To Touch You(Mates #4) by Cardeno C.

To Touch You(Mates #4) by Cardeno C. 
SUMMARY 

“His name is Salvatore Rossi. He’s a vampire. And he’s my true mate.”

By not relying on anyone except himself, Salvatore Rossi escaped a dead-end existence and reached the height of corporate success. But just when he has everything he always wanted, fate throws Salvatore a challenge he can’t solve alone and a young wolf shifter comes to his rescue.

Since childhood, Yoram Smith’s family was certain he would grow to become Alpha and save their beloved pack from its slow demise. When the time comes for a new leader, Yoram is forced to juggle his duty to care for a splintering pack with his duty to care for an absent mate, and his own strength suffers.

Being turned into a vampire didn’t alter Salvatore’s life philosophy: if you don’t rely on anyone, nobody can let you down. But when the boy who saved his life becomes a man who needs his help, the icy vampire must find his humanity.

MY REVIEW 

Vampires, Alphas and Packs...
Mates 4 and I was so happy to discover that there is a fourth book in this sweet,sexy and relaxing PNR series.

What I got was a highly appealing and entertaining story, but somewhat disproportional.

My main issue is the pages that are describing the story of vampire Salvatore Rossi and Alpha werewolf Yoram Smith are less that the pages that describe the politics in the Pack and the events that took place in the previous book.
If you have read the previous book, you already know everything. It is boring since the whole point of the book is the love story which is left on the side. I wanted more!

Their actual love story starts in chapter 12, where there are 20 chapters in the whole book. Until chapter 12 there is minimum interaction between the two characters. They only meet once on the first chapter when Yoram was 7, once when he was a teenager and that’s it. I mean if you want to have a slow burn story, these two men should have been given a few more chapters together before the abrupt ending of the book.

Actually, it is hard to follow a story when you dislike one of the main characters (which I did strongly) until the 14th chapter and then suddenly you need to like him for the last six chapters because he starts treating his mate, Yoram with respect. And no groveling at all is taking place by Salvatore aka Sal. Yoram is far too nice to him.

Also besides the fact that he is dislikable for the majority of the book, I had another issue with Sal. He was supposed to be 37 when he turned and became a vampire, but he is behaving and talking like he is 90. Miguel Rodriguez is thousands of years old and he is more fun! My father was 75 when he died and he was more fun.

And this old-spinster/humorless behavior continues throughout the book. He was just 37 – NOT THAT OLD! Even after he became a vampire, he was plain boring. He was just parked at his house for years and years and years until his good Samaritan stops providing him with blood.

Anyhow, overall I had a nice time reading the story. Basically because of the secondary characters:

1. Toby, Yoram’s cousin is hilarious. I was laughing a lot with his jokes and with the way he is treating humorless Sal:

“Hello, Toby.”
“You recognize my voice? I’m honored.”
“I recognize your sarcasm.”
“Now I’m even more honored.”
“It isn’t a compliment.”
“Oh, now I’m the honoredest!”
“That’s not a word.”
“Did you understand what I meant?”
“Yes.”
“Then it was a word.”

2.The whole Smith family. We-love-you-until-you-have-no-breathing-space kind of family

“I’m not in danger, and Toby is a mother hen.”
“That seems to be a common thread running through your familial relations.”
“Is that a fancy way of saying my family is a pain in the butt?”

3. Zev and Jonah (Wake Me Up Inside): My favorite couple in this series.

Beside the covered window stood two other men, both broad and muscular. The dark-haired one was clearly a shifter, a very powerful Alpha shifter. The blond smelled human but with a trace of shifter woven in.

4. Miguel and Ethan (Until Forever Comes): Actually, I think I will upgrade my rating for their book from 3 to 4 stars. Miguel was a really badass in this book.

5. Even Samuel and Korban (In Your Eyes) are present: Not physically present, but everybody is talking about them and they are the ones that initiate the events that have made the Pack more open to relationships between men.

So, I would like to emphasize before I finish my review that overall I absolutely love this series and this world that the author has created.

I really hope that this is not the last book and I would like to read new stories and to have the chance to revisit the couples from the previous books.