When I ran out on Max sixteen years ago, I never expected to be captured by my wolf pack.
Or pregnant with Max’s daughter.

When Max and I got into an argument all those years ago over deciding the best way to raise our little boy, I needed to blow off steam and take a walk.

Little did I know my father would have me captured, demoted to the lowest member of our pack, and living a life of servitude.  As Alpha of the Greystones, he never accepted me being mated to a Glenwood, knowing a witch bloodline runs through their veins.

So when I discover I’m pregnant, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my baby girl safe. But when her magical abilities emerge sixteen years later, I beg her to keep them locked away for her safety— until they prove to be our key to freedom.

Max is in for the shock of his life.  He’d been told I was killed long ago, but here I am on his doorstep at forty, with the teenage daughter he never knew he had.

Titles in the Shifter Nation: Marked Over Forty series include — Forbidden Midlife Mate —♥— Wolf’s Midlife Bite —♥— Wolf’s Midlife Secret Child —♥— Rejected Midlife Wolf —♥— Wolf’s Midlife Nanny —♥—

*This series is part of the Shifter Nation Universe and begins right after the Fated Over Forty series*

Be sure to visit the Meg Ripley page for more of her titles that have been reviewed here, and a link to her official website.

This is an adult 18+ story that contains language, possible violence, and/or sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Kindle Unlimited

Title:  Wolf’s Midlife Secret Child
Series:  Marked Over Forty #3
Author:  Meg Ripley
Published:  April 19, 2023
My Rating:  4.5

Wolf’s Midlife Secret Child is the third story in the Marked Over Forty series, which is part of the Shifter Nation Universe series.  In my opinion, Max and Sarah’s story is the most emotional, and deeply intense beyond the danger factors of this series (so far).  It shows a very realistic aspect of the separation for years by outside forces trope, which is that the two people who were once a couple, so in love, with their entire future ahead of them have, in fact, been ripped apart for more years than they were together.  Each has changed somewhat, each faced challenges that the other may not really grasp the reality of what it was like for their loved one when their lives were destroyed.  And even though they are finally reunited… the differences of opinion, the things that they argued about in their past, still exist and need to be faced.

At the beginning of their story, my empathy was completely on Sarah’s side of their time apart.  After all, she’d been betrayed by a father who should have loved her unconditionally.  Instead, this bullying tyrant of an alpha, who ruled through fear alone, made the choice to imprison his daughter and granddaughter, allowing her mate to believe she was dead… and then punished them daily for their very existence.  When they are reunited, the joy of the moment overtakes all the differences this couple had before Sarah’s capture that were still unfinished, unaddressed issues between them.  And at that point, I realized that I no longer stood behind Sarah’s attitude or her actions – for they were tainted by her father’s opinions (whether she saw this fact or not).

Max believed his wife, his fated mate, had been killed nearly sixteen years ago.  He had raised their son, with the help of his parents and pack, basically on his own.  Never moved forward in any other relationship, still feeling that something was off, but neither he nor his wolf could ever discover what that might be.  Now he’s discovered he has a daughter, Ava, who he never knew existed but is filled with his mother’s additional magical abilities.  His initial joy is felt so clearly… until those seeds of doubt begin to filter in through Sarah’s actions, through the words that she cannot hold back, through their old arguments that time has not changed.  There was a sense of awe that the woman he loved was with him again, warring with not really liking the woman she is now or who she is trying to change their daughter into based on her fears and her conditioning by her father.  They might have been reunited… but they certainly were not a happy couple filled with joy.

Of course, there were other aspects of Wolf’s Midlife Secret Child that I absolutely loved.  Seeing Sarah’s mother finally (and too little too late, in my opinion) take some decisive action against her mate’s outrageous behavior was one highlight.  And, eventually, Max and Sarah will find their happily ever after ending after finally facing those issues and seeing a different perspective, making some attitude adjustments that were badly needed.

Quite frankly, I loved Max and Sarah, Hunter and Ava, and this entire pack’s story – for that is what this story is all about… family in the many varied forms it comes in.  A well-written, emotionally gripping, at times funny Shifter Romance that teaches a few lessons about differing opinions between the ones we love the most.  At times sad, yet triumphant in the end.  Yes, this is definitely my favorite story in the Marked Over Forty series.

I read this title through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Available for the Kindle as this title is currently in KU