Review: Cloaked in Fur by T.F. Walsh
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 09 24, 2013
I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.I have always had a soft spot for shapeshifters and werewolves in particular so when approached by the author to read and review her book, I was thrilled to have the opportunity. After reading the synopsis I felt that this would be a really unique spin on the whole werewolf creature as a whole.In typical werewolf style, Daciana, a moonwulf, is most susceptible to shifting during the full moon. However, it is only after her ceremonial passage into a wulfkin that she can embrace her wolf counterpart and shift as often as she desires. Being a moonwulf and future wulfkin doesn't come without rules within her close-knit pack. She is never to mate with a wild wolf and breed offspring, she is never to attack or kill humans, she is never to choose the human world over her pack, and she is never to fall in love with humans. On the wulfkin's version of rumspringa, she is free to explore the human world before returning to the pack, claiming a mate, and making more pups to increase the pack's ranks. That all changes when she meets Connell, a very human man, and falls in love.Her whirlwind romance with Connell drives Daciana to not only leave her pack, but to attempt to make herself completely human so she can be with Connell forever. That is not something Daciana's pack or her alpha will allow. It is only after a malicious dracwulf, the offspring of a wulfkin and a wild wolf, starts attacking and feasting on Daciana's friends, that she realizes finding a way to be human and with Connell forever is the least of her problems.Daciana is forced to lie continuously to the man she loves, hunt down a blood-thirsty monster, stride a careful line in pack politics, and search for a cure to her moonwulf status. No sweat, right?As I said before, I thought that the premise of this story was incredibly unique and intriguing. The whole werewolves having sex with real wolves and creating pups was a little, uh, unnerving, but I have never seen it done before, so there's that. The problem I found in this book was instead of having a clear rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion, as is the general format, it went up and down. Every time I felt the story was coming to a comfortable close, something else would happen and continue the story. It was a bit frustrating and caused the book to feel drawn out and lose some of its appeal.With the romance, I find that I generally connect better with characters when I can see their romance unfold. In this book, the romance is already established so the "I love you so much" phrases thrown around sounded a little forced.Negativity aside, I must have found something in it that appealed to me since I didn't struggle too much to read it. I read it in a matter of two days and was content with it. I didn't leave the reading experience regretting the time spent.Cloaked in Fur is a twist on werewolf lore coupled with a Romeo and Juliet-esk love. It introduces it's reader to a fantasy world unlike any they have seen before.Review Posted on: [...]