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highly recommended |
4.5 Blue Ribbons from Romance Junkies! 
Devlin Johns is supposed to be meeting with Victor, the alpha of the wolf pack that resides in Asheville. However, when he arrives at the meeting site, he sees an omega being assaulted. While omega wolves are the lowest wolves of a pack, Devlin knows that they are still invaluable to the smooth running of a pack and deserving of protection. Getting in the middle of the ruckus, Dev stops the assault, which only re-directs the alpha's hatred toward him. Feeling a tingling along his spine, Devlin is both astonished and ecstatic that this unconscious omega might be his mate. It isn't until the omega wakes up that Devlin will know for sure.
Laine Campbell smells something wonderful as he slowly reaches consciousness. Unsure of where he is, he opens his eyes and is instantly delighted and amazed at what he sees. He has a mate of his very own and this mate is hot! Not only is he hot, but he seems to feel the same way as Laine. Not quite understanding how to proceed, Laine happily lets Devlin take over and enjoys every aspect of their lovemaking.
Laine and Devlin set out to slowly explore their relationship. Devlin has no plans to let Laine go, no matter that the alpha of Asheville is a jerk and a bully. Devlin plans to show Victor how an alpha is supposed to act and he is going to enjoy every minute of it!
Once again J. L. Langley has woven a tremendous story of love and acceptance. In WITH LOVE, Laine is endearingly accident-prone and constantly making mistakes. I found it humbling to see Devlin take him as he was, and love him in spite of his quirks. Laine charmed me with his first smile of delight at finding Devlin by his side. Their loyalty to each other was just the icing on the cake!
WITH LOVE is one of three novellas in the anthology, A Heart From The Ashes, coming to Samhain in January 2007. I just can't get enough of J. L. Langley!
***Natasha Smith for Romance Junkies***
Great romance story...
This turned out to be my favorite story in the anthology, Hearts from the Ashes. I found the idea of an alpha and omega werewolf romance to be refreshing. Yes, Laney is very much like an uke in a traditional yaoi story - but, I like yaoi. He is a little effeminate, which may seem stereotypical, but there are men like this. Certainly not all gay men, or even all "bottoms." Yet, I rarely see readers griping about how so many romances have strong, handsome men either - why aren't they short and ugly to avoid being stereotypical? Because this is a fantasy romance not real life! Laney's clumsiness is a little over the top, but his relationship with Dev is sweet and hot. I would have liked the characters to be more developed, but this is a short story not a novel. Langley sets the stage for her "With or Without" werewolf series, which gets more depth in the next two novels.
Overall, I have enjoyed everything from this author, especially the werewolves. Check out the next two: Without Reservations and With Caution. Highly recommended.
Three great stories
All three of these stories are great. Although I am partial to J.L. Langley. Full of love, magic, and shapeshifters, I couldn't put this book down. In "Eros Rising" by Ally Blue, Scott is dragged to a strip club by his current boyfriend who craves abuse. Keegan catches Scotts eye when he strips on stage. After some bumpy starts, they finally find a way to heal and help each other on the road to recovery.
How about an Indian trickster God messing in the affairs of two lovers who lost their best friend. In "Cafe Noctem" That is exactly what you find. Jimmy died and left Gray to mourn on his own. Nicholas had been the best friend to them both. After Jimmy died, Nicholas and Gray became more than friends. But Nicholas wasn't sure if Gray really loved him, or if he still wanted Jimmy back. So he decides to find out.
In "With Love" by J.L. Langley two werewolves have to battle it out to protect each other and their love. Laine is the omega of his current back and is treated horribly. Devlin has just moved to town and is looking to join the current pack. Once he meets his mate Laine, it becomes clear that the only way to save Laine is to remove the current alpha and take over. But can he keep Laine safe from himself as well?
"With Love" by J.L. Langley 
I like a cheerful story, and this one is certainly cheerful. It has roughly equal elements of slapstick comedy and romance. I don't generally care for slapstick comedy, but many of the situations in the story really were fairly amusing. Although the reader should be allowed his/her own laugh, rather than have the author describing all the characters as cracking themselves up. That was a flaw in this story, but didn't detract too much from it for me.
I thought the "good guy" characters were quite vivid, especially Laine. Laine was described as being very delicate and girlish in some ways, but was still an appealing character. I do like androgynous-looking men, but am not particularly attracted to girlishness, personally. Fortunately, Laine didn't act quite as girlish as he looked. I haven't read "yaoi" stories, so perhaps the story seemed more fresh for me than for some reviewers.
The story did have a fair number of grammatical errors, but that's the fault of the proofreader, if there was one. And I suppose if I can believe that the characters are werewolves, I can believe that they can have a one-second refractory period after sex. I would guess that some mammals do recover more quickly than human males do. But Laine's extremely quick recovery period required a bit more suspension of disbelief for me than the werewolf aspect did.
There wasn't much interpersonal conflict between the main characters, but I liked that Devlin and Laine were both very happy to have found a mate, and that both had wanted a male mate. Dev realized he'd be spending a lot of time getting Laine out of trouble, but accepted that easily.
I thought the story was, overall, quite enjoyable. Cute, even. Although it had some flaws, it moved right along and had appealing characters. I ordered "Without Reservations", the next book in the series, after reading this one.
reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4
White knights don't always come in human form. Part of the Hearts from the Ashes collection All Devlin wants to do is find a good new home for his business and his pack. He's not looking for any complications, but he finds something he never expected-a mate. A mate with a whole lot of energy who attracts trouble like a magnet. Laine Campbell never means to get himself into hot water, but everything has a way of getting tangled up between his feet. He needs more than just a mate-he needs a savior. When Dev turns up at a pack get-together, Laine finds both. The two werewolves have an instant attraction, but the pack Alpha is determined to keep Laine for himself. Dev soon learns the only way to protect his mate is to fight, not just for the top spot-but for his life. Just one small problem. His accident-prone mate is determined to help him... Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language, violence, hot nekkid man-love.
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with love, love
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based on 16 reviews
