Behind the Pages

3.5 STARS

First off, I did enjoy the book and am going to read the second and third because I always finish a series.
If I looked at the blurb of this book in general in order to decide if to read it or not I probably wouldn't have, however, it was on the group-reads list for Fantasy and YA Addicted Book Club so I decided to read it. If you're wondering why I didn't exactly want to read it from looking at the blurb is because of the simple fact that I HATE LOVE TRIANGLES.

Alright I shall give a little insight as to why I hate love triangles (Yes, hate is a very strong word and I don't use it unless I mean it):
1. It makes the female/male lead (female in this case) seem selfish because she inevitably leads the other two characters hanging on to her every whim when she knows who she is going to be with (Ren) but then leads the other (Shay) on because, what, she can't help herself or she's asserting that she's still the leader of the pack and wants to show herself that she's still a leader and orders come from her?
2. Calla knows that she's going to be with Ren but she still goes for Shay, yes it's a different experience to her to feel such things with Shay, but she hasn't exactly had any experience in the matter, point a. Shay was her first kiss, of course she's going to feel something different to him that with Ren because she's believed her whole life that she's made for Ren and no one else. Ultimately it's her fault because she asked Shay to kiss her.
3. I'm speaking in general terms her but this seems quite logical when considering love triangles:
"If you love two people at the same time choose the second one because if you really loved the first one you wouldn't have fallen for the second." ~Johnny Depp, but in this case she can't make that decision but is still being led astray and is thinking outside to the Keepers, so STICK TO ONE.

For purposes sake I am Team Shay. Reasons against Ren are:
1. Is the biggest flirt then gets jealous of Calla talking to another guy, but then when she gets upset at him for letting Sabine all over him he doesn't seem to find the problem.
2. He thinks of Calla a some sort of prize that he gets because he's alpha (I know that this is how their rules work but still)
3. Yes he seems better than his father but one day they will be the same wether he denies it or not
4. Doesn't he see that he's too aggressive towards her (if that's the right word for this) because he knows that she wants to keep her virtue but then he (in some ways) "jumps" her (but yes she doesn't do much to stop it, she wouldn't be able to stop him either way)
5. He doesn't take her opinion into consideration, it is her pack as well and not just his, she has grown up to take care of her pack when he won't even consult her on the decisions being made and it makes her feel useless and that everything that she has been taught is a waste of time when someone else is going to take over her place. Ren could of at least given her role some support and acknowledgement instead of leaving her in the dark

As a character I like Calla but her whole, "Oh I love Shay, but Oh Ren is my mate!" ordeal is annoying and makes me want to shake her until she comes to her senses and figures out what she wants. In the end I hate how she tells Shay that she loves him but then she tells Ren that she'll come back for him and the pack, yes I know that they're family and I hoped that she only said that she'll come back for Ren because she wanted to help Shay and herself, but the way she is from the rest of the book makes me realise that she will eventually go back to Ren if Shay ends of going somewhere for a while she will turn back to Ren which makes me annoyed because it makes me think that she's a character who needs a guy in her life always and cannot do anything for herself when she does act like a leader/alpha and knows she can defend herself but in this way she cannot.

I will not get carried away by complaining about the love triangle, because my point is probably already made.