Review: Worth the Read... Again and Again
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 5, 2010
Originally posted at: [...]Author Savannah Stuart has such a gift with characterization and plot I looked for the third installment of this series as soon as I read the last word of this story.The fact that these characters were so flawed made them that much more believable. Stephan could not tell or disclose to Marisol who he really was since he was deep undercover and didn't know if she was an enemy. Marisol had seen Stephan as a means to an end in her mission to avenge her family's deaths. You would think since their relationship was founded on deceit it would be destined to go bad, but they could not stop themselves from caring for one another, which gave them a glimpse of hope.These werewolves were not just wolves in name. In many werewolf stories the author does not fully embrace the wolf within the characters. In this story the author clearly did her homework on wolf behavior and tried to incorporate as much of her research and knowledge into the story. I especially think this was clear in the fact that Marisol had to submit to Stephan during their bonding. I thought this was a great touch and made the werewolves a little more plausible.The supporting cast of this story was nothing to be ignored. Whether it was Stephan's brothers, or Paz, the secondary characters in this story popped as much as the main characters. One thing I do have to say is that the author should have mentioned somewhere that this is a sequel. As a reader I was eventually able to pick it up, especially since I am a serial series reader. There are a few conversations involving the secondary characters, mainly Stephan's family, that had little inside comments based on the previous story. I did not read the previous story so these few comments didn't necessarily make sense to me, but this story still stood on its own. I did not feel as if I was missing any of the plot or story because I had not read the previous one. It did however leave me feeling like I needed to go back and read the previous story for pure enjoyment, which I am sure the author will be happy to hear.One scene that I felt I had to mention in my review is the bathroom scene. It had the right amount of danger, anger and eroticism. If I had to rate angry sex scenes in all of the stories I have read, this is number one. Stephan was angry at Marisol for lying to him, yet he still knew he had to protect her. This emotional combination created a wild aphrodisiac which even I felt. The emotions ran so high I thought I was a voyeur hiding in one of the bathroom stalls watching the scene play out in front of me.Stories that have multiple antagonist/conflicts have a little more richness to them that many times can distinguish a good story from a great story. In real life there is not usually one individual villain so why should their only be one in a book. I felt this story was great and I gave it 5 cherries.