Book Review: Kitty Goes To Washington by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #2)

Celebrity werewolf and late-night radio host Kitty Norville prefers to be heard and not seen. So when she's invited to testify at a Senate hearing on behalf of supernaturals, and her face gets plastered on national TV, she inherits a new set of friends, and enemies, including the vampire mistress of the city; an über-hot Brazilian were-jaguar; and a Bible-thumping senator who wants to expose Kitty as a monster. Kitty quickly learns that in this city of dirty politicians and backstabbing pundits, everyone's itching for a fight.

My Review: 
After being expelled from the city by her Pack, Kitty takes her popular radio show on the road to difference cities over six weeks-until her lawyer Ben calls to tell her that she has been called to appear at a Senate Hearing into the supernatural. As a werewolf Kitty will be the star attraction. She and Ben don't trust the man leading the hearings as he has shown his contempt to Kitty when appearing on her show but she is interested in hearing what scientist Paul Flemming has to say about his research on paranormal creatures. Kitty tries to find out more about Flemming's work while dealing with the local Master Vampire and the shifter population who are very different from her previous Pack.

I enjoyed the start of the book where Kitty is doing her radio show and has managed to get Dr Flemming on as a guest. He reluctantly answers her questions but she knows he is hiding things from her, especially when he leaves without taking any questions from the public. She is determined to use her time in the city to find out more about his work and discover the reasons behind the Senate hearings. Kitty is very surprised when religious fanatic Elijah Smith is also called to give evidence and she notices that something about him tries to reach out and control her wolf, which alarms her. She teams up with Ben and paranormal reporter Roger to find out where Elijah is, what his power is and where the missing vampires and werewolves are.

On her arrival in the city, Kitty is stopped by the police on the orders of Master Vampire Alette, who offers her hospitality and protection while she is in DC. Kitty doesn't fully trust her or sidekick Leo but has little choice but to stay with the vampires after being told that the local shifters are dangerous. After a chance meeting with Luis the were-jaguar, Kitty sees that the Pack has no leader but operates as a community with a local club as their safe retreat. She is intrigued by their set up compared to her own Pack and is fascinated by Luis and his life. I did find the club and its residents interesting but I didn't really feel the chemistry that we are told they had. However the romance is background in the story and doesn't take away from the main plot. 

I liked Alette and her almost mother-daughter vibe with Kitty, an interesting dynamic for a vampire and werewolf. I also found the DC version of the Pack to be interesting. I very much enjoyed her new friendship with Ben and Alette, both characters I hope we see more of in the series. I really liked the Elijah storyline and finding out who and what he is and the secret of the camp and the followers there. This was one of my favourite parts to the book. Kitty of course manages to land herself in a bit of trouble just after this, leading to a really good ending for the book. The final third really does pick up speed as it goes along.

My one complaint was that the Senate hearings weren't very interesting. Kitty spends each day there, listening to scientific and moral evidence around vampires and werewolves but it didn't really add much of interest to the overall story-in fact these parts were a bit slow. Kitty's adventures outside the Senate were a lot more interesting. I liked the book but I just feel there is something lacking in the books to make them higher starred reads but I can't put my finger on what it is. I like Kitty, her friends, the radio show and her adventures though and I am going to keep reading the series, at least for now.

Read January 2018.
3.5 stars.