Wolf at the Door by Christine Warren

Wolf at the Door by Christine Warren

Series: The Others

Paranormal/Romance

March 2006

St Martin's

$6.99

Why I read: I was looking for a new series to start and enjoy, and this one had several done already.


One Favorite Quote: "Did you just call me Benji?"


[update: I realized recently *cough*today*cough* that I read the series out of order... I thought this was the first in the series. But no, it's the 4th. I'm going back to read the 1st! Of course, I also read the 6th before realizing this, so I'm all mixed up. Please note that if there were any inconsistencies that I noticed, it's probably due to coming in to the stories in the middle of the series. I can't change what I said because it was how I felt. It also proves that you should start at the beginning of every series! Bummer, I know. I can't believe I messed up! Ugh]

Barnes and Noble Synopsis:

Christine Warren’s spellbinding new series takes you into the enthralling world of The Others—mystical creatures who have long kept their true natures hidden from human eyes. Now, these werekin, shapeshifters, vampires, and witches must choose between revealing their powers or fighting a sinister sect hell-bent on their destruction…

WHEN DANGER MEETS DESIRE…
Sullivan Quinn didn’t travel 3,000 miles from his native Ireland and his wolf pack just to chase rabidly after the most delectable quarry he’s ever seen. Quinn is in America on a mission—to warn his Other brethren of a shadowy group willing to use murder and mayhem to bring them down. But one whiff of this Foxwoman’s delicious honeysuckle fragrance and he knows that she is more than a colleague or a conquest…she is his mate.

THEY’LL DISCOVER…
Anthropologist Cassidy Poe is a world-renowned authority on social interaction, but the overpowering desire she feels around Quinn defies every ounce of her expertise. Working by his side to uncover The Others’ enemies poses risks she never expected—to her own safety, to those she loves, and to her heart, as every encounter with Quinn proves more blissfully erotic than the last…

THE ANIMAL WITHIN…
Now, with no one to trust but each other, Quinn and Cassidy face a foe that’s edging closer every day, threatening to destroy the life they’ve always known, and the passion they’ve just discovered…

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My review:

It took a while for me to get in to the book. Even the initial contact between the two main characters kind of bothered me. Quinn seemed really stalker-ish. Given enough time, I found that not to be the case, but that initial feeling was uncomfortable.

I felt that plot took a distant second place after a while. Or maybe I misunderstood the plot. Which is very possible! They have to find who is trying to "out" the Others before they do, and it felt slow getting to the finding part. In fact, I don't even know if they did find the who/what. They found the root cause, just not the who/what [does that make sense? you're probably staring at this thinking "what the hell are you talking about crazy]. wAt this point, I keep telling myself.. who cares? They got to the root of it, what more do you need? But I felt like this whole time I wanted to know who the puppet was and I all I got was a sort of puppeteer. Maybe I need to re-read the last few pages to make sure I'm not being an idiot.

I did something really weird with this book though. I stopped reading it for about a month at the very end... What?! Who does that? I think I was in a reading slump and I just was hung up on the root cause and who the Light of Truth that's trying to expose them is, and the fact that I didn't understand what was going on. Once again, my problem. I'm sure Christine Warren explained it perfectly for the non-challenged people.

The only honest and true complaint I have is that the resolution to the conflict of exposure ended too suddenly for it to be normal. But the ending for me is huge. I understand the need for the fluff at the end, but nothing is wrapped up in neat little packages in real life, and I just feel that books should portray that sometimes [yes... i know it's not real, but for it to be relatively believable even in a fictional world, I don't like neat endings--that's one reason I hate chick flicks]. 

OKAY! That was the bad.. Here's the good:

Christine Warren's writing was great! Most of it flowed together flawlessly [I say mostly, because as with all books, some sentences had to be re-read several times to understand what she was saying].  Their romance, though it had a rough start... a really awkward rough start, it was believable. Some parts were fluffed, but whatever. I could believe that they actually had a connection to each other. Their foreplay and/or sexual encounters were.... awesome! :D Very blush worthy if someone catches you reading those pages. ;)-

Another really neat thing she did was that she didn't make Quinn an Alpha. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Alphas [mmmmmmm]. But he didn't need to be an Alpha to be dominant. He also had a great and unique role in his pack that I haven't heard of before. I think it might have been too much, so that was a perfect decision made by Christine Warren.

Ratings:

1. Cover +1

2. Hooked: +.5

3. Finished the book: +1

4. Overall Feeling: meh: +1

5. Re-readability: +.5--might skim through

6. Suggest to others: +1

7. Lost time: ... not really +1

8. Readability: +1

Looks like it's a 7 out of 10. Which makes me happy that I have my rating system. I would have felt that after the month of a break [from all books really] that I should rate it lower.

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