Review: OK, but I wouldn't get one for a friend
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 16, 2011
This was the first of Laurann Dohner's novels that I'd read. I enjoy werewolf stories and a bit of erotica, so I was all set to enjoy this book. It wasn't horrible and I did read it all the way through, but it wasn't one of my top 10 favorite werewolf stories.I read the other reviews before purchasing and I have to agree with the reviewer who said that Mika was a brat. She almost fits into the "too stupid to live" category a couple of times and is just annoying other times. Now, I can accept that fiction isn't going to nor is it supposed to mirror real life - what would be the fun of it otherwise - but I do need it to be somewhat reasonable unless we've established that we're on a planet full of morons. Here's an example of what I mean:Mika comes to visit her uncle Omar, who is a werewolf, at the same time that the mating season for werewolves begins. Apparently, the town is wolf-friendly, so loads of horny wolves flock to the area during mating season. She's human, but aware enough about the nature of werewolves to understand that they are especially dangerous during mating season. And what does she do? She heads out, alone, at 10 PM, without letting her folks know she's going out, and is almost raped. It's like she believes that, just because her uncle is an advisor to the local pack's alpha wolf, she's somehow safe or exempt from the nature of the werewolf (which the author explains several times involves little more than rutting as much as possible during mating season regardless of the fact that they could kill human partners in their vigor). She escapes with the help of a "good samaritan" who then demands payment that involves her having to turn around and drop trou. Huh? This is the hero? And you know what? She does it! What he doesn't explain to her until afterwards is that he asks this of her so he can get his scent on her so she makes it home unaccosted by other werewolves. Guess what? She two freaking blocks from home - which she knows at the time he asks this of her - and she complies instead of telling him that it's two blocks to her house and it will be quicker if he just walks her home instead of whatever he has planned.In the end, the beginning turned me off (what I mentioned was at the beginning), the middle was fine, and the last part of the book just sort of irritated me.  They distrust each other for 90% of the book and he feels no reason to explain or share anything beyond surface emotion to her, but at the end, they're so happily in love.  Eh...  Another thing that made this a little difficult for me was that the major conflict in the story is based on simple non-communication. If they'd had a simple 5 minute conversation with each other, most of their problems would have been solved. As other reviewers noted, the story could have been much more robust if we knew what Grady, our "hero", was thinking during some of the times that he was lying to and manipulating her.Anyway, as I mentioned, it wasn't horrible. I really liked Minnie and, despite a confusing scene between him and Mika, I liked Anton as well. I think I might get his book. The sex scenes were good with a decent enough amount of variation that it wasn't necessarily like reading the same one over and over. She calls things what they are instead of using abstract, flower metaphors like you'll find other authors do. She writes relatively well, the plot flows well enough, and I don't remember the dialog being stilted.Overall, I won't delete it but I wouldn't buy one for a friend and probably won't reread it.