Splintered by Dean Murray

Splintered
by Dean Murray
Series: #3
Publication date: April 6, 2012

Most girls would have killed to be in Adri’s shoes, in fact several people think that’s exactly what she did.  Of course life with a pack of shape shifters isn’t quite what she expected.  The time with Alec is great, but now that the rival pack is out of the picture, Alec’s wolves are all starting to turn on each other, and Adri is finding there is less and less she can do to try and help hold the pack together.

Alec’s determination to keep her at arm’s length physically is just as frustrating as always, but his ongoing refusal to explain the larger world the pack is operating in is starting to become more than just something that keeps Adri up at night.  It’s starting to look like something that could get them all killed.(synopsis provided by author)

Splintered, is the third novel in a series involving shape-shifters living in Sanctuary, written by author Dan Murray. In February I reviewed the first novel, Torn and loved it.(see review) This novel brings problems from Agony, the Coun’hij, the pack, and Adri’s Mom. Fans of this series will enjoy the tale and be shocked by the ending.

Splintered picks up shortly after the first novel. (Torn is written from Alex’s POV and Broken from Adri’s POV.) In my opinion, Splintered would not work well as a standalone. It continues the story without a lot of back history. I had to refresh my memory to reestablish who, what and where. Alex is trying to clean up the mess left by Brandon’s pack and discovers they were involved in some illegal activity. He leaves Sanctuary to straighten things out and finds himself in serious trouble.  Meanwhile, the two wolves they accepted into the pack are having difficulty adjusting to their new lower rankings.  Sam, shares his feelings with Adri and she is appalled by how things work within the pack.  Jasmin is quick to warn her not to object or she will undermine Alec.  When Agony shows up with his pack it causes havoc for Alec and puts Adri in jeopardy. The tale that unfolds was an entertaining, easy read. The ending surprised me and I felt ended abruptly. I think readers will either love it or hate it.

We get to meet more pack members and see the violent side of a packs hierocracy. Adri has trouble dealing with all of this, she isn’t seeing Alex enough and her Mom is back in town and suddenly wants to be an involved parent.  Sadly, Adri annoyed me a little in this novel.  She doesn’t listen to Alec, even when it puts her at risk. She gets in the middle of things and just rubbed me the wrong way.  Being leader of the pack is taking its toll on Alec and with the Coun’hij there it just goes from bad to worse. I loathed Agony and hated how he took pleasure from manipulation and fighting.  There is very little development in the romance department with Alec and Adri. It is clear they have feelings for each other, but things are just messy.

Splintered didn’t impress me the way that Torn did, but it was still an enjoyable read. I recommend it to fans who have read the series and those who like character driven paranormal romances. Torn, Broken and Splintered are available as eBooks.

I want to thank the author for providing this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

I gave this novel 3 coffee cups out of 5. 

Dean Murray

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