ARC Review: Pressure by Kiki Burrelli (Lunar Wolves #1)

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Pressure by Kiki Burrelli
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is 385 pages long, but somehow felt like twice that length. It took me way too long to read and some parts bored me to hell. I'm still glad I read it and would consider this a positive read, because the parts where I wasn't bored, the ones that actually focused on the romance? Amazing. (On a related note, why are so many shifters books centered around politics and characters talking about X and Y, and not about them getting into pew-pew magical fights or whatever? I'm so tired of those suit-wearing shifters sitting around conference tables).

What really makes this book is the dynamic between Axe and Caden. The caretaking and the praise kink was honestly so good that I'm willing to (almost) forget about the things I didn't like. I thought the romance part was done really well and I really felt the connection between the two of them. It was very instalove-y and instalust-y, which I usually don't love, but I thought it fit here. Also, I just love age gap romance with a young, insecure MC who grows to love himself. Even though Caden was annoying at times with the immaturity and the tantrums, his overall character arc was satisfying to me. Axe was also a good character. One thing I usually like about shifter books is the "oops wolf instincts" excuse to have possessive and growly characters, and Axe has plenty of moments like that. He's never a complete asshole though and he respects Caden boundaries; there's a lot of focus on consent in their relationship and the overall dynamic is very tender. And it didn't prevent the sex scenes from being a little kinky, and in a way that serves the relationship development and fits the characters.

Now, as for the rest... The first chapter was the longest info-dumping chapter I've ever read. And apparently, there's a prequel you need to read to understand all the world-building? Which I just learned about while reading other reviews. It might explain why all the "mystery" plot just went over my head. I just didn't care about all the scenes of Axe dealing with politics stuff, and there were a lot of them.

Overall, a good book that I really wish focused more on the romance, which was great, and cut maybe 100 pages of underwhelming mystery plot.

I received a free copy of this book and am providing my honest review voluntarily.

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