Review: The Onion Came First by Elinor Wilder

The Onion Came First (Claw Ridge Wildland Shifter Firefighters #1)
by Elinor Wilder

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
A former SEAL and legendary alpha—exiled and broken.
A Wall Street math genius—dyslexic and burnt out.
When their worlds collide, their bond will challenge everything the shifter world believes about alphas, mates, and power itself.

She’s a financial analyst from Wall Street. Brilliant, scattered, and burnt out—but not extinguished.
He’s a former special operations soldier with alpha wolf in his blood—and a high-maintenance macaw. Exiled from his pack. Unable to bond.
Now they live on the same remote mountain—one drawn by desperation, the other by instinct.
She doesn’t expect a neighbor. He doesn’t expect a bond.
But when she shows up on his door with a basket of onions, a luminous smile, and a rambling theory about the five essential foods everyone needs daily, her whirlwind presence, unexpected courage and deep kindness begin to unravel both the man and the wolf. When she encounters a mysterious wolf in the wilderness, she must face the truth: the pull she feels is more than her imagination.
And the man across the meadow is not what he seems.

My Review

I received a copy from the author through Booksirens and NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

I really enjoyed Not a Free Ion, the prequel to this series and was excited to read this first book. The Onion Came First grabbed my attention from the start and kept me reading. This is a wonderful shifter romance featuring two neurodivergent main characters with a lovely found family theme and nature rich setting in an isolated mountain town.

The Onion Came First follows the story of Annelie and Reed. I enjoyed reading about both of these characters, they felt real and realistic and I liked reading about them. Annelie is burned out in her Wall Street job and decides to move to the mountains and starts living in a small town, she takes to it really well and starts feeling at home quickly. Reed is the only other person who lives on the mountain above town like her and the two slowly grow closer. There’s also a huge wolf who Annelie befriends without realizing that the wolf is Reed in wolf form.

I really liked this story. Both characters were wonderful to read about and I liked seeing their romance slowly grow. I liked seeing them connect and get to know each other. They had some clear chemistry and mutual attraction from the start as well. I thought it was interesting how Annelie gets to know Reed and his wolf separately and doesn’t realize they’re the same until later in the book. I liked these two together. There’s a bit of steam later on. I liked how this one is low in drama and conflict, there’s a bit of trouble later on, but I felt this was very realistic and made sense and I liked how it got resolved.

I think both characters are neurodivergent. Annelie is dyslexic and I thought it was well written how this makes her brain work differently. There are some things she struggles with and I liked seeing how accepting Reed was and loved her for who she is. While Reed has it’s own struggles with keen senses and difficulties communicating. It never gets specified what type of neurodivergence he has, but I thought he was well written and some of his struggles felt relatable.

One of my favorite parts of this book is the wodnerful found family theme. Annelie really starts feeling at home in Claw Ridge and I liked seeing her grow closer to Reed, Wade, Connor, Emma, Tauri, Isaiah and Amber. All the side characters have a lot of personality too, they are all so likable and I hope they each get their own romance. And it’s just wonderful to see these character who are so un-apologetically themselves and who grow close and are there for each other.

I liked the world building in this one and learning more about the werewolves. The prequel was quite low on the details and I liked how this book expanded on the topic and the world. I liked how this series seems part of some change going on in the werewolf community and I am excited to see how that plays out in future books. There are some questions still remaining, but I think this will all develop more in future books.

The ending of this one did feel a bit rushed to me and the story ended quite suddenly. I would’ve liked an epilogue and seeing a bit of their future. I also had some questions left, but I think the next books in the series will continue some plot lines and I hope we see more of Reed and Annelie in those books too.

To summarize: This was such a great shifter romance with two neurodivergent main characters. i really liked reading about both Annelie and Reed, they feel like such real and interesting characters. I liked seeing them slowly grow closer and fall in love. I thought it was interesting how Annelie gets to know Reed and his wolf separately and only later finds out they’re the same person. I liked how the author wrote their neurodivergence and thought they both felt relatable. This book also has a wodnerful found family theme with some great side characters and how they all grow close and form a tight group of friends. I thought the world building was interesting and I liked learning more about the shifters and the hints of some change that’s happening. The ending did feel a bit rushed, I would’ve liked a bit more and maybe an epilogue. I also had some questions left over, but I think the next book will show more of Reed and Annelie as a couple and continue some of the overarching plot lines. I can’t wait for the next book!

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.