The Longing of Lone Wolves: A Dystopian Fantasy Romance (Fae Guardians, Season of the Wolf, Book 1)

CW: Sexual assault; physical assault; violence; torture;The Longing of Lone Wolves is an exciting start to the Fae Guardians series. The thing that sold me on the book by the end was the world, even if the world-building dominates this book a bit too much.Rush is a Fae Guardian, a wolf-shifter whose powers make him a ruthless protector of Elphyne. That is, he was one until he broke the rules half a century ago and was cut off from his power and cursed to be invisible to everyone. Now, he serves as a lonely protector, keeping the monsters and humans away from his people until a human washes up on his shore and is the only being that can see him. Clarke wakes up with no knowledge of where she is, only that it is not the same Las Vegas she left. Clarke ends up getting tied to Rush as he sees her as his ticket to getting his curse broken, but she ends up being much more important than either of them knows as evils from the past have made their way to this new world and threaten everything.This book has a lot of heavy lifting to do to explain the world and the magic system. It’s both a fantasy novel, yet also grounded in our reality. But it also involves time traveling and post-apocalyptic nuclear war with magic! A lot is going on in this world, and it takes a while to understand everything, detracting from the romance and story. But once all the pieces came together, I was fascinated! Pecherczyk managed to make a Fae and shifter story feel new and fresh. By the end of the book, I realized there are so many characters, races and places to explore in this world that I was excited about future books.When it comes to the romance, I feel it did suffer because of all the world-building. I didn’t see the connection between Rush and Clarke as much as I would have liked. Because of everything else going on in the book, it also seemed like their relationship didn’t have much time to develop. It felt like they went from zero to a hundred, and because of the lack of chemistry, it was a bit jarring. I felt like I missed some important scenes where their feelings developed and grew and their relationship progressed.I really liked the Beauty and the Beast vibes we got with Rush, especially as Clarke finds him while his magic is nearly depleted. Clarke really upends his quiet, lonely life. I struggled to get a read on his personality, even though we do get chapters from his POV. Rush has to serve as Clarke and the reader’s guide to this new world, which I think hampered my ability to get to know him better.Clarke was a bit more of a fun character to explore. She’s out of her time and might be the cause behind everything. She has a lot to deal with, but I thought she handled it with a lot of spunk and perseverance. If I woke up a millennia later with weird creatures trying to kill me, I don’t think I would have handled it nearly as well as she did. She’s a feisty heroine who is willing to go down fighting. I think her having some psychic abilities back in the day helped her adjust and be more open to this new world. I also loved the snippets we got of her past human life; she clearly fell in with the wrong people and feels she has to atone for it. It will be interesting to see how all the people from her old life will make their way to this new world as I don’t think we’ve seen the last of some of them.While the romance and main storyline fell a bit flat because of all the worldbuilding, I loved some of the secondary characters we meet and love this world. There is so much more to explore. This book reminded me of an open-world video game in that regard – it feels like we’ve only uncovered a small corner of the map and have so much more adventure ahead of us.I’ll definitely be picking up the next book in the Fae Guardians series as I’m looking forward to where Pecherczyk takes the story and builds on the world!

If the remaining series are as good as the 1st. I will definitely be reading here for a while. I loved everything about this plot.

This was my first dystopia/fae read, and I really enjoyed it. I liked the premise of the story, and I liked that this book ended on a HEA while there is still an overall storyline arc continuing to the next book.The characters were written well, and I liked them both.*This book is rated R. The F word is used more than once. The spice scenes are detailed. There is fighting and violence.

The plot is intriguing to me and the reason I stuck with it. It isn’t bad but it didn’t keep me wanting more. I would have liked more character development to be on truly invested in the story. Overall, it felt a little rushed and not cohesive.

This is a great series. Awesome world building and characters. I loved books one through six, but the author lost me on book seven. The fmc of that one was the only character I couldn’t stand.

World-building is very interesting! But the character interactions are a little off. I can’t quite put my finger on it. There was a LOT of plot to cover so some parts ended up feeling a bit rushed. But overall, a fun and intriguing read!

I really enjoyed it! It was just the perfect length and was an interesting twist on the future. Definitely recommend

Awesome worldbuilding! Love the enemies-to-lovers. Was pulled in from the very first page and couldn't stop reading. Very well written. Can't wait to read the next one, I highly recommend this series!

In the main, I enjoyed the story and liked the characters. However, there was too much detail but at the same time not enough explanation where it mattered so I found it a bit confusing. E.g. thawing was mentioned a few times but no explanation of why this happened and why Clarke was frozen in the first place. Also, mana seemed to have many differnt properties, uses and effects but this information was dribbled slowly throughout the book and it would have been less confusing if this was explained more near the start of the story.There were a lot of modern American expressions which might have made sense in that time period but I felt they didn't go well with the setting. Finding a sewing kit in the drawer of the Inn that catered to a variety of shady characters seemed weird. I didn't understand why Clarke knew she was very powerful and could save the world. And, there were way too many characters so not enough character development.It was still a very enjoyable story but I'm not sure I will read more from this series.

I would have liked to have seen more of Clarke's past and her connection with her friends, but overall the character and world building was good and made me invested in Clarke's relationships with Rush and other characters. I love the overarching plot and how Lana is executing it as well as how each couple gets their own book to develop their relationship. Also 10/10 for the spicy scenes.

I loved this book!! The way the author was able to mesh two seemingly different worlds together was amazing!! It was so well done. I loved the time shift aspect of the story. The FMC was strong and witty. She wasn't shy!! And took what she wanted. The MMC was dark and broody as a self respecting fae male should be! The only reason I only gave this story four stars was the pregnancy. Not my cup of tea, but that being said it was well done. It didn't take over the story and wasn't the main aspect. I can see why it was included as it was integral to the story line. The spice was 🌶️🌶️🌶️If you like:🐺Fated mates🐺Strong FMC🐺Magic🐺🌶️🌶️🌶️🐺Shifters🐺HEA🐺Touch her and die🐺CursesThen this book is for you! I loved it and I can't wait to read the other stories in this collection!

What a fantastic read. The cover caught my eye, the blurb fired my imagination and the book delivered! I loved itSet in the future, 2000 years after nuclear weapons have wrecked all life, the land has started to recover and evolution has created some fascinating and frightening creatures. The Fae have discovered the magic of the earth, but are they any better than the humans they hate?With slow burn romance, sizzling chemistry, magic, curses, secrets and a sinister evil hiding in the shadows, this kept my attention from the start. Cursed Guardian Rush and human psychic Clarke were both very likeable and grew throughout. They had their issues but showed each other a different aspect to the world they saw. I loved it and look forward to reading the next book.

I loved this book! The FMC, Clarke, lived in modern day where the Earth was dying. Humans pushed the Earth's resources to far and now face the consequences. After a flash ice age, Clarke wakes up in the future, years in the future to a whole new world. Magic, shifters and fae now rule Earth. Having no idea what is happening, Clarke is found by the MMC, Rush. Rush is a fae guardian who was banished to never be seen by anyone. Having not been seen by anyone for years, he is shocked to find that Clarke is able to see and talk to him. Thinking this is his ticket out of his curse, they travel together The Order.I absolutely loved this world! I was not expecting the post-apocalyptic setting but it completely worked! I fell in love with the characters and the world building. Thought this book set up future books perfectly and I can't wait to continue the series!