A Counselor Among Wolves

We at OptimuMM, with the approval of Dreamspinner Press, decided that we will review some previously published books. Our first choice was Liv Olteano’s Leader Murders series.

This is the second installment of the series, and I must say I’m hooked! This is way better than the first book, probably because I started to get into this universe of Liv’s. The alphas are assholes, they are domineering, and they give no choice to anyone. The Council shares the same policy about mating. That is until Amanda, the director of PBI, Weiss’ mate started her mission that we learn about in the previous sequel of the series.

Now, Amanda is facing the death penalty. But she has supporters, including Rick the previous book’s MC. Rick pushes the agenda to the council, and they are inclined to accept that mating in an abusive relationship must be determined if the abused one requests it.
Well, that’s not going well with what Weiss believes. Weiss is on a raging rampage, so he seeks out Tim, the PBI counselor for help. Weiss convinces Tim to not report his behavior to the council because then they will put him down without a blink of an eye thanks to Amanda’s action.

Tim has a 5-year-old crush on Weiss. Also, he owns Weiss when the werewolf saved his life 5 years ago. The deal that Weiss offers is to pretend to be a couple and in this way Tim, being half-fey and half-elf, could control Weiss’ emotions. Tim fears that accepting the deal that he will be hurt in more than one way. If Weiss losses his temper, he could easily kill Tim, but for Tim, that’s the least of the damage Weiss can do to him.

Tim knows Weiss’ MO. He gets, he uses, he drops. Tim is afraid that once he gets a taste of Weiss, and when the deal is over, he’ll suffer more than he ever did.

This book is more angsty. There are traitors, old family issues, and the risk of heart break. We learn more about the politics in the council, the ruthlessness of the leaders and a shoe chewing alpha wannabe.

Well get going love, read the book already!

4.5 stars

Book – A Counselor Among Wolves (Leader Murders #2)
Author – Liv Olteano
Star rating - ★★★★★
No. of Pages – 230

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

Genre – LGBT, Paranormal, Crime, Romance


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


I'll admit, I was a little disappointed that this wasn't about Rick and Travis again, but I was happy to see that Weiss and Tim were just as interesting. What a great way to continue the series!

The slant away from the crimes, for just a little while, was similar to how book 1 began with the romance and slowly drifted into the crime. But, just as the previous book did, the crimes slowly eeked their way into the main storyline and had a major impact on all involved. The way the crimes changed slightly, though still connected to the Leader Murders, was intriguing and a nice change, so that we were just dealing with the same instances, crimes and investigation of the first book. It was refreshing, for a serial killer series to take that risk and change things up.

Once again, I fell in love with both characters. I'd always been interested in Tim, since the previous book brought him into Travis and Rick's storyline, but to get to delve deeper into his story was great. To learn what really happened between him and Travis, why and the consequences was very insightful. It was also really great to see a little vindication for Weiss, who got a really raw deal in book one.

Though I didn't like the way Rick dealt with Weiss in this story, it really is understandable and true to his character. It was so great to see him and Travis together, in a much quieter, more loving session.

At the same time, the chemistry, the push and pull and the overall atmosphere when Weiss and Tim were together was brilliant. I really felt the constant, raw sexual tension, then the slow built to emotional connections. What was even better was to see how Alf took it all and how he accepted Tim into the family fold.

I really liked getting a closer glimpse into the werewolf and fey worlds. Book 1 introduced us to the entire supernatural world of PBI, but it mainly focused on the lycans, as that was what Travis and, eventually, Rick, were. So it was nice to learn more about the other species, the ways they differed and how that effected those around them.

Yes, on the down side, there were still missing words, grammar issues and a few repeated phrases (smacking of lips, nape instead of neck and -slash- words) but there were negligible. I could completely ignore them to get totally engrossed in the story.

From the way the couple were thrown together, for the reasons why, and the emotional chaos as they worked things out between them, there was never a moment I was willing to put this down to do anything else. The exploration of their pasts, the revelation of their secrets and the eventual progress of their relationship with each other kept me hooked from page one to the end.

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Overall, it was a brilliant follow up to the previous book and gave enough of a build up that I just know I'm going to enjoy Bert's story in book 3 just as much.

An action packed story full of sexual tension, danger and uncertainty. From beginning to end, it was a rollercoaster ride of epic proportions.

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Favourite Quotes

“Looking on the bright side, I'd get to spend a lot of time with my crush. He was probably annoying, had smelly morning breath, and farted while he slept. After a week or two of that, I'd finally get over him.”

““We cool?”
He snorted. “Dunno about you, but I'm anything but cool. I'm not going to kill you yet, if that's what you're asking. Might change my mind by lunch, though.”
“There's that to look forward to, then,” I commented.
“You look like a tiny, breakable thing, but you're a pretty resilient bastard, aren't you?”
I smiled. “I did fight my way out of Fey Court, Weiss. And it wasn't a poetry competition.””

“I was that painfully lonely, the promise of his touch felt like salvation regardless of the reasons or end games. I gripped the shirt on his arms and bunched the fabric in my fists, pulling him even closer. It would hurt – somewhere down the road, this moment of mindless need would gut me. But at least I'd have the glorious memory of how all-consuming it was, for that one stupid second.”

“I wanted to protest but figured supposedly dead bodies shouldn't be too picky about their means of transportation.”