ARC Review: Step Alpha by Renee Rose

1st Lesson of Wolf Ridge High: Dominate or submit.
It’s a wolf-eat-wolf school, and those on the top–like my stepbrother–rule all.
Those of us on the bottom? We try to fly under the radar.

But now that my name is attached to Wilde’s,
now that we’re “family,”
there’s no more hiding.

And the cocky baller is out to punish me
for the crime of dragging down his reputation.

He discovered my secret
and uses it against me.

I would rather die than have anyone find out.
So I give into his demands.

My bed.
My body.
My submission.

And the worst part? I don’t want it to stop.

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I was hooked on the serial version of this story from the start but I’m not a huge fan of that format, so I was happy to hear the story is being released as a book. Rayne was born and raised in a shifter town, but she’s never shown any signs of being able to shift, so she’s considered a defective. She’s also very small so her awful peers have taken to calling her Rayne the Runt. She’s counting the days until she can be free of this place and working hard to save money for college. Things weren’t great but she was living her life until her mom gets married. Now Rayne is forced to move in with Logan, her new stepdad, who isn’t the worst but his son, Wilde, sure is. Luckily Wilde is across the country at college since the house isn’t that big and Rayne will be using his room.

But things aren’t going well at school for Wilde at all, so he returns home unexpectedly and in disgrace, only to remember that Rayne the Runt is now his stepsister. They’re both unhappy with their new family but there’s nothing they can do about it. Wilde has to drive Rayne to school as part of his punishment, so they’re forced to spend time together but the more he gets to know her, the more he likes her. Things aren’t easy for Rayne, at home or at school, so she’s perfected the ability to fade into the environment and never draw attention. She’s proud of this skill but it’s no longer working since Wilde simply won’t leave her alone.

Their story is so much fun to read, I loved it. It was fun to watch Wilde falling for her without even realizing it and seeing Rayne learn to stand up for herself. This is a quick and fun read, one I couldn’t put down and I loved every minute of it. I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.