Review: Worth a Read
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 1, 2013
Werewolves by Damned is a perfect example of the kind of book that I usually fall in love with. It has everything: witches, werewolves, vampires, guardians, badass heroine, and a sexy alpha male character. However, as much as I really wanted to just love, love, love it - I didn't. It was okay. I liked it. But it didn't blow me away.Let's start with what I did like. I loved Nexi as the female lead in this story. She has an interesting and heartwrenching back story, plus a long, hard road ahead of her. She has been raised as a mortal on Earth, never suspecting that she is actually an Otherworldly mixture of Guardian and Witch. Her real father hid her away with adoptive parents and blocked her supernatural powers from developing after her real mother was murdered. Nexi is oblivious to all of this until the night that werewolves show up at her house and brutally murder her adoptive parents right in front of her. This is where Kyden comes in. *Sigh.* All 6 foot something of him - wearing nothing but a kilt and a six pack. He is assigned to protect Nexi and train her in self defense and how to use her new found Guardian powers. Right off the bat he strikes the perfect balance between overbearing, overprotective jerk, and sensual, sexy, male."Now we're doing this my way. You are mine, Nexi Jones. Get used to the idea. We're together now, and yes, that means your safety is of the utmost importance to me...I would give all that I am to protect you. Love cannot possibly describe what this is between us...it's more"Nexi quickly realizes that she has fallen in love with him, and he with her. When Kyden is put in jeopardy trying to protect her, she realizes that she would do anything for him - including risk her own life. This proves to be the catalyst that allows Nexi to fully discover what power she is really capable of...and to what extent she would go to save Kyden's life."I'm so glad I met you. No matter how short our time together was, I don't regret a moment of my life. Not then. Not now. Not ever."Besides Nexi and Kyden there is also a whole other cast of secondary characters that really enhanced the story. Nexi gets a chance to know her real father, Drake, plus finds a friend and mentor in the witch Zia, who was her real mother's soul sister. Nexi also finds her own soul sister, Haven, who helps her transition into her new world.Now for what didn't work for me. I don't doubt that Stacey Kennedy is a good writer - in fact I really liked the overall "story" in the book, but her word choices and descriptions were so repetitious that it kept pushing me out of the story. The number one example was how many times it was reiterated that Nexi was new to the Otherworld and didn't understand what was going on. She was constantly confused, or lost, or wishing they would explain in normal person talk. I think this was probably just a way for Kennedy to explain the Otherworld in depth instead of just having paragraphs of exposition - but believe me, it got old really quickly after the tenth time someone said "I keep forgetting you don't know any of this ... blah, blah, blah." It's not that it was badly written, because it wasn't. However, these constant shifts in dialogue kept forcing us away from what was going on in the real story, and it irritated me. The second instance of repetition, though, nearly made me put down the book and walk away. Within a twelve page span there were NINE instances of Nexi hugging someone or being jerked or led around by her arm. That was all fine and good, but the awkward way in which each encounter was described just hit me the wrong way.Here are some quotes:"Releasing Finn, she collided with Talon, and threw her arms around him""Finn gathered her in his arms. She sank into his embrace and wanted him to tell her that this was another terrible nightmare.""Without thought, acting on pure instinct, she threw herself into his arms and he caught her, holding her close.""She approached Calder, and once in front of him, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.""Another hand tightened around her arm, and Talon pulled her away from Calder.""Nexi yanked herself out of Talon's grip, then collided with Haven and hugged her.""Talon broke the silence as he snatched up her hand and led her away.""A pull from behind her had her glancing over her shoulder.""He gathered her in his arms. She rested her head against his chest, accepting the warmth of the embrace."Keep in mind these were all different people she was colliding with and throwing herself into. The picture that this painted in my head was of a deranged woman walking around a room full of people and just randomly flinging herself into their arms and then being yanked away by someone else. Very distracting in the middle of a story, lol.Anyway, if you can look past the habitually confused and overenthusiastic hugger that is Nexi Jones, you will probably enjoy this book. The plot is good, and I will most likely read the sequel when it comes out.