Review: Sexy new wolves (and bears, oh my!)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 28, 2011
This book is an offshoot of Arend's really terrific Granite Lake Wolf series (Wolf Signs: Granite Lake Wolves, Book 1,Wolf Flight: Granite Lake Wolves, Book 2,Wolf Games: Granite Lake Wolves, Book 3andWolf Tracks: Granite Lake Wolves, Book 4with Wolf Lines to be released next summer) and characters from there are woven up a little here - and TJ from Wolf Tracks makes a little cameo. While this reads perfectly well as a standalone, it's really a pleasure to have some extra background with the Wolfies.I usually take notes when I read and the top line on my notepad for this one is, "1% - laughed out loud." The book starts off with a barroom brawl between a bunch of drunken bear shifters that Evan and Shaun are breaking up while casually talking. It's so funny and playful - exactly one of the reasons I've enjoyed all of the Granite Lake books and now this one. There were little moments sprinkled through the book that would just catch me off guard and make me laugh (they often seem to have involved those bear shifters).I loved both Gem and Shaun a lot. She's a total fish out of water in the Yukon. Not just Daddy's Sheltered Princess, she comes from an area where wolves just don't shift for pleasure, so Shaun's entire way of being a wolf is alien to her. She's still determined to make the most of her time away from home and is entranced by the places Shaun shows her but there's always a question in her mind about whether this is a place that she can make a home in. Shaun starts out confident at least that Gem is his and if he keeps her around long enough she'll just give in to him. He's feeling pressure from his alpha to actually do something and surprises even himself when he finds the opportunity. They come together perfectly as people in search of something who find what they were looking for and more - but then each has to figure out what they'll give up to keep the other.This is a step up on the steamy scale from the other Wolfie books. I always appreciate that the author never gets super-explicit, but the scenes are still extremely hot and sexy. The bonus with shape shifters is they're pretty uninhibited and don't mind having a little outdoors fun. Gem and Shaun are very energetic. Need I say more?Arend does a superb job as usual with bringing her setting to life. You can't possibly come away from one of these books wondering if the author has been there although I may question if she's ever had a beer in a bar with a bear. There's a hilarious little town mentioned here called Chicken - named that because Ptarmigan was too hard for everyone to spell. I have no clue if that one's real and I don't care, it was funny.There's a little side story involving Shaun's alpha Evan and a human woman that he's involved with. It has the makings of a pretty nice book itself, but I never jinx myself (well, I do, but I'll try not to this time).I already was pretty much in love with the Granite Lake series, so this was destined to be something I'd probably at least find interesting. It went beyond that though, delivering characters that were on a journey I wanted to follow in a setting that's now familiar but always exciting to explore more. I love the sexy playfulness of Gem and Shaun and their happily ever after was perfect. Now when are we going to see the Takhini Bears series?