About Face by Amy Lee Burgess
Book #5 Wolf Within Series
Genre: Paranormal Romance/Mystery
Publication Date: April 1, 2013
About Face (Book #5 of The Wolf Within Series)
Stanzie’s job as Advisor to the Great Council is discovering other people’s secrets. When those secrets are being kept by the ones she loves most, can she find the courage to expose them?
Under orders from a Councilor, Stanzie journeys to Dublin and the MacTire pack. Her mission: warn her estranged bond mate, Liam Murphy, to abandon his overzealous search for the man responsible for the death of his first bond mate. Not only is he endangering himself, but also disrupting the delicate balance between opposing factions in the conspiracy threatening to tear the Great Pack apart.
Liam needs Stanzie’s help to protect their Alpha, who has entangled himself in the conspiracy’s deadly web. But he also desperately wants her back. In a race against time, Stanzie and Liam discover enemies often wear the faces of friends.
CONTENT WARNING: Vulgar language, sexual situations, some violence
A Lyrical Press Paranormal Romance
My Review:
About Face by Amy Lee Burgess
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
About Face (Wolf Within Series) is part of a series written by Amy Lee Burgess, I was given the opportunity to read her books during a book tour and I was hooked. Amy Lee Burgess brings us reader’s a series that is extremely well written, exciting and I have to say the best series I've read this year. I am hooked on this series. It’s one of those series I would go back and reread. Amy Lee Burgess writing is phenomenal, she hooks you in with the characters, and story lines are exciting, and Stanzie is a character you will love and only want the best for her. I can’t say enough about this series and Amy’s writing. Already, I can’t wait for the next book in this series just so I can find out how Stanzie and Murphey are doing. It’s like checking in with old friends.
In About Face Stanzie is heading over to Ireland to find Murphy, they are bond mates and I think he feels Stanzie doesn’t really love him. There is a lot of back story here and I would suggest for anyone reading this review to go purchase the other books to get caught up, I promise you will not be disappointed at all.
About Face is the fifth book in the series and the story only gets better. This series has suspense, drama, romance, secrets and a whole bunch of secondary characters that you enjoy reading about. Did I say I loved this series?
Stanzie is a strong willed woman and for some reason she always get in the thick of things, she is honest, strong and only wants the best for people. Her one wish is to be with her bond mate and be loved. She is a fighter and has to deal with many losses and heartbreak and still fights for what she believes in.
I have rated About Face 5 stars; I actually rate the whole series 5 stars. Amy brings a whole different feeling to the adult werewolves/paranormal genre. I promise you will not be disappointed in the series.
So go purchase: Beneath The Skin, Inside Out, Scratch the Surface, Hidden In Plain Sight and About Face. Like I said it is truly one of the best series I've read in awhile, and Amy Lee Burgess is an excellent author, her books well written and editing is done extremely well.
Guest Post - About Face Cast of Characters
About Face is the fifth novel in the Wolf Within series. The first novel, Beneath the Skin, introduces the conspiracy. Some members of the Great Pack go to great lengths to stop the younger members from attaining higher education and lucrative jobs because it means they will need to get closer to Others (non-shifters) than has been traditionally acceptable.
The Great Pack is relatively small in number and their existence has been carefully and cleverly reduced to werewolf legend so the Others won’t know they exist. Once, a long time ago, Others were aware of the Great Pack and went to great lengths to destroy them. Because there is no way to know for certain who is Pack unless they are shifted, Others went on a crusade to destroy all wolves. This is why modern day Others still despise and distrust the wolf even though wolves are not generally hostile to man.
About Face gives depth to the conspiracy and what Stanzie discovers when she goes to Dublin threatens to destroy everything she thinks she knows about her friends and about the conspiracy itself. Has she been fighting on the wrong side all this time? Should she trust the people she has forged bonds and alliances with? These are just some of the questions she needs to ask herself and answer.
Here is a cast of characters to introduce the main players in About Face and give you a taste of Stanzie’s dilemma.
Stanzie Newcastle – age 32, Hair blond Eyes blue. Stanzie is an optimist, someone who frequently speaks before she thinks, but she’s uncharacteristically tongue-tied around her bond mate, Liam Murphy, to the point she watched him walk out the door in the novel before About Face. Struggling with her pride, she journeys to Dublin on the orders of Councilor Jason Allerton. Her agenda is simple: Figure out what is really going in the Mac Tire pack by convincing Murphy to stop endangering himself with the conspiracy. Also, figure out what her cousin Faith’s dream meant and what Paddy, the Alpha of Mac Tire, has to do with this scenario. As if this wasn’t enough, she’s also determined to win Murphy back – if he’ll have her.
Liam Murphy – age 33. Hair blondish brown. Eyes brown. Murphy is a problem solver. Other people’s problems, that is. He refuses to acknowledge he has any of his own. Why did he leave Stanzie four months ago? Sure, Stanzie was angry at him because he didn’t stay with her during her tribunal. Instead, he worked tirelessly at the Pack archives trying to save her life by finding a legal precedent. Was he really not willing to work with her through this? Why didn’t Paddy, the Alpha of Mac Tire, stop him from leaving her behind? What is going on in Mac Tire? Has four months apart from Stanzie changed his mind or is he determined to break the bond with her?
Faith Newcastle – age 27. Hair blond. Eyes Brown. Faith sometimes dreams the future and when she dreams of her cousin Stanzie clutching the hands of an Irish man and telling him that she believes in him and belongs to him, she thinks she is dreaming of Stanzie’s bond mate. When she relates the dream, Stanzie knows right away it’s not Murphy, but Paddy. Faith is convinced Stanzie needs to go to Dublin to work things out with Murphy, even when she is told she didn’t dream of Murphy. Her dream is the real catalyst for Stanzie’s decision to go to Dublin.
Councilor Jason Allerton – age 58. Hair black. Eyes blue. Many Councilors see only the Great Pack, but Jason sees the people that make it up. He champions the underdog. No one expected him to choose a woman like Stanzie for his Advisor. With her troubled past and small pack existence, other Councilors doubted she possessed the skills necessary to make an effective Advisor, but Jason’s patience has paid off. However, he’s kept secrets from Stanzie and when Stanzie uncovers them, her faith in him is shaken. Can he break through to her and convince her he is on the right side, or will she realize he’s not who she thinks he is and turn against him?
Paddy O’Reilly – age 35. Hair black. Eyes one blue, one brown. Alpha male of Mac Tire, he erupted into Stanzie’s life at her tribunal and won her trust only to turn his back on her and walk out with Murphy. What is he trying to keep secret from his pack? Will Stanzie help him or expose him? Will she ever trust him again?
Fiona Carmichael – age 33. Hair blond. Eyes hazel. Alpha female of Mac Tire, she’s bonded to Paddy and twin sister to Murphy. She and Stanzie become instant friends when Stanzie arrives in Dublin. Eight months pregnant, everyone wants to shield her and her unborn baby from the dangerous undercurrents in Mac Tire. But Fee’s a fighter. Does she need the protection or can she help?
Siobhan Carmichael – Age 56. Hair blond. Eyes hazel. Mother to Murphy and Fiona, Siobhan is more than frosty to Stanzie, she’s downright rude. Is this a mother’s reaction to a woman she does not feel is good enough for her son or is it something deeper?
Glenn Murphy – Age 57. Hair brown. Eyes brown. Father to Murphy and Fiona, bond mate to Siobhan, he serves as Mac Tire’s Regional Councilor. He doesn’t let on at first, but he must be aware of the conspiracy. How involved is he and which side is he really on?
Etain Feehery – Age 55. Hair chestnut. Eyes brown. A five-year veteran on the Great Council, Etain knows all about the conspiracy. How far would she go to protect her family? At least one of them has ties to murder. Has her past with Jason Allerton left her bitter enough to plot revenge or is she secretly aligned with him despite their past differences?
Ryan Kelly – Age 24. Hair brown. Eyes brown. Ryan aspires to serve the Councils. Advisor to Glenn, son to Etain, both serve as role models. Would his loyalty and his ambition influence him to do something evil? How far would he go to protect his idols? Stanzie takes him under her wing, but could she have been cleverly manipulated to do so?
Alannah Doyle – Age 37. Hair red. Eyes green. Paddy’s half sister, she’s fiercely protective of him. Nothing’s too good for her little brother, the Alpha. She wants to be the next Alpha female and knows Stanzie will be her main competition. Will she become one of Stanzie’s new friends in Mac Tire or enemies?
Declan Byrne – Age 40. Hair black. Eyes blue. Alannah’s bond mate and Mac Tire’s musical bard, at first he seems genuinely taken by Stanzie, but when it becomes clear she’s not interested in forming a triad with him and Alannah to help them achieve Alpha status, his attitude turns condescending. Stanzie tries to like him, but wonders if “asshole” is his default setting.
Colm O’Reilly – Age 37. Hair red. Eyes brown. Alannah’s twin and Paddy’s half brother, he’s also fiercely protective of his little brother, the Alpha. He and Stanzie don’t hit it off at first, but his protective nature soon extends to her even though she’s convinced she doesn’t need his help. Colm wants to be the next Alpha too, but a secret he carries may spell the end of his ambitions. What lengths will he go to so he can protect the ones he loves?
Grandfather Mick Shaughnessy - Age 143. Hair grey. Eyes blue. Grandfather Mick once needed a job and Murphy, as Alpha of Mac Tire, found him one as a janitor at a small lab where his bond mate, Sorcha, worked late at night. Murphy thought he was being both kind and protective. Mick wanted to be helpful and Sorcha, who was four months pregnant and unwilling to slow down, might feel comforted by the presence of someone Pack nearby. What Murphy didn’t know was that Grandfather Mick was a member of the conspiracy and instead of protecting Sorcha, Mick arranged her death by accidental fall. When Grandfather Mick’s complicity in Sorcha’s death was exposed, he disappeared. Murphy vowed he would find him one day and make him pay for killing his beloved Sorcha. Mick has resurfaced in Dublin and has the unlikeliest of benefactors protecting him. But Mick’s evil actions are far from over as he’ll soon prove.
About Amy Lee Burgess
Amy Lee Burgess is a transplanted New Englander living in Houston, Texas with two dogs and lots of DVDs. In an attempt to bond with the city after being forced out of New Orleans post-Katrina, she turned to her writing. Determined to finally finish that novel she'd been hacking away at since high school, Amy managed to come up with a wolf shifter character named Stanzie Newcastle. She and Stanzie have been BFFs ever since.
In addition to Stanzie, Amy has also forged a relationship with several vampires, a witch or two, and other assorted supernatural creatures she hopes will entertain her readers. But she will always have room for coffee and butterscotch squares with Stanzie.
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