Review: I'd love a vacation in the Granite Lake area!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 30, 2010
This was a good entry in a fun series...the funny, non-horrifying type of paranormal shifter romance story.  No big heavies involved...no big story arc, just a tale to get told.  More like a light romance with paranormal elements in this case.  Oh, and some explicitness with regard to the 'adult behavior'.For anyone new to the series this is the 4th--and I would definitely recommend starting with the first entry.  TJ's character is a hoot but Wolf Tracks works well because we already know him.  I think he'd seem pretty bland and boring if you didn't know what he was like already!  It sure was nice to see him find his mate and he was a good choice for a character to write about.Pam is also more fun than most random females thrown to the wolves, so to speak.  One problem I had with Tracks though is that Pam's acceptance of the big reveal of the 'I'm a hottie and, well, I can change into a wolf'  is pretty darn fast.  Really fast.  More skepticism seems in order, but oh well.  I felt that way for the first story of the series as well (Wolf Signs), but I understand it given the novella format.Also, I thought Pam's background was pretty cool too and if this had been a longer story more could be made of it.  As it is the ending leaves me wondering, well, now what?  How is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police dog trainer going to go back to work mated to a werewolf?  Does she quit and start working in her new family's business somehow?  Her old family's drama could have been more interesting too, or left out so it didn't raise questions.If the world was run according to my rules, this story would have been a full blown novel, but sadly, it's only a novella, sigh.  I guess that's not too bad of a complaint though...'I wish there was more', but a truly great novella wouldn't make me fell that way I suppose.This is the exact kind of title I have trouble sticking to the 5 star system...it begs for the point five addition.  I like to rate based on my enjoyment of the story, writing quality, sticking to the genre and intent, and being suited to the format.  I would love to give a 4.5 here, but have to choose--fun story in a fun/light series about a character I have wanted to see more of--definitely up for 5 stars there (no it's not classic, heavy literature, but that is not the goal here!).  4 stars due to the part about it not really quite fitting the format--things feel like they need to be fleshed out a little better.  An finally, poor TJ is mostly interesting from the earlier stories...as a stand alone he just needed more.So, on balance I am giving the 4 stars--but truly this is a fun light romance type of series and is on the recommend list and it was a worthwhile purchase.  Hopefully there will be more from the Granite Lake Wolves, and if there are, I'm buying them.JTGPS  who am I kidding, if it was a 10 star rating system I'd still be trying for adding half stars...and still complain.  8.875.  There you go.