After getting caught turning wolf on national television, Kitty retreats to a mountain cabin to recover and write her memoirs. But this is Kitty, so trouble is never far behind, and instead of Walden Pond, she gets Evil Dead. When werewolf hunter Cormac shows up with an injured Ben O'Farrell, Kitty's lawyer, slung over his shoulder, and a wolf-like creature with glowing red eyes starts sniffing around the cabin, Kitty wonders if any of them will get out of these woods alive...
My Review:
Out of the series so far (and I've read seven as of February 2018), this is my least favourite, which was surprising when I liked the sound of the plot so much.
Kitty has decided to take a complete break from the world by pretending to take time off to write a book about her life. Renting a cabin in the wilds does not get her creativity flowing and the book remains unwritten, especially when someone leaves a rabbit corpse and bloody cross at her door. Things get a lot worse when Cormac suddenly appears, carrying a bloodied Ben who has been attacked by a strange kind of werewolf and only Kitty is going to be able to help. But the unknown enemy is still trying to scare Kitty away and something worse is tracking Ben and Cormac right to her door.
Kitty is feeling a bit sorry for herself as she retreats from the radio show and public life, on the pretext of writing her book. Struggling for inspiration, she is on her own with limited contact from Ben and townspeople who are wary of her werewolf status. It's no real surprise then when animal corpses and other strange things are being left on the doorstep of the cabin, and the Sheriff isn't exactly rushing to find out who did it. It is obvious that somebody wants Kitty to leave but when Cormac arrives with Ben, that is no longer an option. Kitty in this book is moping and back to being a bit like the wolf we met in the first book. She is struggling to come to terms with the forced change on live TV and the extra attention she will receive.
She is forced out of her depression when she realises that Ben has been bitten by a werewolf and is going to turn. A guilt ridden Cormac froze during the encounter and his life was saved by Ben but a second werewolf attacked the lawyer. Ben wants to die rather than turn and Cormac cannot bring himself to do it so Kitty has to find a way to convince Ben that his life has changed but not ended. With the full moon upon them, Ben starts to see how different his life will be and feels less suicidal but his growing closeness to Kitty is affecting their relationship with the hunter.
This book was more about the changing relationships in Kitty's life as her wolf gets close to Ben's wolf and they begin seeing each other as potential partners and not friends. Cormac and Kitty have always had their own attraction but his aversion to werewolves has forced him not to act on it and now the hunter is watching Kitty and his cousin get closer than he would like. Kitty is feeling guilty but cannot stop the wolf mating that is happening and she has to devote her energies into helping Ben adapt to his new life. It's no surprise that Cormac can't bear to be around them for long.
The side plot of the macabre things being left at Kitty's place is quite slow, with the police coming out each time, photographing things and going away again.It just sort of drifted on slowly with nothing much of interest happening until Kitty uncovers who it is from town who is targeting her and working out how to stop them. It begins to tie into the werewolf that attacked Ben coming to the town to add more mayhem to things. The final battle was certainly interesting but I admit that overall I found this book a lot slower than the first two and though it was a decent read it was certainly not to the standard of the previous two. For me it felt like a filler designed to sort out Kitty's love life. I also was not pleased with the end of Cormac's involvement in this book, as a lot of other fans were.
Overall it was decent enough but I was looking forward to the series getting back on track with the next book where Kitty returns to Denver to face her old Pack.
Read January 2018
3 stars
Another series that sounds good...but do I have the time to start another series when I have so many unfinished ones on my TBR list? Don't answer. It's a rhetorical question. We both know I'll be adding this one to my pile! :D
ReplyDeleteIt can be offputting to see so many books in all these series but although this was the lesser of the books so far, the next few are also really good so the standard remains high.
DeleteI've not checked out this series. Too bad this one was slower than you'd hoped. The synopsis sure sounds thrilling.
ReplyDeleteIt was a bit slower than I expected though important things happen and it changes priorities for Kitty, which is important for later books. The next three books were solid 4 stars though so I can forgive a little blip!
DeleteThe next FOUR books I meant!
DeleteIt does sound rather good so I'm sorry it didn't live up to quite what you expected. At 3/5 though, at least it was a solid read and I hope the next ones were better for you!
ReplyDeleteThe next four are very good so I'm pleased with the series overall!
DeleteI think some author's do a book like this as a companion story or prequel to fill in a characters blanks. Hope the next one gets back on track for you.
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
I've already read the next four which were all 4 star reads. I do my reviews about a month after I read them usually.
Delete