Pack, despite a different setup, had a very similar feeling to me as Fantasticland - which I loved. Unfortunately, while I liked Pack, I didn't find the same spark that had me so in love with Bockoven's debut.

The main similarity has to be the supernatural setup quickly giving way to humanity being the true horror. This small town doesn't treat the pack any differently than their other neighbours - there's hints of a supernatural world outside of it, but this is the only place we know for certain is this open and accepting. But small towns, as they always do, are quick to turn on threats to their peace and stability, and it's that dynamic that really brings the conflict to the fore.

While I may not have had the same instant-love for this book that I had for Fantasticland, it's a good book from an author with an interesting point of view.

While the blurb brings Twilight immediately to mind this was a much wetter werewolf tale than that. There was no ridiculous true love at the age of 16 that would make you cringe and want to throw the book out the window. IT was descriptive and gritty. If one was to believe in werewolves one could believe the happenings in this novel as they were quite well written and well described. I liked the characters. They were relatable and credible. It gave a great descriptive account of wild America. I've never been to Nebraska or any out of the way towns or locations in the US and I'm dying to visit now. I enjoyed this read and I think many others will too.

DNF - I found this clumsily-written and badly-edited. The cover is great and the blurb was intriguing, so top marks for marketing!

I really struggled with reading this. I kept hoping I was just in the wrong frame of mind for this particular story, so I'd put it aside for a bit to try again later. Unfortunately, after several attempts, I just don't think I can review this fairly, so I won't be posting one anywhere else.

I really enjoyed Mike Bockoven's first book, Fantasticland, so of course I wanted to read Pack when it became available. I'm not sure how to categorize Pack - it's kind of a paranormal thriller I guess. A pack of werewolves in Smalltown, USA (Cherry, Nebraska in this case) find themselves fighting among themselves as well as against some shady characters following the murder of one of their pack. Entertaining and unique, but some of the relationships and conflicts were developed enough for me. Mike Bockoven knows how to write very funny scenes. If you're looking for something different, definitely check this one out. This book didn't make it on my favorites list, but I'll definitely remember it.

The group in Cherry lead a relatively quiet life – if you can ignore the fact that they are werewolves. They and their families have lived in the community for decades without any problems, until now. Somehow word has gotten out about their nature, and the powers-that-be are interested in them, scientifically.
This was a relatively good story. My one major complaint with this novel was the editing – it needed a complete proofreading. There were missing words, misspelled words, extra words – you name it. It really detracted from what could otherwise have been good novel.

3.5 stars

I normally don't read anything paranormal, but since Pack is not the steamy teen romance type of werewolf novel, (and the cover is amazing) I was willing to give it a shot. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

WHAT WORKED:
I very much enjoyed the relationships between the pack members. They felt fully developed, and I could believe that they were the kind to be together for life. Bockoven also exercised a good amount of restraint with this novel. While it was gory at times and perhaps a bit predictable, it wasn't overly campy. If you can get a reader like me to care about werewolves, you've probably won half the battle. And THE END OF THIS BOOK is prime time, Grade A, "Please don't talk to me because I am on the brink of insanity with this book" material. It had me considering a fourth star for sure.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
I imagine people who like The Walking Dead TV series would like Pack. There are dramatic scenes of suspense and violence, but there's also a t-t-t-tooonnnn of yammering in between. The dialogue certainly helped with character building, but there was so much of it and not enough narrative to balance it out.

This was a very rough ARC, so I don't want to judge too heavily on things that will likely be caught and fixed, HOWEVER! There were so many plot inconsistencies that I was distracted and, at times, confused. If this was more polished, it'd be a solid 4 stars. If y'all need a copy editor, let me know because I would definitely take a second job.

I will post a more formatted review to Goodreads.

Decent spin of the werewolf genre but there were too many characters and not many of them were memorable.

Pack by Mike Bockoven

Told in a folksy narrative with historical tidbits this werewolf genre novel takes place in a tiny central Nebraska town where werewolves coexist rather normally with humans. An incident occurs that puts the small pack on the radar or unethical researchers and then trouble descends not only on the pack but on the town. Getting to know the people, their backstories and the way they interact together was interesting and different from many books I have read that are werewolf based. There is no real romance but there is suspense and some horrific situations that ended with me wondering if this book is perhaps the first in a series that will revisit Cherry in the future and might see the pack leaving for some time to visit other places in the world. There is definitely a mystery that I would like to hear more about related to Josie and her son so do hope there will be at least another book with these characters in it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

Stories that take place in small towns always speak to me. I love them. I am drawn to them. I try and read as many as I can. And what makes this one in particular is that this is a shifter story that takes place in a small town.
I really liked the MC, Dave a lot and his son was terrific. I could have done without the wife's character. She was awful and for me, the story could have moved on without her. I get it that her "sordid secrets" were a part of the mystery, but...ugh. I couldn't stand her.
But, other than that...this was a perfect story. I loved it very very much.

This was an interesting story about a group of werewolves who have lived for several generations in a small town in Nebraska. After a couple of events, the group finds themselves being hunted and must protect themselves and their town. Character development was okay and it was nice to have some of the chapters broken up with the inclusion of town history. However, if you are reading this because you like werewolves, you are going to be disappointed. This story is more about family. Now while I enjoyed the story, there were several typos and timeline inconsistencies. Since I was reading a galley, I assume/hope they were caught and fixed. I tried to not let this detract from my enjoyment of the story.

If you are looking for big, manly hunks and the women who love them, this is not your book . This book is about a pack of werewolves who live in a small town with humans who know about them and a new sheriff who has not been read into everything, yet. This pack are family and it's only the males who are wolves, mostly. There is sadness, people mess up and nobody's life is perfect. When a company decides to trap and take a werewolf for experimentation, then they band together to save themselves and the town. I really liked this book because it is different from the other types of werewolf books. My husband wants to buy and read this book after I told him about it. It's for everyone. I hope there's a series. I received this book from Net Galley for an honest review and no compensation otherwise.

(I'm not posting this version of my review on Amazon or Goodreads, because this is mainly a note to the publishers....)

Ok, SkyHorse publishing, I LOVE your work! I love this book, I love the cover, I would totally buy this book for my library, buy it for myself, buy it for my friends, etc, etc, etc.

BUT.

This book really needs to be re-edited before final publishing. Guys, the grammar in this book is atrocious. There are SO MANY mistakes here, I stopped counting them. It's bad. Simple punctuation marks were incorrect, such as a question inside a sample of dialogue. The sentence"What should I do with a question mark?" is written correctly, with the question mark inside the quotation marks. The sentence "Why are you asking me," Mark shouted? is written incorrectly because the question mark is at the end of the sentence. Simple homophones were written incorrectly, such as "they were hear" instead of "they were HERE." Sometimes letters were flipped so the phrase was written as "they walked along in quite" instead of "they walked along in quiET."
The list of spelling, grammatical, and formatting errors goes on and on, and it was incredibly hard to focus on the actual novel because of the errors.

SkyHorse, I repeat myself: I loved this book. The author is pretty great because he really has a great understanding of small-town, country life. I felt like I was in Mayberry again in certain scenes. The characters exhibited good (while dysfunctional) family relations. I loved how, even though Willie betrayed the Pack, that they still went back to save him. "I want to help Grandpa!" I loved it!

Stu was my favorite character. Bless his soul, he had no clue what was coming for him.

I can't wait to get this book for my library, because I want to see that cover on the cover of a shiny, slick hardback book. It just needs an grammar Nazi to comb through these pages before final publishing.

This book was all about our main character Dave. He and his friends are like any other teens in
a small town. They do all kinds of things normal teenagers do, however unlike other teenagers they also turn
into wolves once or twice a month. Things are pretty simple and the changing is just a part of life until
one member of the group goes awole, and threatens to destroy everything about their way of life. I liked this
book because I love werewolf lore and I like seeing the different takes that authors have on the subject. I
also liked this book for another reason however and that was the fact that even though it had werewolves in
the story it was more of a mystery read with fantasy elements, and that isn't something that I see done often.
The only thing I would have changed about this book is I would have given the werewolves more depth I felt like the fact the were werewolves was kind of a secondary thought. While I enjoyed the first bit half way through the story just lost my interest not really sure why, but I found the last half a struggle to read.

I'm a big fan of supernatural stories, but I didn't enjoy this story as much as I thought I would. Family/ family struggles, small town living, lots of violence and werewolves are all factors that make this read what it is. There moments that I liked throughout the book and others that I found to be meh.

In the middle of Nebraska there's a tiny town called Cherry about 45 minutes from the nearest Walmart. Cherry has a bar, a service station, and a couple of churches. It also has a pack of werewolves.

Dave Rhodes and his werewolf friends don't worry about the full moon. They learned from their fathers and their fathers before them to get together once in a while, inquire about each other's "wolf levels," and, when the levels are high enough, to head out into the woods where they turn into wolves and run all night, hunting down rabbits and deer. In this way, for hundreds of years, the Cherry Pack has kept their secret close and their urges in check. They're contributing members of the community, teachers, mechanics, gardeners. Good neighbors.

But it only takes one lapse of judgement to bring the whole pack down. When one member kills a woman and the pack takes justice into its own hands, two violent deaths bring three strangers into town; a representative from a world-wide organization of werewolves; a corporate maniac looking to capture a werewolf for scientific research; and a new sheriff, hoping for a reprieve from big city policing.

Now Dave and the pack have to decide whether to make a run for it, leaving their neighbors at the mercy of a murderous corporation, or to stay and fight, protecting their way of life and the town they love.

Pack is a fun new take on the werewolf genre, ignoring traditional horror conventions to tell a story of  family dramas and small town loyalty.

Mike Bockoven’s newest offering “Pack” takes the not-so-normal and turns it into something that helps us accept the paranormal as everyday life. The book describes a small town that not only has accepted the idea of werewolves but treats the pack as an integral part of the community. When one of the pack steps outside of the boundaries governing their behavior, the decisions made bring outside attention and threaten everyone in the town.

“Pack” continues with some of the reporting aspects that made his previous novel “Fantasticland” an incredibly realistic read. The story is told through the eyes of multiple characters and embellished through his “Selective History of Barter County” chapters. These historical entries reveal bits and pieces of the past, events which were important and shaped the town as it is today.

This is not your typical story of werewolves. It is not a tale of young love nor a bloody trail of horror. Except for their ability to change into wolves, members of the pack are no different than other residents. The author humanizes what is normally presented as scary and spins our way of thinking in the opposite direction. It is easy to empathize with the characters in their struggle to preserve a way of life that has been crafted by their ancestors for almost 200 years.

Bottom line – this is a creative story that assumes the paranormal is real. While most writers work toward this goal, Mike Bockoven’s “Pack” seems to effortlessly achieve this level of realism. Highly recommended. Five stars.

I feel that I am being generous giving this book three stars. I found the storyline to be rather flat. The characters were not well developed. But more importantly, the book was poorly written. In addition, I hate books that do not let you know ahead of time that it is going to be part of a series. Getting to the end of the book with 'to be continued' was disappointing.

Cherry, Nebraska is a small town - a really small town. There are approximately 312 people who reside in Cherry. It's the type of town where you either know everyone or you are related to them. You know everyone's business. It's the type of town used to keeping secrets. They know that there are things that go bump in the night - or in this case, howl in the night. Dave Rhodes and his friends contribute to their community. They own businesses, are teachers, mow lawns, help their neighbors and every so often - turn into wolves.

Everything seems fine on the surface but then one of their own, makes plans to betray them which turns the tide and their lives upside down. When two bodies are found, the current police chief decides he has had enough. He declares that it's time to retire and go on vacation and leaves town. The newly hired police chief has no idea what he is walking into. He thought leaving the mean streets of Detroit behind and coming to the country would make his life easier - a small town equals less stress, right? Wrong.

The dead bodies are only the beginning. Soon family secrets and relationship issues are brought to light. Two mysterious men show up in town. One wearing a bow tie with an agenda of capturing a live werewolf, and one who informs them that he has more in common with them than they think.

Pack has a little bit of everything - coming of age, a story of survival, good vs. evil, infidelity, betrayal, a feeling of community, bonding, family, and one heck of a bloodbath. I found this book to be well written and entertaining. Throughout the book, there are sections which detail the town of Cherry's history. It appears that werewolves have lived in this town for a long time. The pacing is great, and the book never felt slow or drawn out. I enjoyed the characters (even the not so like-able characters) and found this book to be pure enjoyment.

Fans of paranormal fiction or werewolf genre should really enjoy this character driven book. There are some bloody scenes but there are also funny and touching moments as well.


Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am not a big fan of werewolf or vampire fiction, but something about PACK caught my eye and I am so glad I did. PACK was a great read. PACK is about an intergenerational clan of werewolves that live in harmony with the townspeople in the small town of Cherry, Nebraska. Harmony is disrupted when they have to kill one of their own, drawing the attention of unexpected outsiders. While the storyline is fresh and original, the real beauty is in the characters. The story focused on Dave Rhodes, his wife, Josie, and his son who is about to undergo the change for the first time. The characters are real and complicated and would be interesting even without their paranormal qualities. The book is clearly the first in a series and I look forward to the next one.