Review: Alpha by Jasinda Wilder

Posted November 24th, 2015 in book review / 30 comments

Review: Alpha by Jasinda WilderAlpha by Jasinda Wilder
Series: Alpha #1
Publisher: NLA Digital LLC on April 29, 2014
Genres: Erotica, Romance
Pages: 450
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Purchase: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads
Rating: two-half-stars

The first time it happened, it seemed like an impossible miracle. Bills were piling up, adding up to more money than I could ever make. Mom's hospital bills. My baby brother's tuition. My tuition. Rent. Electricity. All of it on my shoulders. And I had just lost my job. There was no hope, no money in my account, no work to be found. And then, just when I thought all hope was lost, I found an envelope in the mail. No return address. My name on the front, my address. Inside was a check, made out to me, in the amount of ten thousand dollars. Enough to pay the bills and leave me some left over to live on until I found a job. Enough to let me focus on classes. There was no name on the check, just "VRI Inc.," and a post office box address for somewhere in the city. No hint of identity or reason for the check or anything. No mention of repayment, interest, nothing…except a single word, on the notes line: "You." Just those three letters.

If you receive a mysterious check, for enough money to erase all your worries, would you cash it?

I did.

The next month, I received another check, again from VRI Incorporated. It too contained a single word: "belong."

A third check, the next month. This time, two words. Four letters. "To me."

The checks kept coming. The notes stopped. Ten thousand dollars, every month. A girl gets used to that, real quick. It let me pay the bills without going into debt. Let me keep my baby brother in school and Mom's hospice care paid for. How do you turn down what seems like free money, when you're desperate? You don't. I didn't.

And then, after a year, there was a knock on my door. A sleek black limousine sat on the curb in front of my house. A driver stood in front of me, and he spoke six words: "It's time to pay your debt."

Would you have gotten in?

I did.

It turns out $120,000 doesn't come free.

I've been a bad bird. This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years old due to its use of sexual content, substance use, and/or violence. Come be a bad bird with me!

At A Glance

Started out interesting as hell, then so much downhill-ness!

The Good

The beginning was good. Kyrie is about to lose everything if she can’t find a new job to pay her bills, her brother’s schooling and her mother’s care. All of a sudden $10,000 dollars shows up every month to help her survive but she doesn’t know from who. But she does know he thinks he owns her, and accepting his money only digs herself a deeper hole. What’s a girl to do?

I was intrigued by the mystery of Roth and why he was giving Kyrie money. I was enthralled by how easily Kyrie became Roth’s possession. How freeing and scary at the same time. The blindfold portion was the best. How fascinating to experience a new relationship and new world without the use of your vision. Gives me ideas. 😉

The Bad

With how long this book is I expected way more plot and story, even from an erotica. Except for the very beginning this book is about Kyrie and Roth boinking and the big secret (which I figured out early but it’s not too obvious, I’m just amazingly smart…and beautiful :D). I get erotica has its own criteria and it can focus on sex but not at 450 pages. I wanted a damn story, I wanted drama, I wanted something!

So with the thin plot I expected a tale of lust turn to love, but I never felt the love. I was told about the love but I never felt like Kyrie or Roth were legitimately in love.

Kyrie’s never ending internal monologues were pretty unbearable. I started skimming her inane, non-important self-talks.

Then the ending and the big reveal was rushed and uneventful, though there was a lot of emotions spewing everywhere which I liked.

The Snuggly

The sex was freaking hot in the beginning, but after the 4th boning I was over it. I skimmed the rest of the ‘love’ scenes. But yes, they were hot.

Final Thoughts

With its goods and bads, Alpha was an okay book with lots that irritated me. I have been waiting to read this book for some time and my high expectations made the averageness of this book even worse. Not recommended, though I think some people can still enjoy this one.

Quotes

“As you learn to trust me, as you give yourself to me, so will I learn to trust you, and give you myself.”  

“I’d been kissed before. Many times. There were awkward and sloppy kisses, those tension-fraught moments of fumbling intensity as a teenager. There were more skilled kisses, passionate and intentional. There were kisses that stole my breath, kisses that merged seamlessly with the shedding of clothes and the joining of bodies. But never, before this moment, had there ever been a kiss that stole my will to pull away, that devoured my capacity for thought, that removed my ability to resist, to feel anything but the kiss.”  

“Oh, my fucking god, Valentine…”
“Yes?”
“Just…describing you, is all.”
“I’m your fucking god, Kyrie?”
“Yes!”  

 

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30 Responses to “Review: Alpha by Jasinda Wilder”

  1. Christy LoveOfBooks

    Oh jeez, never ending internal monologue drives me nuts sometimes. I think I bought this awhile back, because yeah, it sounds intriguing. Who knows when I’ll actually read it though.

    Reply

  2. Aarati

    I previously read Stripped by Wilder and didn’t really like it. I have been hesitant to start another, and now I think I might just give her up.

    Reply

  4. Lekeisha

    I’ve not read any of her books yet, but I have her Falling Into You on my Kindle. There’s only so much I can take when it comes to books in this genre. I just read a similar MC and she annoyed the hell out of me. I’m tired of reading the same stories over and over.

    Reply

  7. sherry fundin

    I think sometimes my expectations lead to a let down, but I love when the book surpasses my expectations, which happens more often than not, lucky me. 🙂

    Reply

  9. Nathan

    To bad it didn’t live up to expectations, especially since it is over 400 pages! Yeah at that length you would expect a good plot to go with the snuggy, but I haven’t yet read much erotica so I don’t know what to expect. Hope your next book is a hit.

    Reply

      • anna (herding cats & burning soup)

        My three favorites are

        After Hours–This is somewhat mainstream and my favoritest (lol) of the bunch. The hero and heroine work in a psych ward and meet that way. He’s very rough around the edges and so dang yummy
        Willing Victim–This is a force fantasy of sorts. Fairly tame compared to some but definitely not gonna be for everyone.
        Crosstown Crush–this is pretty much ALL sex and a bit taboo. It explores cuckolding kink with a married couple bringing in a third for her to “cheat” on him with.

        Reply

  13. Rachel Lightwood @ Isytria

    I think I might give this one a skip… I read adult and I read romance, but I find that if they put the label ‘erotica’ on it, they think it is okay to have sex scene after sex scene after sex scene and no story. And I like story! I want the romance and the drama and the backstory too. I don’t think this will give me that so thanks for the warning. I won’t be adding this to my TBR.

    Reply

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