Elaine White's Life in Books

Book – A King and A Pawn (Leader Murders #3)
Author – Liv Olteano
Star rating - ★★★☆☆ (3.5)
No. of Pages – 234

Cover – Moody and Gorgeous!
POV – 1st person, one character, POV
Would I read it again – Yes.

Genre – LGBT, Paranormal, Crime


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine


I struggled with this one, because it took me a while to make up my mind about my rating and how I felt about it. Though I'm totally addicted to the series, I'd have to say the order they come in, as a series, is also the order I'd rank them for my favourite to least favourite.

I'd really been looking forward to getting Bert's story, after seeing snippets of him in book 2. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a let down. He spent way too much time emphasising his role as Beta and making excuses for himself and other people. I initially assumed that this left the Alpha role to Will, but that was wrong. While Bert went from intriguing and fun to whiny and insecure, Will transitioned from Alpha to sub. He pretty much drooled over Bert, the minute they made their deal and that was disappointing.
I liked the strong, feisty will from the Kingdom, not so much who he became on Council territory. The same could be said for Bert. In book 2 and the beginning of book 3, he was a little snarky, showed some signs of dominance and a flirty, cheeky attitude. That all disappeared when he met Will and returned to Council territory, where he became the simpering Beta, worrying over whether he was good enough, if he should take risks and constantly questioning his role as Weiss' Beta. The fact that Weiss had to keep encouraging him and reminding him of his role in the pack got a little frustrating.

You might ask why I assumed there was a need for an Alpha role? Well, because there's always one in this series. Travis was the Alpha with a tender side, while Rick was his snarky, feisty submissive. Weiss was the gruff, loveable rogue of an Alpha, who wasn't afraid to make the tough choices, while Tim was a little more emotionally free and insecure, while retaining a tough core that could be used whenever necessary (AKA, protecting Alf etc.) I get that Bert is a Beta, so he's supposed to be submissive to Weiss, but that doesn't mean he can't be assertive or retain his character from the start of the book while with Will.

Sadly, the constant doubts about Will's character and loyalty prevented me from rooting for him and I felt that it disconnected me from the chemistry he shared with Bert. At times I wanted them to be together, but at other times I just didn't care enough. I didn't particularly like Will's kids or the Fey treatment of children, either, which didn't help.

While I'm on the inconsistency of characters, I really feel sad and frustrated that Rick was turned into something he's not, throughout the course of books 2 and 3. He was always strong, with a soft underbelly and, sure, Mitch was an infection lying in wait at the back of his mind, festering away. But I really thought Travis would have helped with that, that he would confront Mitch while a strong, capable lycan and confront the past. I get that there are mentions of getting him therapy with Tim, in book 2 and then him going through with it in book 3, but I really don't get the vehemence of his fury with Weiss. It's not like him. He knows better and is smarter than to project his feelings for Mitch onto Weiss. I get why he never really took to Tim, after his prior relationship with Travis, but Rick is a strong enough person to get past that (especially after he's mated to Travis and Tim is mated to Weiss). He's also smart enough to know that Amanda was a psycho, even if she didn't begin as one. And that there are two people to blame for her situation.
Basically, it just annoyed me that a character I'd loved so much was turned into someone that I'd never imagined he could be. He became cold, bitter and angry all the time. Not how I wanted him to end the series or ever become, but the lack of answers about that, in a series where each book is about a new couple and you only get one character's POV, was another reason I couldn't love this book so much.

When you have a book series which is essentially about three different couples, all mixed up in the one situation, it's very limiting to have 1st person, one character POV. For the above reason – we never get to see Rick recover or know about his true feelings in a way that would satisfy my initial love of him – but also because this plot was so intricate and detailed that this is where the story fell down so much. Without delving into other characters POV, even for one or two chapters, we missed out on a great chunk of the plot. I never got to see the interrogation of the council members, the confrontation with the council or the questioning of the perpetrators of the initial three Leader Murder cases. Those are all important to the plot and the characters, since the first page of book 1. Not seeing them and following the Leader Murders through every clue and every twist as it came, was frustrating.
Book prior books focused so much on solving the case that I really expected the same here. Instead, everything integral to the solving of the case was placed into other people's hands – Weiss and Tim or Travis and Rick – which we never got to see. For that reason, the story became much more about whether Will was a traitor or not than about solving the Leader Murders. To me, the case became less of “the heart” of the story and more “a means to an end” to draw Will and Bert together. In the end, this left me with an unsatisfactory resolution to a criminal case that I'd been following eagerly since book 1.

Similarly, it took far too long for the romance to build. Bert and Will were still at an unsure stage by 70-80% and it really felt as though the majority of the book was about the “will they, won't they” aspect of their relationship, rather than the Leader Murders, which is should have been. And, disappointingly, it never went anywhere. At least not on page. Some tame, not very detailed fooling around happened throughout the story, always with Bert keeping an emotional distance, and when they did have sex it was a first for the series. The first to take literally 90% for them to get into bed and then the first to rush their first time together – the most important interaction between the couple – into one brief, non-descriptive paragraph that was glossed over.

I think the main reason I didn't fall for this couple the way I did with the others came down to two factors -
the ring – Bert is given a magic ring, to help him on his mission, and this makes it impossible for Will to read his emotional grid. It also keeps Bert hidden behind a protective cage, where he doesn't have to expose his true feelings.
the Beta thing – Bert uses his role as Beta to Weiss to constantly put distance between himself and Will. The way he uses Weiss' influence over him and his compliance to his Alpha as an excuse was really frustrating.

Like the other books in the series, there were quite a few repeat phrases. “Peacocking”, “fuck me sideways” and the constant belittling of Bert (calling himself fat, useless, untrustworthy, unworthy and a Beta all the time) got old really fast.

I was, however, really happy to see the Anti-Abuse Act put into force and to see a proper resolution to Amanda's part of the story. But the other aspects of the plot made those shining moments less exciting.

The Leader Murders, which took the previous two stories by storm, with various twists, turns and outcomes, had never really gone anywhere. They were clues, hints, trickles of information and I presumed that meant there would be more books to the series, until they put all the pieces together and gathered the evidence. However, that's not going to happen. This book ended with a neat little bow and a summary at the end, of the three couples, that implies there won't be any more books.

All clues and leads were not only real and brought new evidence in this story, but it happened way too fast and in a way that we didn't really get to explore, because Bert and Will were too busy together or plotting against the Fey Court to be a part of it. After the build up of the previous two books, I expected clues to show up, for things to start happening or for one of their prisoners to talk, but not for the entire case – form book 1 to 3 – to be resolved and tied up in the last 20% of the story.

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Overall, Bert was less of a shining star as he should have been. His position as Beta was used to solve the case, as were his personal ties to people orbiting the case, but not directly involved.

A disappointing ending to a fantastic series. Book 1 – Travis and Rick – will always be my favourite and it won't stop me reading all three again in the future. But I do wish that book 3 hadn't deviated so much from the pattern I'd been expecting and from the Leader Murders so much.

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Favourite Quotes

“The King was throwing me a welcome party, during which I half expected them to try poisoning me. But the Court was big on pomp and circumstance, Tim told me. They'd make an event out of picking their noses if they could. So they'd even throw a wolf a welcome party, though they generally looked on us as nasty beasts.”

“He was the taste of destruction, and in that terrible moment, I wanted him. I wanted to wrap myself around his heart like a snake, sink my teeth into it, and take a good chunk of it, if not consume it entirely.”