 5 kids of the pack from a rogue demon, he also puts himself in danger and of course Gray will extend the pack’s protection to the young mage. And no, there is not a magical mating pull that pushes Gray towards Simon, again it’s all in the individual choice: if, and when Gray will choose his mate, there will be a binding ceremony, but Gray is totally free to pick up his mate, woman or man, friend or stranger, human, shifter or mage.
There is danger for Simon, but again, that was not the main focus of the story; it was more Simon trying to adapt to the life in a pack than them worrying for the outside menace. Really, sometime I wanted to smile to the naiveté of some of Simon’s attitude, like when he has to contact an ancient vampire he doesn’t know… he leaves a post-it attached to the front door!
One nice touch in the story is that not Simon or Gray are “heroes”, but ordinary men; Gray has even grey hairs (yes, I know, he is a grey wolf, his name is Gray and he has grey hairs… well, he is living his name ;-)) and he has trouble managing his kid who is approaching teenage years.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2888
Amazon: Mind Magic
Amazon Kindle: Mind Magic
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (April 23, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 161372456X
ISBN-13: 978-1613724569
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle
Cover Art by Anne Cain