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Apr. 22nd, 2014 10:26 amLaura's Wolf is a werewolf romance novel written by a friend, so I am not a hundred percent objective in this review; on the other hand I am generally a super hard sell on werewolf romance tropes (alphas! obligatory pack dominance dynamics! UGH WHY) so perhaps this balances out my partiality?
Anyway: I enjoyed it a lot! Excellent airplane read, except for the part when we hit turbulence and I could not stop myself from thinking, "well, if this plane crashes and I am found with a Kindle frozen to a werewolf sex scene clutched in my cold dead hands, I suppose that will be some kind of karmic justice for my life as I have chosen to lead it."
Laura's Wolf, first in the series WEREWOLF MARINES (does what it says on the tin!) is about a werewolf veteran named Roy with PTSD and an ex-con-artist named Laura with different PTSD. When Laura meets Roy, he is on the run from a shady government agency, has been homeless for a few months, and is living in her dad's garage cabin.
LAURA: So ... you're a werewolf. Any ... irresistible compulsions to bay at the moon or go savage young ladies in the woods at night ....?
ROY: Actually, the biggest problem right now is that I don't seem to be able to tolerate bright lights and loud noises and light-up screens anymore, which makes me SUPER UNEMPLOYABLE. :(
I loved this! I love that the werewolf stuff is as much about disability and access concerns as it is about magic werewolf superpowers, and is really well tied into Roy's PTSD and the fact that reintegrating into civilian life was always going to be hard anyway, werewolf stuff or not. (There are definitely some magic werewolf superpowers involved too, of course.)
In general I enjoy the majority of the werewolf mythology stuff in the novel, which is clearly chosen to emphasize TEAMS and FRIENDSHIP and AVOID SKETCHY GENDER STUFF LIKE THE PLAGUE. I feel like it's been so long since I've read a werewolf story that didn't instantly put my hackles up! And I like the relationship, which as it builds becomes very much about mutual liking and respect and earned trust.
In fact I only have two real quibbles. The first is just generally a frequent romance novel quibble of mine, which is the thing with INSTANT SUPER MEGA ATTRACTION BETWEEN TWO HOT PEOPLE. (Laura is plus-sized and therefore less conventionally hot to outside eyes perhaps -- which is a fact I appreciate, by the way! -- but the first time Roy sees her he is still like "OH WOW WHAT A HOTTIE I WISH WE COULD MAKE OUT RIGHT AWAY," so the point still stands.) But this is such a requirement of the genre that I can't really complain about it, even though my personal preference is ALWAYS for romance where the participants first look at their Designated Love Interest and are like "...uh, they're OK, I guess?"
The only other thing is that -- with apologies to the author -- I just cannot believe that any human being naturally smells like lemon meringue pie.
Anyway: I enjoyed it a lot! Excellent airplane read, except for the part when we hit turbulence and I could not stop myself from thinking, "well, if this plane crashes and I am found with a Kindle frozen to a werewolf sex scene clutched in my cold dead hands, I suppose that will be some kind of karmic justice for my life as I have chosen to lead it."
Laura's Wolf, first in the series WEREWOLF MARINES (does what it says on the tin!) is about a werewolf veteran named Roy with PTSD and an ex-con-artist named Laura with different PTSD. When Laura meets Roy, he is on the run from a shady government agency, has been homeless for a few months, and is living in her dad's garage cabin.
LAURA: So ... you're a werewolf. Any ... irresistible compulsions to bay at the moon or go savage young ladies in the woods at night ....?
ROY: Actually, the biggest problem right now is that I don't seem to be able to tolerate bright lights and loud noises and light-up screens anymore, which makes me SUPER UNEMPLOYABLE. :(
I loved this! I love that the werewolf stuff is as much about disability and access concerns as it is about magic werewolf superpowers, and is really well tied into Roy's PTSD and the fact that reintegrating into civilian life was always going to be hard anyway, werewolf stuff or not. (There are definitely some magic werewolf superpowers involved too, of course.)
In general I enjoy the majority of the werewolf mythology stuff in the novel, which is clearly chosen to emphasize TEAMS and FRIENDSHIP and AVOID SKETCHY GENDER STUFF LIKE THE PLAGUE. I feel like it's been so long since I've read a werewolf story that didn't instantly put my hackles up! And I like the relationship, which as it builds becomes very much about mutual liking and respect and earned trust.
In fact I only have two real quibbles. The first is just generally a frequent romance novel quibble of mine, which is the thing with INSTANT SUPER MEGA ATTRACTION BETWEEN TWO HOT PEOPLE. (Laura is plus-sized and therefore less conventionally hot to outside eyes perhaps -- which is a fact I appreciate, by the way! -- but the first time Roy sees her he is still like "OH WOW WHAT A HOTTIE I WISH WE COULD MAKE OUT RIGHT AWAY," so the point still stands.) But this is such a requirement of the genre that I can't really complain about it, even though my personal preference is ALWAYS for romance where the participants first look at their Designated Love Interest and are like "...uh, they're OK, I guess?"
The only other thing is that -- with apologies to the author -- I just cannot believe that any human being naturally smells like lemon meringue pie.
