So much has changed in Jamie Buchner’s life in the past two years and things seem to keep changing.  She’d finally had enough of her husband’s infidelity and neglect of their son so she left him.  It took a year, but the divorce was final.  She spent a year in Atlanta so that Andreas, their son, could be easily accessible to his father.  The problem is, Derek couldn’t be bothered to keep up contact with him so Jamie moves back to Cedartown, Ohio, to be closer to her family. Family that is happy to be a part of Andreas’ life.  Andreas is now five and he’s soon going to be in school but Jamie isn’t looking forward to it.  Her whole life has revolved around her son since he was born and she’s going to miss him.  Finally going out one Saturday night to have contact with adults, Jamie goes to a bar for a drink.  When a man buys her a beer, Jamie knows he looks familiar, but until he came up to her and starts talking, she couldn’t really place him.

Seth Kolski moved around a lot as a kid since his father couldn’t keep a job all that long.  He always wanted to own his own business, but couldn’t run one effectively, so he had to work for others; a situation that eventually caused problems.  Two years ago while both Seth and his sister Veronica were living in Atlanta, his life drastically changed.  Veronica had shown her on again, off again boyfriend, Brian Carver, that she was a werewolf.  Veronica disappeared and Brian kidnapped Seth and caged him, taunting him about how he was going to torture and kill his sister.  Seth went wild and through a stupid move on Brian’s part, he was able to escape.  To protect Veronica, Seth killed Brian while he was in wolf form.  Seth moved back to Cedartown and took a job at a local elementary school as a gym teacher and has been hoping that Veronica, still missing from that night two years ago, will come home.

I love werewolves and Strength Of The Pack, although gentler than I’m used to in this genre, is a wonderful story.  The coming together of Jamie and Seth is at times both beautiful and frustrating.  Seth couldn’t trust anyone after his time at the hands of Brian Carver and Jamie, through the folly of her marriage, found it hard to trust as well.  Watching these two grow in both love and trust is beautiful.  Jamie, though not all that sure of herself and too sweet for her own good, shows that she has a backbone and tenacity when it’s needed. Seth, although a powerful werewolf, has never been sure of himself because of his abusive father and uncaring mother.  If you want a paranormal that is more gentle than most, Strength Of The Pack is a definite not-to-miss book.