An Unexpected Bonding: Book One of The Unexpected Trilogy by Lilly Rayman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There has been a war between the werewolves and the vampires for thousands of years, it is bloody, it is gruesome and it may be about to end thanks to a faerie prophecy which foretold of future events that would shake the paranormal world to its core. A member of the vampire council is cursing the werewolves near to his territory, they seem to be allowing themselves to be seen by humans so that they can scare them away and move into the territory and this vampire is not impressed in the slightest by it because their preference is to drink straight from the vein and this can’t happen if there are no humans. At the same time, another of the council has a plan to try and broker a peace deal between the two warring factions, however, it needs to go before the Council before it can be approved. Meanwhile, Livvie is the daughter of the Alpha of the Romulus pack but she is wolf-less and because of this she has been living away from her pack for the last ten years in Texas on theThunder Hollow cattle ranch her late fiance left to her after his death and this year is the first year where her bulls will be entered into the local rodeo, she is still grieving his loss and feels it as acutely as she did when it happened three years ago, but life goes on, she works hard and hopefully will see the fruits of her labours soon. All of a sudden Livvie senses someone entering the bar who shouldn’t be there, it is a vampire, she is wary but engages him in polite but stunted conversation, but his expectations are disappointed when the friend he is looking for in Livvie cannot be called out and as she walks away, he is left surprised and she returns to her home.

As the vampire Council convenes, they discuss the proposal set before them, there is opposition and discussions around the who, the where and the why, but they eventually agree that it is a good proposal and that the werewolves should be approached about iy, meanwhile the Romulus pack is disturbed by news of a rival pack moving into territory near where Livvie is living, so a few of the members decide to go down to the rodeo and use it as an excuse to see Livvie at the same time. Livvie is hard at work preparing her cattle when her friend comes to look them over, she is surprised that he is not alone and that he has brought someone who wants to work at the ranch with her, as he introduces Darius to Livvie she cannot help but feel drawn to him, however, she keeps that to herself as she feels guilty about the feelings it stirs up with regards to Nate. Darius is just as drawn to Livvie as she was to him, although he also doesn’t want to acknowledge his feelings over the grief he still feels at the loss of his late wife, three years before, so he shuts down the feelings straight away as well.

As the weeks pass, Livvie and Darius fall into a comfortable working relationships on the ranch and when Livvie’s finds out that her pack brothers are coming to visit she is excited, but later on that day she has an accident when she is attempting to fix a windmill on , but when Darius goes to her rescue, the feelings that they are trying so hard to repress come back until the vampire from the bar turns up and that is when she finds out what Darius really is and when another unexpected visitor turns up, her wolf is called to the surface, however, she is strong and has to be temporarily bound again, but the instincts are awakened nonetheless and these are what could get her into trouble. As the rodeo approaches and the pack find out about Darius for the first time, fists almost fly and Livvie’s true nature starts to show through, this shocks her family, however when the rival pack kidnap Livvie, everything else is put on the back burner as Darius realises exactly how deep his feelings for Livvie really run.

Will the werewolves and the vampires be able to work together to return Livvie and rescue her from the clutches of the rival pack, or will she be able to free herself when the full moon rises? Will the prophecy play out as planned and a peace be brokered, or will things derail the plans and go awry? This is a complex and exciting journey through the history of vampires , werewolves and the faerie while keeping romance in full flow, it will draw you in and land along for the bumpy ride in more ways than one.

Review by @roxsannel

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