Blue Mountain

Cardeno C.

Exiled by his pack as a teen, Omega wolf Simon Moorehead learns to bury his gentle nature in the interest of survival. When a hulking, rough-faced Alpha catches Simon on pack territory, he tries to escape what he’s sure will be imminent death. But instead of killing him, the Alpha takes Simon home.

A man of action, Mitch Grant uproots his life to support his brother in leading the Blue Mountain pack. Mitch lives on the periphery, quietly protecting everyone, but always alone. A mate is a dream come true for Mitch, and he won’t let little things like Simon’s rejections, attacks, and insults get in their way. With patience, seduction, and genuine care, Mitch will ride out the storm while Simon slays his own ghosts and Mitch’s loneliness.

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Our exclusive excerpt

He was licking the last portion of the second wrist, when, in a sleepy voice, his mate asked, “Why do you do that?”

Mitch flicked his gaze up and met hesitant green eyes. “Do what?”

“Lick my wounds.”

“To heal you.”

“Heal me?” His mate’s expression held disbelief, but for the first time since they’d met, he didn’t pull away.

“The saliva helps,” Mitch said, unsure why he’d need to explain something so basic to another shifter. “Our kind heals quickly anyway, but this makes it faster and dulls the pain.”

“I know.” His mate continued staring. “But why are you doing it to me?”

That question hurt more than any of the punches, kicks, and scratches from the night before.

“Because you’re mine,” Mitch rasped.

“Yours?” Thin red eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. “Are you feral?” He shook his head.  Never mind. You wouldn’t tell me if you were.”

“I’m not feral!” Mitch said.

“You might not even know. Have you hurt any others?”

“What?”

“Am I the first shifter you captured and brought here or have there been others?” he asked calmly, slowly, as if Mitch had trouble understanding words.

“Nobody else is allowed in my den,” Mitch growled. “Only you.”

“Only me?”

Mitch nodded.

“Because I’m yours?”

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About Cardeno

Cardeno C. – CC to friends – is a hopeless romantic who wants to add a lot of happiness and a few “awwws” into a reader’s day. Writing is a nice break from real life as a corporate type and volunteer work with gay rights organizations. Cardeno’s stories range from sweet to intense, contemporary to paranormal, long to short, but they always include strong relationships and walks into the happily-ever-after sunset.

Cardeno’s Home, Family, and Mates series have received awards from Love Romances and More Golden Roses, Rainbow Awards, the Goodreads M/M Romance Group, and various reviewers. But even more special to CC are heartfelt reactions from readers, like, “You bring joy and love and make it part of the every day.”

Cardeno C. Heartwarming Stories. Strong Relationships. Forever Love. Erotic Gay Romance

Review

Title: Blue Mountain

Series: Pack 01

Author: Cardeno C.

Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal

Length: Novel (213pages)

ISBN: 9781942184010

Publisher: The Romance Authors, LLC (21^st November 2014)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 3¾ Hearts (Combined)

Reviewer: Pixie & Aerin

Blurb: Exiled by his pack as a teen, Omega wolf Simon Moorehead learns to bury his gentle nature in the interest of survival. When a hulking, rough-faced Alpha catches Simon on pack territory, he tries to escape what he’s sure will be imminent death. But instead of killing him, the Alpha takes Simon home.

A man of action, Mitch Grant uproots his life to support his brother in leading the Blue Mountain pack. Mitch lives on the periphery, quietly protecting everyone, but always alone. A mate is a dream come true for Mitch, and he won’t let little things like Simon’s rejections, attacks, and insults get in their way. With patience, seduction, and genuine care, Mitch will ride out the storm while Simon slays his own ghosts and Mitch’s loneliness.

Product Link: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-bluemountain-1654017-340.html

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OPFM5J0

Pixie’s Review: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts

Simon was thrown out of his birth pack when his Omega nature emerged, his mother went with him and they struggled to survive. Simon returns to Blue Mountain at his mother’s request, and as he is burying her he is discovered by the pack. The Alpha who discovers his confounds Simon, all wolves have treated him and his mother badly and he expects the Alpha to be no different but he takes Simon home instead of killing him. Mitch is a mountain of an Alpha, he doesn’t want to lead the pack and is happy just to protect the pack and keep them safe but he longs for his mate. When Mitch discovers the Omega male is his mate he is overjoyed but getting past the Omega’s defences is going to take time and patience and Mitch has an abundance of both.

I loved the characters in this story, Mitch is an Alpha but he isn’t the Alpha of the pack, that is his brother and Mitch prefers it that way. Mitch thrives on providing protection, keeping everyone safe and he prefers to keep to himself. Simon is an Omega who has had a hard life, to many a male Omega is an abomination and he has been treated as such for many years, so he has a hard shell that he has had to build to protect himself. There’s only a couple of other characters that we meet like Freddy (Mitch’s brother) and he’s pretty cool and then there’s Donia, Freddy’s wife/mate, and there’s a scene with a couple of pack mates, so this story really is about Mitch and Simon and their slow building relationship.

The actually storyline is about building trust and healing from years of having to survive, Mitch has to show Simon that he can be trusted and that not all wolves are out to hurt him but it is a long process. Simon had to repress his nature to be strong enough to survive, he can’t let his guard down even if he desperately wants to, and he has learned the hard way not to trust anyone. There isn’t much progress for some time as Mitch slowly gets Simon’s story out of him and Simon slowly learns to trust Mitch. We do get some very interesting scenes between Mitch and his brother which shows us the strength of Mitch’s character and the length’s he will go to, to keep his mate happy and safe.   

This is a great new shifter series from Cardeno C. and Blue Mountain has the type of characters that we have come to love from this exceptional author but it lacks a certain something which was hard to pin down at first, I mean the characters are wonderful, the story is interesting, the sex is amazing and there’s a happy ending so everything seemed there for an incredible story. But, then I figured it out, the connection between me and the characters wasn’t there, I wasn’t drawn into their lives like I should have been and I’m still puzzled as to why I didn’t connect with them, maybe it’s just me, but I was still happy with the story.

I recommend this to everyone who loves shifter stories, great characters, building trust, finding happiness and a happy ending.

Aerin’s Review: ♥♥♥♥ 3 – 3½ Hearts

Blue Mountain is the first book in the Pack series and as soon as I found out about it I literally couldn’t wait to get my hands on it (thank you Pixie). I’ve read Cardeno’s other shifter series, Mates, and for me that was worlds above any other shifter book out there. Unfortunately this book fell a little short for me.

Simon is an omega wolf who was exiled from his pack as a teen because of who he is: a gay omega. He has spent half of his life moving from city to city and from campground to campground, never forming any friendships and never surrounding himself with any other shifters aside from his constant and devoted companion, his mother. Simon is always abused and treated like crap by other shifters just because of his gentle nature and the fact that he likes dudes. This constant abuse causes him to lose touch with his wolf as those self preservation instincts kick in, in order to ensure his survival. He becomes a fighter and he stands up for himself regardless that this is not normal omega behavior. Years later he returns on the Blue Mountain Pack territory to grant his mother’s dying wish: to pass away and be buried on those lands. The reception he gets is not a welcoming one but that’s nothing out of the ordinary for him.

Mitch is the twin brother of the pack’s Alpha and he devotes himself in helping his brother run the pack. Even though he’s tougher and less emotional than his brother, he doesn’t want to be the pack leader and doesn’t feel the need to go form a pack of his own. When he finds Simon and realizes that Simon’s his mate, he takes him to his cabin in the woods. Even though Simon is not very happy or excited about being there, Mitch manages to convince him to stay for a month; this is the beginning of their somewhat rocky but incredibly boring road to HEA.

While overall this was a nice, sweet book, I didn’t really get to connect with the characters. I couldn’t really feel any chemistry between them and I didn’t feel like the issues Simon had were resolved. Simon was wary of Mitch, but once he gets comfortable with having him around he starts to open up. Simon hints that he has been sexually abused but we don’t know if it really happened or was very close to happening. We know he’s been emotionally abused but he doesn’t really show any signs of it. The first two weeks he’s at Mitch’s cabin they don’t interact much because Mitch has the patience of a saint and gives Simon space. Then after week three Simon all of a sudden is in love with Mitch and wants him all the time; this is also about 3/4 of the way into the book. So what happened up to this time? Nothing much, just Mitch being awesomely patient and Simon being incredibly skittish.  The last ¼ of the book is where things start picking up….they have sex, a LOT, all the time. But I still couldn’t feel any connection or emotion between them. Sure, they say the words all the time, but I want to FEEL how crazy they are about each other.

Another thing that bugged me throughout the book is Mitch’s effort to convince Simon that the pack would love to have him as a member, and all the promises he makes Simon that he will never be abused again within this pack. Well, he can talk all he wants but I have seen no proof that he tells the truth, and neither did Simon. In fact, Simon received a beating as a “welcome to our territory” by a few members of the pack. For Christ’s sake, they left him for the alpha to ‘finish off’; I’m sorry but this doesn’t scream welcoming pack to me, not at all. And the book is over before we see any types of interactions between Simon and the rest of the pack. However, I can’t deduct from my rating because of that. Why? I hope the second book in the series will expand on Simon and Mitch as a mated pair and their interactions with the pack. I want to see some groveling, some begging for forgiveness, some apologies, anything really, done by those who welcomed Simon by beating him. I want to see Simon happy as a part of the pack.

I did like Mitch’s brother and his wife. They were both very supportive of Mitch and Simon, even though they didn’t get to meet him until the end of the book. I know I did a lot of criticizing but this book had the good to go with the bad. Mitch…oh dear lord, what’s not to like about him? He is a 6’7” manly man, dark and brooding and sexy as hell. I loved his interaction with his brother and the fact that just because he’s better suited for an alpha, he didn’t take control and was happy to be the support system. When it came to his mate, he was a totally different person; nice and caring, patient and devoted. He always put Simon’s needs first and never asked for anything in return.

I am looking forward to reading the next book and as of right now I have no idea if we’re going to have different MCs or not, and it is driving me crazy. I guess I should learn from Mitch because I’m terrible at that whole being patient thing that he does so well. I recommend this to all Cardeno’s fans, especially to those who enjoy a sweet shifter story.