Alpha's Betrayal (Chosen By The Alpha, #1) (2024)

Oh my.....

Okay, I get it. The authors want to be different from every other book in this genre, but SERIOUSLY!!!! It kept going on with the inner monologs, her I'm soooo hurt/torn, bramble this, bramble that, my family hates me but let me stay!, oh sexy hot new dude showunf me kindness let me push away, my ex is always on my mind, the town hates me, almost everyone hates me, my ex is a cheating turd, my ex hurt me, omg I can't let my ex hurt me again, noooo my ex hurt me again....the⁰ brambles.......There, I summed up more than half the book on the female's view.

I get it being dumped sucks, love hurts, trusting hurts, everything hurts, but there is a time to stop questioning certain things. They are supposed to be 26 in the book, and they are acting like she is a 15-year-old who had her first true heart break. At 26, you realize he is a turd nugget and move forward with life. Yeah, he also beat you at one point. That's where you should have been like, "Awe hell, naw, it's donnneee!!! We're done!" Redflags should have dropped miraculously from thin air. Actually, from the start of things, they should have started that, but I digress. Being 26, you move forward, get on with your bad self, and stop the teen emo show.

It took me a while to read the book; I just couldn't get into it. The only reason why I kept reading is so the author gets paid from the unlimited program, and because I always finish a darn book!!!

Just going to blurt it out..... Luna is so weak it is aggravating. *sigh*

I have been down the rejected mate trail many times.....I get the gist of it, really I do. However....I mean you had to see the "however" coming.... Once you are lied to for 6 years, find out he has multiple other "mates", he rejects you in front of your pack and several other packs, beats you almost to death, then leaves you in the midst of a hostel pack take over.....your heart still skips a beat????? You can not let him go????? You still make up excuses for him???? WTH!!!!

Now the saving grace of the read is Remus aka the shoulda been fated mate. He is smart, conniving, and well just a complete alpha bad ass. Who for some reason has taken a liking to our helpless slightly damaged in the head Luna. Remus keeps my attention. Remus keeps me reading. Remus will be the only reason I give book 2 a chance.

Happy reading,
DD 🥂

DNF at 36%

I cannot imagine a female lead I could be annoyed by more. Dude. DUDE! She seemed like a confused 15 year old. Not 26!!! Uggggh. I couldn’t do it!

So disappointed

I have never ever read a shifter book but this was on my Facebook page and it intrigued me but so so disappointing! It is a cliff hanger and it totally annoyed me and I will never finish it. Cliffhangers are awful and not really understanding the whole shifting werewolves theme just made this so annoying. I thought Luna was an idiot and I am sorry about that but Remus was totally the better man. But no way am I reading three books to get to an HEA. I hated her reasoning and I really got irritated by her behavior. I must admit this is my first, and most likely my last, shifter novel. But I could find no redeeming value in this book. Sorry it's just me. I don't like fantasy but this beginning of this book was good, but then it took a trip to no freaking way land and, as I said before, I hate cliffhangers. just wish it had been better.

I hate weak, doormat, desperate heroines. Maybe she might grow a backbone in the following series/ books but I really don't wanna waste my time "trying" to read em'!

If this book were anymore slow burn, I’d be flatlined

This actually isn’t a bad book. At least not as bad as a lot of the reviews indicated. Sure, it wasn’t great, but I still liked it. I just didn’t love it. Marnet is the new alpha of his pack. But he’s not a good alpha. He’s been stringing along our FMC, Luna, for the past 6 years. They know they are mates, and have known since they were 18. He always has what seems like a plausible excuse for why he can’t publicly claim her and why their pairing must remain a secret. Oh, that doesn’t stop him from using her for his own pleasure, but Luna is not in his future. An attack by a rival pack is really the only thing that saves Luna. . . And the alpha of that pack, Remus.

This is a rejected mate series. I do kinda like that trope. The problem with the execution here is that the slow burn between Luna and Remus is just too slow. Honestly, I didn’t have as much problem with Luna’s ambivalence as a lot of reviewers here did. I completely understood her abject heartbreak at Marnet’s rejection. A public rejection would be bad enough, but getting publicly beaten, strung up in chains and then abandoned when he escapes would be too much for anyone to take. At times her inner monologue was truly heartbreaking. Even though it was for someone that didn’t deserve it. The heart wants what the heart wants.

But spending all that time in Luna’s torment made the reading slow and somewhat of a chore at times. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the author didn’t have her falling for Remus in a blink of an eye. But I would have like to have seen her help the Silverstreak pack track down Marnet faster. I do get her reticence to do it, she’s still in love with him, or at least who she thought he was. But dang, at the end of this book (a cliffhanger by the way) she still hasn’t helped Remus find him.

Anyway, other than the pacing of the book, I did like the world and character building. I do plan on reading the next book in the series. If you like a lot of steam with your romance, this isn’t the book for you. If you like a slow burn with nary a kiss in sight, you’ll get that in spades with this book.

Our heroin is 26 but she wines like she’s a 15-year-old. She gets rejected by her mate. Her family abuses her. She whines about all this and has several inner monologue’s. Yet she doesn’t do anything to change. Get over it. Move On. grow a backbone be a bad ass but no that’s not what she does

DNF.

MISLEADING COVER. EXTREMELY DENSE HEROINE. AND I'M NOT ATTRACTED TO MAN BUNS.

I saw plenty of low level reviews for this, but a favourite reviewer of mine gave this a really good rating, so naturally I wanted to give this story a chance. But then, a few chapters in and there's just PLENTY OF INNER MONOLOGUE and the heroine's so dense, I just couldn't. I can't believe she couldn't sense that a guy was only playing her....all the red flags were there. He kept coming up with excuses not to officially claim you, and you hang out in the dark when people don't see you...if that ain't a red flag, I don't know what is. Plus, when he's obviously humiliated that you show up to his party uninvited and claims you to be the STABLE hand...I have to draw the line there. The woman had no sense of WORTH or PRIDE.

That was only one of the reasons why I couldn't stomach the story. The inner monologue and self-depreciation just killed me. Such a waste of potential.

Rating and review coming soon!

This is for goofy ahh furries

Betrayal …….. oh yes
Rejection ……for sure
Redemption …. no, at least not yet… and many characters in the book
need redemption but they need to suffer the consequences for their behavior and actions first.

… The below excerpt is revealing:

➜ “He had thrown me away like he hadn’t felt a damn thing. It wasn’t fair that he was still taking up space in my brain rent-free, especially not when my attempted evictions had no effect.
I didn’t have to see him to know he wasn’t suffering in the same way. If Marnet had felt that way, he wouldn’t have humiliated me. He wouldn’t have — he wouldn’t have hit me.”⬅︎

I kept asking and wondering how, after being beaten, humiliated and almost ki11ed, why would her wolf even want Marnet as her mate anymore.How could she even consider it?

Luna (her name not her title) is an abused and naive she-wolf. She has a cruel stepmother, a father who either doesn’t care or has no cajones, a true mate that uses her then tosses her in the trash. So, knowing all this, I can understand her weakness, to a point. But if she is so weak then how could she be so brave to confront and attack her mate when he pulled the ultimate betrayal in front of the pack and other alphas? I was hoping that was the final straw that would bring her courage to the forefront. Unfortunately, Luna has a long way to go to be that wolf.

After being chained, beaten unconscious and basically left for dead, she still wants her mate, Marnet. This is the first in a series, so hopefully she’ll become that same tough force to battle with as she was when she confronted Marnet…. she stood proudly. No way she could win that fight but she tried with full confidence and no fear. She was a brave wolf that one time. I hope to see her not only become a brave wolf but also a smarter wolf in the future.

👁^👁 OBSERVATIONS and QUESTIONS 🤔

➦ Why did Luna’s mother leave her behind? What happened? Why did her dad never stand up for her. Why bring her to his pack if he didn’t want her?

➦ What happens to the stepmother and Luna’s dad? Will they get their comeuppance?

➦ What happened to Sophia and where is she now?

➦ It reads like Luna’s maternal side is strong and of high ranking. Why leave Luna with her dad to be terribly abused? What happened?

➦ This ends in a cliffhanger and left me with a lot of questions. Looking forward to the next book in the series. Hope my questions will be answered.

I received an advance copy of this via Booksprout and am leaving my personal thoughts and opinions.

Bloody cliffhangers.
She's a little whiny but I guess I get it. I'd be whiny and pissy as well if I'd been screwed over like that. Poor kid has really been through the ringer.

Not for me

I never encountered more stupidest fmc ever. Luna takes the cake, sorry but this book bores me to tears and made me mad at how stupid and a doormat Luna is.

I did not like the FMC.

Alpha's Betrayal

I'm really enjoying the story. There is great chemistry between Luna and Remus. My pet peeve was set off though - the book needs a spell check. There are misspelled words, repeated words and missing words all over.

Too plot many errors - messes with the storyline

It's really sad, because from the sample I was super interested, and the opening really pulled me in. My interest quickly faded because there are great many typographical and copy editing errors but the worst are the plot errors, and there are a lot more than one or two. The little errors like Remus being described as entering Luna's room shirtless and wearing ripped pants at the start of an encounter, not having any mention or break in the action that might indicate an opportunity to change clothing but later being described as being unruffled and pristine but changing his shirt; then there's Luna being described as looking like somebody who just wandered into the formal event with sticks or hay in her hair, but then in the next scene she's wearing a dress.

If there was only one or two of those errors they'd be merely irritating, but when details specific to plot flow can't even be kept straight it really is just too much. In the first chapter the female lead REPEATEDLY specified that her relationship with Marnet had been 3 years and that they met on her 18th birthday. In later chapters whoever was writing that section had the female lead say it the relationship was 6 years, and that she was 26. So, not only did the authors/editor(s) get the length of the relationship wrong, no matter how you do the math they got her age wrong -- in the first scenario she would be 21 years old, in the second scenario, if they'd met when she was 18 and the relationship was 6 years she'd be 24. Unfortunately there's a LIST of other plot detail errors, so many in fact that it begins to screw up the storyline: such as when Luna says she had no idea what Marnet did to earn money to financially support the pack, and then literally a couple of pages later saying she knew he had a construction company. I'd list them all out in hopes they might get fixed, but there are just too many.

Now if typographical, copy editing and plot errors aren't enough to put a reader off there's the female lead's pathetic clinginess and stupidity through most of the first half of the story. She literally gets punched in the face after being brutally rejected and replaced by her mate but still pines for him and thinks he's going to come save her after ordering her death and having her chained in the bar awaiting her sentence, and a bunch of other ridiculous thoughts and rationalizations that I. Just. Could. NOT. Swallow.

The male lead does not start out any better. Whoever wrote his part in the first few chapters made him out to be a shallow, boastful, arrogant but whiny, judgemental, self-centered to the point of narcissism, mean girl. Remus even sounded like a teenage or preteen female in his inner monologue as well as his dialog, and I didn't have any interest in seeing much of him in the story. Fortunately whoever started writing later portions of his character did a better job and he improved somewhat.

Overall the story could have been really interesting, but the inconsistency in writing, inconsistency and character traits and speech and thought patterns, and most of all the horrific plot errors that really mess with the storyline are just too much for me to give this much beyond two stars. Luckily the authors did not play fast and loose with issues of consent in this, which is why it's getting at least two stars and not being considered a complete loss. It is interesting enough I may take a look at the sample for the next volume but unless it emits such errors I just can't see investing in more time in this series.

decent read

Story line and characters are good. I’m legit loving the story telling over all but there are inconsistencies between paragraphs that messes with the flow of the book. A couple of spelling and grammar mistakes. The book obviously needs some editing. If you can get past that the actual story is super interesting and the main characters are great to follow. I wish they had expanded on some of the side characters a bit more as well.

Sigh

Well
Ok first off the inner thoughts are very much a part of this book.Second didn't like the main male character, the female character or anyone else in book so that's not good .It was drawn out and very uninteresting .Very little happened and the way the he treated the idea of the female being beaten or worse as it might mess up his plan was offensive ..yea no the girl was a victim of not just everyone but her own making ,only so much sympathy for a girl constantly thinking oh me oh me oh me yet going right back to the abuse . The idea that it was pure evil to get the daughter in the family was confusing . The farther hated her along with everyone else .Seemed supposedly fated mates were easy to dispose of ,but to fight and lie to get a child you treated like crap? Everyone was horrific, the not mate was not alpha enough ,always sorry for using his ability yet I'm supposed to think he's strong? Sophia was like a easy woman on steroids ,yet calling another woman bad names when obviously you are very free with charms and main man was thinking about it and no just no .
Most of this book was her whining for mate ,the alpha whining for her mate ,his mom whining from her and sons mate ( appearance are very important to her ) and almost everyone else whining for her mate .Oh and lots drawn out thought .
Saying nope book two not interested ,was hoping for a gut reaching angst but got bla .

Gives women a bad name

doormat and way To stupid to live, is being to nice. Just kill her and be done with it. Sorry

Would not reccommend

I got 39% through this before I just couldn't continue anymore. This review is based on what I read.
It's possible that the writing would get better in the later 60% but I doubt it. I don't often abandon books but I couldn't force myself to read anymore, and I'd been trying since the first few chapters.

The timeline has inconsistencies. It says they knew they were fated mates when she turned 18, that they had known for 6 years, that she is 26. There are excuses for 4 moonmate events (an annual occurrence). Maths doesn't add up, even when you get past the super confusing first chapter when she flashes back 3 years and it seems closer to when they learnt they were mates (so she'd be 21, not 26 in the first chapter).

The main character is whiny and she 'just doesn't understand'. Tragic backstory of bullying after her mother died, main character doing pretty much nothing to stand up for herself, fight back or be her own person and not pay them much mind. It is very woe is me. Here's an excerpt of how hard done by she is, how nothing is her fault and she definitely should not have to take responsibility for her emotions or behaviour - 'I detested being angry with others, and the fact that the butler had almost managed to bring that out in me… The thought alone was enough to make me shudder.' The add in that she might do something she didn't want to is horrifying. Except no one made her do anything - she chose to be angry and she chooses to not acknowledge that and say she 'almost' got angry.

I like kick ass characters. I like sweet characters. I like characters who have a personality. Whoever this one was (have already forgotten her name since she is so forgettable) is none of these things. She's a whiny privileged person who somehow got that way despite having challenges in her life described that should have provided her with some form of character.
Ready for the death knell: I bet her middle name is Bella.

There's little world building - 5 territories ruled over by alphas in southern USA and the wolves can shift at will which is tiring and the wolf is a seperate personality. There's fated mates that only some meet. There are no prescribed roles in the pack - seems alpha beta etc are more ranks that something inherent in the person. The alpha has to be strong and dominant, but they aren't in sections (ABO in omegaverse, dominant-submissive in psychangeling) etc. So some of the common werewolf genre rules

I would not recommend reading this book. The plot and world building is nothing to write home about, the characters are actively sucktastic and there are inconsistencies in time.
I've returned the rest of the series to KU unread because my time is worth more than this story.

3.5 stars

Okay, so… I was nervous going into this one based on the reviews, but I wanted to give it a shot. It has a few bumps along the way, but I generally enjoyed it.

I’ll start with the positives. Remus is a fantastic H. He’s a powerful alpha with a soft spot for the heroine. He’s not perfect, but his imperfections allow us to see his growth.

The whole cast of characters feels solid and believable. Whether they were good or bad, I understood their intentions, they were dynamic, and the dialogue was well written.

I honestly found Luna’s emotional responses pretty believable given the circ*mstances. If she had immediately shunned her fated mate, I’d be calling it out as it would undermine the whole fated mate system. This one is both a plus and a minus though. Believable or not, I found myself getting aggravated with Luna. The problem, in my opinion, is in the fact that Luna so very rarely has anything physical to do or any real conflicts outside of Marnet that all she can reasonably do is think about him. She gets stuck in her head, like anyone would in her situation, but it gets irritating for the reader. I would have liked to see her interact more with the world, find ways to distract herself, and generally do more.

Unfortunately, there were a few consistency issues. Details would change over the course of the book, some of them pretty important, like how long Luna and Marnet were together. There were also quite a few grammatical errors, particularly missing or added words. Not a major issue, but it’s occasionally made me second guess how a sentence was meant to read.

I also had a bit of an issue with how certain emotions were portrayed. Maybe it was just me, but sometimes a reaction would be described and I would infer the wrong emotion from it. Pretty major incongruencies, like I would infer suspicion but the character would be feeling lust. It was disorienting at times.

Overall, a solid read if you’re looking for something not too heavy with a bit of angst.

I love the fated mate trope but have only recently discovered books about rejected mates - which I find so interesting. And boy, does the main character Luna get rejected in this book. Her "fated mate" Marnet is a complete...we'll say jerk. Luna is confident that after years, Marnet is finally going to claim her as his. Imagine her surprise when he rejects her in a cruel way. When she is taken by a rival Alpha, Remus, Luna has to decide which side of the war she is ready to be on. Can she really give up on Marnet, who is her fate? If she does, will she ever find true happiness?

I felt bad for the journey that Luna has been on in her life, and her trials seem to be only beginning. I wish she would have been a bit stronger in certain areas - how can she waver even a bit when it comes to Marnet? Girl, he doesn't love you! You need to do you, and forget about him...easier said than done, I guess. I found the male lead Remus to be intriguing. I liked seeing his many layers - and it will be interesting to see what barriers Luna can break down when it comes to him.

I look forward to seeing more from these characters as the series continues.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

⭐️ 4.1

I liked this slow burn a lot!

More than anything I loved seeing the time and effort put in by the author to show me everything. I get so frustrated when an author says someone is bad, but doesn’t take the time to 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦. I felt, right from the beginning, like I was immersed in this tale. Her woes were mine. Her heartbreak mine.

I 100% 𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒆 seeing Remus come around. That fluttering feeling you get reading about new love, it’s starting here, and I look forward to seeing it continue in the next book. He has no idea what his actions are saying to everyone around him, but they’ve all picked up on where the plot is going. He’s the last man standing to see it haha.
Thank goodness they didn’t spoil things by having the main characters love all over each other too early.
Thank goodness she stayed true to form and didn’t let her eyes stray until after her mate betrayed her in every way. It makes no sense to me for a fmc to fall out of love so quickly. If they can essentially flip a switch and love someone else then that love wasn’t love to begin with.
And I absolutely love when the male main character falls in love before the female does.

This book is doing everything right and I cannot contain my excitement to carry on reading.

So I have read some of Skye’s other books…I liked them but this book feels like it was written by someone else..75% of this story is all inter monologue, 25%is actually dialogue or actions. Also was told Luna’s POV of inter monologue that flipped in next chapter of same event in Remus’ pov inter monologue. This book was a huge struggle to read. Luna’s character was hard for me to even care about, I have a hard time with her being a doormat for her family to just repeatedly take what they dish out…Now I can understand her being conditioned to it if she was raised there from young child level. But she lived with her mother until she was 13 which she would have shaped her belief system and self worth by then. For the amount of dislike she had for her step-mother she stayed living with them..also the book refers to her sisters as step sisters, so that means that Lynn was mated before she mated Luna’s dad…this story is too much puppies and kittens for those who treated her badly to get their comeuppance and that list is very long considering it’s almost 100% of the pack who mistreated her.

Luna had never been accepted by the Claw Pack. She was the illegitimate daughter of one of the pack officials but he had married Axel someone else and had two daughters and twin sons with her. Luna and her mother lived near humans and her mother worked on vintage cars for a living. For some reason her father wanted Luna to come live with him and his family on pack land.
Luna lived for twelve years with her father after her mother had a aneurysm and died. She worked hard to get good grades and become the top her class. Beating the alphas daughter. for the honor. When Sophia (the alphas daughter) made fun of Luna, Luna couldn't resist teasing Sophia about the award she had not won. Sophia started to fight Luna but her brother the future alpha broke up the fight and that was when they met.
Marnet was the future alpha of the Claw pack and Luna was his fated mate. Sadly she was so low on the social status and he was so young and unwilling to settle for a wife/mate. He never took the ancient theory seriously. When it was time to claim a mate at the Moonlight ceremony, he chose someone more suitable. Sentencing Luna to death.

Well, that's a tough one.
I love Skye Wilson. I devoured the Devil series. But this book I did not recognize as her work at all. It didn't feel like her style. Weird.

The story idea is great, the plot interesting. BUT it's draaaaaagggging along. Ugh. What spans a couple of days is strung out over 300+ pages / 31 chapters of boring ass inner monologues, drawn out scenes that could be way shorter or more effective. Even the action scenes are done in such miniscule fractions they totally destroy the flow of what is actually happening. And then you get the next chapter with half of the stuff happening again from the other characters POV. I daresay one could put book 1 and 2, which will be available in May, into one book and really blow you off your couch if written properly. This was kind of torture... not to mention the typos throughout very distracting.

What I really hated was the way the alphas talked about Luna before the whole rejection incident even happened. It was so demeaning how they talked about a person, a woman. I really felt dirty reading this.

DNF
For over 30% of the book, it’s all what leads up to the first chapter and it’s SOOOOO BORING!

The inner dialogue is just way too much and really there hardly any speaking at all. It’s just their damn thoughts and little snippets of memories popping up.

The h was annoying at best. She was still wanting her mate even after he beat the snot out of her, embarrassed her, claimed someone else in front of her and sentenced her to death. She’s the worst kind of heroine.

The H was nearly as bad as the heroine’s ex mate, honestly. There’s no redeeming qualities to him at all. He’s just some wacko jerk wanting more power and he pretty much forces everyone to do what he says.

The H’s mother is obnoxious as hell as well. Honestly there’s not one good, likeable character in the book. Maybe Tala or whatever her name is, but we know next to nothing about her.

I started skimming and even then can’t get past 50%
Bleh. I don’t recommend this book at all. Even if it’s part of kindle unlimited, it’s totally not worth it.

58% and I give up. Nothing is happening, and she’s annoying!

SIX YEARS! Six years Luna waited to be Marnet’s mate. He didn’t show her any affection in front of anyone, he didn’t mark her, and he treat her like she was scum. Yet even after he chains her up after claiming another woman as his mate, and sentences her to death, she STILL PINES AFTER HIM! I can’t take it!!! It’s pretty obvious that he’s stringing her along, but she won’t accept it. A massive chunk at the beginning of the book is Luna remembering about her and Marnet. 🥱

Remus is an alpha who goes to war and tries to take over Marnet’s pack and three others. He’s a pretty despicable character and it’s hard not to hate him. Especially when he uses Luna to find Marnet, who is in hiding. The book drags on and on, and I’ve no clue how the author is going to finish it. I just want to know how Luna and Remus get together as she’s supposed to be Marnet’s mate.

Confused? You will be! Can’t believe this drivel continues in a second book.

Hated Luna!!! She should have woken up as a kick a$$ heroine instead of a weak winey wolf! This man did EVERYTHING in the book to her and she STILL had loyalty? Remus was WAYYYY too lenient on her for no other reason than her eyes were silver and she was cute..-_-..Remus watched her get taken into the barn and then beat up and sentenced to death but still viewed her as a crazy side chick but somehow yielded to her every request...it wasn't loyalty it was stupidity..and why the f***k would he lie about her mom being alive?? Called him an a$$ then stayed with the ppl who hated her and tried to go back to work like and got kicked and threatened...no wonder nobody liked her OMG ! U got a whole alpha who wants u and tryna help u find the person who wanted u dead and u spit on his help ...throw the whole girl away..this book had ALOT of potential..she didnt have to be feisty or a fighter but at least get a character whose smart and knows how to use her resources and knows her worth..because f**k my ex..I'd be on a jet to Texas already pledged and freshly f***d by Remus lolololololol!!

Luna Highborn knew her parents had been fighting over her and at 13, with her mom dead, Luna had to live with her dad and his mate in their pack. At 18, Luna realized alpha heir Marnet, was her mate but he wouldn’t publicly claim her though he became alpha soon after. Marnet led Luna on, cheating indiscriminately, giving her excuses to not mate or go public yet for six years before claiming another leaving her humiliated and her wolf broken.

Remus Silverstreak an alpha from a neighboring pack had theoretically come to the moonmate ceremony looking for a mate, the last thing he was interested in. Remus had different pack business in the forefront of his mind. Making a private call, Remus was distracted when a silver-eyed beauty came out of nowhere, apologized and ran off. Though brief and to Remus’ mind worth more than a dalliance, he soon learned her name was Luna and Marnet’s mistreatment of her was one more reason to overthrow Marnet’s rule. Remus anxiously awaited confirmation his team was ready. He got it and gave the signal!
Rating: 4.25stars