| Title | : | Fox Play (The Madison Wolves, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 354 |
| Publication | : | First published April 28, 2013 |
In the meantime, Michaela faces her fears built from the past while struggling to find her place in the pack.
Fox Play continues the story first begun in Fox Run. This is a novel of 95,000 words.
Fox Play (The Madison Wolves, #2) Reviews
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The story line in the second book is better than the first one. However, the relationship between the two main couple went downhill. The things that still keep me going with this book is the concept.
Michaela's personality compared to her original personality from the first book is outright reversed. The same happened with Lara, and it's really frustrating when I read it.
Michaela from the first book:
"She glared at me with an alpha's glare, but I returned it in spades. I was my own alpha. She might be bigger than me, and she might be stronger than me. And she might scare the crap out of me. But I wasn't one of her pups, and damn! but I was not going to act like it."
Michaela took no shit from anyone. Didn't let anyone dictate her. She was proud of who she is, she was bold, arrogant at time, but never back down. Wasn't this the personality the author first established for Michaela?
Michaela from the second book:
"I don't know when in our relationship I had begun craving it when she did this. I didn't like offering the submission, but when she took it like this, it filled me with happiness."
"Lara was always firm with me, but sweet and gentle. This was harsh, rough, and I wasn't being made love to, I was being taken, and there wasn't a thing I could do about it. There wasn't a thing I wanted to do about it."
Okay, hold it right there...Is this BDSM? I'm pretty sure it's not when I read the first book. Hell, the first book don't even have any sex scene, but this one gotten quite a lot of them, and one of them was particularly harsh. Yes, Lara apologized after that. However, Lara had committed many wrongs before, then apologized again, then seek for forgiveness. Michaela will always forgave her. In their relationship, that was all I could see. The worst thing is, Michaela LOVE it when she got treated like shit by Lara. OTL (I don't remember her being a masochist)
Then back to Lara of the first book. She actually took order from Michaela in the first book. The part where she first broke into Michaela's house, and Michaela ordered Lara along with her enforcers to help cooking. Lara was very nice and humble, she had no problem with someone ordering her around, and she didn't have any possessive quality at the time (with the exception of screaming "Mine!")
Yet, in the second book, out of nowhere, the term Dominant and Submissive being repeated over and over, the author kinda stressed that a lot for some reason, it's getting really dull.
Then after that, Michaela kept offering her throat like almost all the time, and it getting really repetitive. So...I came to the conclusion that this is not the same Michaela compares to the one from the first book.
More rants....
Let talk about Elisabeth. I like her at first, but she worst than Lara on the second book. Her reasons were unrealistic. Let talk about the part where Michaela threw a pillow at Elisabeth for fun. Yes, for FUN. It's harmless. It's a pillow being throw to a wolf.
Why the hell would Elisabeth got mad over that?? Okay, I understand that she has pride and dignity to uphold in front of the pack.. But really? Will this stay the same forever? Seems like it now that Michaela finally joined the pack- aka no longer her own alpha.
Friends and lovers throw pillow at each other from time to time. This is not a healthy relationship for Michaela among the pack. There are things that she "hate" being done to, but still, she admitted to being wrong in the end anyway. Why!? Sometimes Michaela was just being playful, she just wants to play, has fun, teases her lover sometimes, or teases her friends, but she will get reprimand for it (especially if she talks back to those of higher authority)
Michaela hesitated in joining the pack at first, but eventually accepted it anyway...all of her initial reasons why she couldn't join the pack in the beginning suddenly evaporated, because she can't marry Lara unless she joins the pack (I felt like Michaela is the one losing out a lot in this relationship).
Lara didn't feel guilty when she forced Michaela into a different job. Michaela agreed to a different job anyway even though she loves her previous job. I'm pretty sure no matter how good her teaching job is, Michaela did said that her previous job was important for her, weighing those two jobs together, Michaela would choose her original job over her new job.So why did she accepted? The reason is because Lara always win.
"She knows you're up here, and your heart is breaking, and she doesn't look like she feels guilty. She looks determined, Michaela. I think you should give her time."
^ Time for what? After all, it's never mention again about Lara being guilty, she never feels guilty for making Michaela moved. Michaela just accepted it. Lara determined for what? For making Michaela moved out of her home? *sigh*
In the story, it is stated that Benny is not the type of guy who push woman around (according to Michaela), but now, June will probably push him around for sure. I bet he gonna love it too just like Michaela. I know this is wolf nature, wolf society with all the D and S. Okay, I get it. However, Michael is not a wolf, Benny is not a wolf, Michele is not a wolf. For some reason, they all accepted their role based on their wolf partner's positions in the wolf's hierarchy. It's like their own opinion never matter, never an option.
Sometimes it made me wonder what will happen if Michaela never whimper when her throat got bit. Will they actually kill her? Since Michaela's original personality seems to be fine with it. Getting kill rather than submit. Remember the time when she jumped down the tree because she refused to let Lara caught her? That defiance attitude is gone.
Yes, Michaela is happy, but she could be happier. What happened if she meets someone she loves that is not Lara? Someone who plays with her, doesn't get angry with her for every little details, someone who could stay in Bayfield with her. someone who allows her to behave in a more free way. I feel like Michaela and Lara relationship can't reach its maximum happiness.
There are good things about the book of course. The part where Michaela gained new skills...again, the story line concept is good.There are also scenes where Lara genuinely loves Michaela, but still, loving someone doesn't mean anything when you restricted them of certain behaviors that should be totally fine with any couple. -
2 stars.
Pros
■ The story has better structure when compared to the first book
Cons
■ Feisty fox is why I continued the series. She was such a great character in the first book. Unfortunately, in this sequel, her spirit is broken and she's almost a completely different character. Sure she was afraid before, but she also had her pride and she wouldn't ever voluntarily submit. In this book, all of that has changed though. The wolves continue their abuse and the fox submits willingly. Her spunk is almost all gone and so is my enthusiasm to continue the series.
■ Generic baddies
■ A sense of unease accompanied me all throughout this book. Even in supposed happy times, the book does not give me any happy feelings. Just as Michaela is always scared I too dread the next episode of domestic abuse.
■ Their relationship is completely one-sided with Lara taking everything away from Michaela, her home, her pride, her freedom. I usually don't mind relationships that are not perfectly balanced but this takes it to an extreme with one character having all the power and the other having absolutely none.
I did not enjoy this book and I probably won't continue the series due to the direction of the story and especially the characters have taken. Apparently book 3 is even a bigger trainwreck so this is where I stop for now. -
No immediate emotional follow-up on the gym “play” scene. What happened to Fox not submitting to every single wolf? Then she easily sides with said offending wolves, admitting they were playing. Were the character true to herself, she would not have accepted that kind of game at all. Mentally, of course; she hadn’t been given a choice physically, and that in itself was a violation worthy of triggering even more of a response from her. Instead, the character seemed to so easily accept what had been done to her just for the sake of defusing the situation (glaringly obvious author’s hand, and not the first time...) that I was disgusted with the author’s handling of his own creations. That was the last nail in the coffin for me; guy likes to make his Fox protagonist submit at every opportuniy as a means to showcase her Alpha’s affection. Or how she needs to be put in her place. Or whatever else. It was fucking tedious.
TLDR: get rid of the Elizabeth character. It’s flawed, its writing is flawed, and the author blatantly shows himself or his opinions/mentality through it. Not a pleasant sight, too.
A shame. I thought the first book was relatively decent in terms of character depictions/development/self-loyalty. -
I have loved "For Run" and I have equally love "Fox Play".
This books have become easily ones of my favorite Lesbian Paranormal..and I have to admit a little addiction LOL
Michaela and Lara are now in a stable relationship but that have led imbalances in the Madison pack...would Michaela be able to trust wolves?? and would the wolves be ready to have in the pack a little fox???
Michaela let us know about some new of her foxy ways to trick the enemies and Lara need to work hard to help Michaela to feel welcome in the pack.
I have particularly loved the new information about Lara and Michaela past, and the step that the couple have take to face the PTSD that had started when Michaela was 14years old.
I love also the fact that they are long books, there are a lot of books in the Lesbian Romance genre that with difficult reach the 250 pages, well this series reach the 340-350 pages...this is really a wonderful read.
Well I can only wait impatiently for the 3rd book in the series!!!
And the 4th...and the 5th....LOL well really I want to read them ALL -
I enjoyed reading more about Michaela and Lara's relationship. Even in the midst of a rival pack's interest in taking over the Madison pack their bond was strong. It was great learning more about the Madison wolves new and old. I love all the affectionate bantering and the sassy snark especially from Michaela. The was fast paced and kept me interested I can't wait to continue with this series.
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Welp, I am done... I enjoyed the first story and this one was an okay follow up but not much happened except for me showing how awful the pack really is. All the do is slowly take from the little fox. The pack is about nothing but dominance in the guise of love. I see a strong but damaged character in the fox slow losing herself in the name of love. No one really cares about her feelings. I checked out the review of the next book and the idea of torch porn puts the final nail in this coffin. I like strong female characters in stories and I thought I was going to like this one. I may revisit the first book sometime but the way this is going it is quickly leaving a bad taste in my mouth. At this point I would almost rather read about moody sparkly vampires then see the fox be dragged down in the name of love... Blech
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Creo que no ha sido tan intenso como el anterior libro, quizá solo sea que las noches de póker no sean mi fuerte, pero se lee rápido y bien. Me ha gustado la amenaza que se presenta en esta obra, aunque se ha resuelto un poco rápido. La pena es que solo parece que dos personajes se han desarrollado más en este libro: Angel y Scarlet, no tengo sensación de que los demás evolucionen demasiado y algunos son "muy de fondo".
A pesar de todas estas cosas, me sigue resultando interesante la saga y me entretuvo mucho este libro. -
The little fox comes through again. The continuation of the story of Michaela and Lara is rich and fulfilling. I dare say this is even better than the first book. There are additional characters that add to the depth of the story. The strength of Michaela even when she is so scared is amazing. Shows that no matter what the fear is love for the pack and her mate will make her over come anything. I am looking forward to her next adventure.
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Ok. I read it mostly because it was available via the Kindle Owners Lending Library. I don't mind the were portions of the book, but how much mileage are you going to get out of the defending the pack plots? I'm going to try the third installment, hoping that the actual plot changes. If not, I'm done.
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Paranormal Romance. Fox Play is book two in the The Madison Wolves.
A great story, quick and easy. I enjoyed book one so I decided to continue on and burned through it on a lazy Sunday.
Now in a committed relationship the "Little Fox" and the Alpha cement their relationship by working together to protect the pack from invadors while the "Little Fox" finds her place. -
It was a very refreshing change to the UF books i have been reading. No love triangle, nothing throbbed, and the Heroine is deep, layered and flawed.
I think what struck me most was there isn't any save the world type story lines. It's more of a how Were creatures protect their family and friends. -
Reviewing after reading the first three - the first two are OK, with the third the series becomes very unpleasant, inconsistent with the first two, and wanders into confusing a BDSM relationship with emotional abuse. Not recommended.
