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.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…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…
Born and raised in coastal New England, Christine Warren lived in the South and the Mid-Atlantic before hopping to the other side of the country to take up the life of a transplant in the Pacific Northwest. She completely bypassed those states in the middle due to her landlocking phobia. Hmm, need to research a scientific term for that...
When not scrambling frantically to complete her latest writing project, Christine spends most of her time as a crazy animal lady, hanging out with her dog Levi (he’s the one with the hair) and pretending to train him to have some manners. She also hangs out with her horse, Cal—a thoroughbred with a craving for strawberry licorice twists—her goddog, Merlin; and her best friend, fellow author Hannah Murray. In addition to playing with her pets, Christine’s hobbies include identifying dog breeds from photos of their underbellies, appreciating fine and not-so-fine wines, shopping for the perfect pair of Christian Louboutin shoes, and most of all reading things someone else had to agonize over.
She enjoys hearing from readers and can be reached via email sent to [email protected] or by postal mail to Christine Warren, PO Box 871900, Vancouver, WA 98687-1900.
Big Bad Irish Wolf is sent to the US on the important mission of convincing the American Council of “Others” that it is time that they revealed themselves to the humans. He gets destructed by the scent of honeysuckles that belongs to a foxy lady who, as he soon finds out, is his destined mate. They can’t keep their hands/paws/tails off each other, and after a day of what can only be described as a Sex Marathon, they realize that they are in love and that they want to be together till death do them part.
Oh, and there’s a plot about some baddies that come in the form of fanatics that want to wipe the “Others” off the face of the earth somewhere in there.
It almost saddens me to give it a two star rating because I really and honestly liked the female character. That’s something that doesn’t happen often to me in Romance land, and I really had a good feeling about this book after she was introduced. Unfortunately, a good character can’t make up for the weak plot which, let’s face it, was sacrificed in favor of the sex scenes.
Nothing extraordinary about the world building, nothing that could be described as original (note that it was a 2006 release), a mystery plot that had pretty much nothing to offer, insta-lust that turned to insta-love in no time with the use of the destined mates card, and your typical PNR Wolf Guy. Could have been worse…
The first 100 pages were great! The rest of the book was typical paranormal good guys and bad guys. The plot was weak.
STORY BRIEF: This is the first of a series, eight books so far. “Others” is the term for creatures including werefolk, vampires, witches, and magic-users. The Others live in secret among humans. Cassidy is a foxwoman (fox shifter) who teaches anthropology at a college. Her grandmother is a member of the Council of Others, the international governing body. Quinn is a werewolf (shifter) from Ireland. He comes to New York City to attend a meeting of the Council of Others. While at the first meeting, he smells a honeysuckle fragrance which happens to be Cassidy’s scent. He knows this is the scent of his life mate. The Council meets the next day to decide what to do about a religious fanatical group called Light of Truth. This group wants to destroy the Others and kidnaps one of them. The council leaders assign Quinn to work with Cassidy to learn more about this group. He’s happy about the assignment, she’s not.
REVIEWER’S OPINION: The first 100 pages were great! I especially loved the first 30 pages. Quinn had not yet met Cassidy but is drawn to her smell and follows it. When he finally sees her, she runs, he chases, and the two of them shift back and forth between their animal and human forms as the chase continues. It might be worth buying the book just for the first 100 pages. There were some good lines. I was chuckling. I enjoyed Cassidy’s frustrations and conversations. But after that, the story became ordinary. It needed more interesting plot and character development. The bad guys kidnap good guys. The good guys try to find the bad guys and stop them. I wish the author would have continued with the freshness of the first part. One of the sex scenes dragged a bit, could have been shortened.
I was disappointed with the ending climax. The bad guys were more powerful than the good guys, then all of a sudden the good guys found some power and won. I was shaking my head thinking how did that happen?
DATA: Story length: 336 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 3. Total number of sex scene pages: 24. Setting: current day mostly New York City, NY. Copyright: 2006. Genre: paranormal romance.
I have read three of Warren's novels. Bottom line, the sex scenes are the best part of her books (and they are pretty good), but even good sex gets boring, after the nth page. As a long-time romance reader, I protest. Why can't we have it all -- sex AND a satisfying story, with clever dialogue, consistency in characterization, relationship development, and an absorbing plot?
The beginning was fun, with the rooftop chase scene. That whole long section was great, and held my attention. The rest of the book was okay, but at some point it became a snoozer. Boring.
And some of the lines were just dumb:
There is a statement about humans evolving from Vikings to Crusaders to missile-defense fanatics. Huh? Evolving? There are no upwardly-functioning behavioral differences in these three scenarios. And the time span is not even a speck on the time span of evolution. (This character has a PhD and teaches at Columbia?)
Quinn is thinking to himself that he wants to get to know Cassidy -- her favorite color and whether she likes Thai food. Excuse me while my eyes roll away. No way would Quinn give a crap about her favorite color! Why do authors include this nonsense? Alphas DON'T CARE. (Nor do I.)
When Warren does write something clever, like the reference to Edgar Allen Poe, she hits us over the bloody head with it. Quinn made himself pretty clear -- even not having heard of the poem, I caught on -- without Cassidy reflecting that she was glad he got the reference to one of her favorite poems, "The Bells." (It's like with jokes. Don't explain.)
Then after sex, Quinn says, "Jesus wept" which just felt goofy. (And have some respect for the values of varied readers, people!)
Maybe it's my fault for reading this after I finished book 5 in the Eileen Wilks Lupi series.(which I thoroughly enjoyed)
I didn't really like Warren's writing style... and the story itself was not great at all. If I had to read "Cassie,love" one more time I'm sure screams would have shot from my mouth while blood shot from my eyes.
In this genre there a winners and losers... this is a loser for me!
I had hoped this would be a 3 star read because of the engaging beginning and the writing, but the poor plot, timeline and grossly unequal relationship ruined it for me. Good writing can't save a book that barely has a plot at all, that puts off said plot for later in the series, with a man who thinks women are brainless and there for man's pleasure. Relationships like this make me sick and I shudder to even think of having one like this myself. The whole book took place over like 3 days and the worst romances are those that try to cram a believable love story in that extremely short amount of time.
Also, I thought this was the 1st book in the series because my library didn’t have a # listed or acknowledge that it was in a series at all, so I was upset to come on here and realize this is the 9th in the series. I hoped I wouldn’t be lost, but I found the world to have way too many paranormal species. It’s like she was trying to capture every single fictional being that any culture in the world has. It was so hard to keep up with who was what species. Having so many beings is way too much. It should be narrowed down to a more easily-handled amount.
"Others" refer to all of the supernatural, and I thought that was a copout, too easy of a name but there really was a lot of supernatural to refer to. There are Lupines, and there are different packs of Lupines. It was a bad choice of words to have the wolf pack called Silverback clan. Silverbacks are male gorillas. Vampires. Felix for big cats. Ursa for bears. Selkies. Changelings. Witches. Japanese oni, like demons. Doppelgänger. Satyr. Stone giant. Sorcerer. Gnomes. Voudun. Animi. Golem. Demons. Foxwomen. Foxwoman sounded really stupid. I learned later that only females are foxes, hence the name, but it still sounded dumb. Like Catwoman..Cassidy and her grandma aren't considered werekin. The rules are insane and made absolutely no sense to me. The author tackled way too much. He spoke Lupine, like it was its own language. Since it was written as English, that felt odd.
I immediately enjoyed the writing. This is an author who is a good writer. Witty sayings, phrases, humorous lines and word choices. Almost every sentence was a pleasure to read because of the way it was written. I believe the character’s personalities because they’re big and consistent. They have a life to them so I buy that people would really say these things and feel this way. No stilted writing, no cardboard cutouts. Felt like real people with real emotion.
I'm irritated when authors give heroines these crazy scents that people just don't smell like, so I knew the honeysuckle fragrance, that was so important it was mentioned in the summary, was going to be a problem. It called to Sullivan and represented "femininity, fertility, and fuckability. His 3 favorite f-words." Ew.
He's the guth and I can't tell if that word made me more disgusted or amused, but suffice it to say I thought it was sooo stupid. He's responsible for keeping their traditions, histories and stories, and is the ambassador and negotiator. How about second in command or some synonym? I didn't even want to use guth. He also thought with his role he could have honeysuckles ordered, and I thought it was so weird to want to get flowers.
I liked that since he smelled her scent, it had become his most important goal in the world.
It was amusing that Quinn was so disrespectful to the Councilwoman, someone so important to his people, because he had to find the smell. I thought it was going to be a bigger issue that he was so rude to her and she turned out to be Cassie’s grandma, like it would be this big amusing scene that Cassie would find out what he said and know her future mate and grandma got off to such a terrible start but it wasn’t even talked about. That was a missed opportunity.
I didn't like that foxes are so skittish and naturally hide and evade things, so when she heard Quinn's growl when he saw her, she just up and ran away, which I found too cowardly for words. I like strong heroines so this was a real letdown.
Their first meeting was disappointing but mostly just disturbing. A woman ran away in fear because you growled at her, and you chase after her. "He couldn't stifle the flash of disappointment he felt at knowing how short the game would be. He loved to play chase. But there was no way the woman could outrun him." "As if the fact that she'd eluded him wasn't enough to pique his interest, while he watched, eyes sparking with pleasure at the unexpected extension of playtime.."
I thought he was going to feel bad that he'd scared her and growled instead of introducing himself. Instead, he was turned on by her running from him. No. You do not chase after someone knowing they are slower than you, and try to grab them because you can. She changed to a fox and he hissed in appreciation and thought her form--as a fox--gorgeous. My lips actually curled in disgust. You find an animal attractive? No.
I'm sick of the concept of the beast within controlling the hero's actions, like he isn't in control of them himself. He wanted to chase her, roll her over on her back and kill or f her, like she had no choice in the matter at all, like consent wasn't a requirement. I can't stand that process of thinking. "Whether that meant killing her or fucking her, the beast didn't care. It would be up to the man within to make the right decision."
Yeah, it's all your choice, the woman has no say. And really, the wolf doesn't even care if he kills her? Does that sound right to you??
They changed form, meaning they're both naked now, and he takes her wrists and holds them above her head, smells her and then kisses her. He's naked on top of her! Doesn't ask if it's okay, doesn't introduce himself, just takes what he wants like she's an object and not a free-thinking person. And to make it worse, she realized she was being kissed by a strange, naked man but was too turned on to even finish the scream she had been going to do. There you go, have the woman turned on by a virtual assault.
Obviously I knew they'd be working together on the case, but I was annoyed when Rafael told them at the council to work very closely together. I hate when characters are thrown together so conveniently.
After the meeting, Cassidy hurried out. "Didn't she realize by now that running only made him that much more eager to chase her?" Ew. You make someone want to run away from you, and then criticize them for it because they can't outrun you and get amused because it's like a game for you. Please, please stop writing heroes who sound like bad guys.
It's pretty bad when he says he's lucky she didn't press charges. If you did something to a woman that you think could be criminal, you did something wrong.
He told his dad he just wanted to sniff her and I was like ew. He said she drives him crazy but he doesn't mind. Considering you spent a short amount of time in her presence, how crazy could she drive you? Or do you mean when you were forcing yourself on her and she had the nerve to try to get away?
Quinn came off as so domineering after his dad told him Cassidy was his mate. In a stupid twist, despite going crazy to have Cassidy and the honeysuckle smell, he didn't realize what it meant. But his dad did, over the phone. He thought it was a bad cosmic joke because wolves are supposed to mate with wolves and he hadn't really been prepared to be mated. Then all of a sudden he's not even bothered that she isn't a wolf. He planned to have a lot of sex with her and have children. The way he talked about all of that reeked of laying down the law and him running things, just like his earlier behavior. Not once did he wonder how she would feel, or it she even wanted kids, or a wolf mate. He just wanted sex out of the deal like she was a blowup doll with no brain.
"Male Lupine claimed his woman by force and bound her to him with the act of mating."
And therein lies the problem.
"She hadn't invited him into her bed, either, but he could be patient a little while longer."
Bear in mind this is the third time they've been around each other. Why does he keep referring to taking what he wants?
It's also pretty bad when the heroine has to count how many hours they've actually known each other because he's coming on too strong and she needs to back up. It had been 20 hours at this point. Insane.
He called her Cassie love and at first I thought it was endearing, and then he started using it every few seconds and I got so irritated. Then it's overdone and annoying.
The day he came over to her apartment and went to the college where she teaches to look for the Light of the Truth fanatic group, she invited him over for supper after. Quinn was making comments about being the only one in her future and saying he was going to get to know her. It didn't sit well with me at all. All I could think was that he was forcing himself on her against her will, because he was; he'd have her whether she wanted it or not. They hadn't made enough progress and he wrapped his arm around her and told her he was changing that he didn't know her and was going to get to know her very well, and scraped his teeth on her ear. At her house she couldn't understand why he wanted her, he wanted to be the only one she was with in the future. Cassidy told him he was getting ahead of himself, she hadn't decided if she was going to get involved with him, and she thought he wasn't paying attention. She is speaking her feelings and he isn't listening. Wtf? Cassidy then said she meant it, was not going to rush into anything and that she doesn't take it lightly. What does he do to show that he's listening, hears her and accepts her decision? He kisses her of course! I was so ticked off. Hey Quinn, quiet forcing yourself on her! You look like an harasser.
What made it worse was that Cassidy wanted his kiss so badly and he was the one pulling away! It irritated the crap out of me. To go from ruthlessly pursuing her and forcing himself on her to withholding kisses and teasing her was an upsetting twist that really bothered me. When he said he wanted complete and total surrender I almost lost it all over again.
"She began to squirm, and he resisted her movements at first." Until she wraps herself around his waist. So, she tried to make a move and you resist. It's all about what he wants, when he wants it. He's in control and she can only make a move he approves of. I hated it.
"He needed all sorts of things from this woman, and now that he'd won the argument, he had no intention of waiting to collect. He had her promise that this would not be the end of them, and he trusted her to keep her word. Especially since he knew where she lived." Wtf. Do you hear everything that's wrong with that?
I felt like cheering when she said it wasn't a surrender, it was a demand for him to make love to her and she felt she'd taken the reigns and handled her desire. Until Quinn had his response. He said it was a start and they'd negotiate later. She expresses how she feels and he doesn't accept it. He can impose his will on her and subdue her voice, her desires, and she doesn't get a say.
She was running her hands over him and he grabbed them and told her she couldn't this time, "maybe next time." He kissed her so she couldn't protest. Okayy. I love when guys do that.
"A wolf met a bitch, he smelled something tasty, he tasted it. And if it tasted good enough, he kept it around." I had to go back and make sure it actually said that. That's how he (and Lupines) refer to women. Bitches and "it." Despicable.
They hadn't even known each other 2 full days and he came to the realization that he loved her. I HATE this kind of timeline. This is what's wrong with PR. Is there some reason entire books have to happen in a few days, with instant love?
Richard, Quinn, and Cristos found a room owned by the Light of the Truth group, and it was terribly stupid for Richard to admit they got the files off the computer. Richard then went to name Quinn, Gregor and Ysabel, his stolen woman, De Santos and his witchy wife, in front of the fanatic!
The sex scenes weren't even good because it was all about Quinn being in control. He'd tease her and not finish, then go off to tease her some more, knowing what she wanted and holding back out of principal. He wouldn't let her touch him or direct things. The shower scene was just annoying. Then he used the sprayer on her crotch, holding her thigh out and the image wasn't good.
It seemed like nothing was happening. Cassidy wished Quinn would wake up and handle it. Score one for womenkind. He said Cassie love at least once on every page they talked. Ugh.
It's too bad, it would have been a good line had his behavior not been so deplorable, but as it was it bothered me because I think that's how he really feels. "You know women. Can't tell them a bloody thing they won't argue about."
Her cousin didn't come back in. I thought they'd talk about her being human and how her grandma had Cassidy as her favorite, that her grandma would come around or Randy would get her own love story. I thought she'd got to Ireland and meet his parents. The author didn't have time for anything. She raised a problem that she didn't conclude, only set up the next book and made it other characters' problem.
They spent time looking into the group at college, found a lead for one of their meetings, and then didn't even go to it because it was canceled. There I was waiting for some action and it didn't even happen. Why even bring up the meeting and then cancel it? They were supposed to go out to dinner first and they didn't do that. It would have been a nice break from them holing up at her apartment. Richard and Cristo never came back after breaking into the Light of Truth office.
There's already a guy getting his way, manipulating the heroine's action and steering her where he wants her to go, imposing his will on her and not listening when she says no. Kissing her without seeing if it's okay first. A cheesy pet name that really just feels demeaning. "Kitten." I hate that one. And her name is Kitty. Ugh.
I wasn't interested in the kidnapping of the Russian man's partner, the Light of Truth group or the Unveiling one bit. I didn't like any of it. The whole time I just wanted different circumstances for the characters and a stronger plot. The abrupt, unfinished, cliffhanger ending was just on par with the rest of the story.
I was thrilled at the mention of Balmoral, the Queen’s Scottish residence. "Along with a sharp tongue and airs I've not seen since the summer I passed through Balmoral during the queen's visit." But I wish it hadn’t said she was stuck-up!
I was ticked off at the instances of skinny shaming. Quinn said: "What use have I for a model? Skinny, pale little things with bones I'd be afraid to touch for breaking."
That is such a bitchy thing to say. I'm glad I didn't pay for this because I wouldn't have wanted my money going towards someone who is prejudiced against skinny people. Shaming people goes both ways, you know. If you don't want to be shamed for your size then why shame someone else and publish it for public consumption? Did it ever occur to you that "skinny, pale little things" might be reading your book and get extremely offended by that? No one deserves to be called a "thing." Skinny people are people too. We are not "things." Were we supposed to like him more because he put down small women? And btw, Quinn referred to Cassie as a "tiny little thing." If you want your character to be small, why are you attacking small people?? And what about models makes you think they're pale?? Like what models are you looking at? There are all different races and skin tones who model, so that’s just an ignorant statement to assume that models are all pale white. They don't have spray tanning and lotions? And people are naturally pale. We can't help our skin tone any more than you can but I guess we owe you an apology for offending you with our paleness. And it’s actually funny because most guys would prefer models anyway…And then Rachel later on said: "Her skin pale as always." I almost laughed aloud. You had the man slam pale models (way to inject your own agenda through the hero there..) and then Cassie said her skin is pale! Whoops!
"She had the looks of a supermodel—all painfully slender limbs, sharp cheekbones, and oversized lips." Aw, you’re such an advocate for bigger sizes by putting people down! Good for you! Again, I could go on and on about how insulting it is to say someone is “painfully” small, has sharp cheekbones, WHICH THEY CANNOT HELP, and lips that are oversized, WHICH THEY ALSO CAN’T HELP.
When he went to her house, he stayed the night and I wanted him to leave and for them to go separate ways. They had spent too much time together at the point and I needed a breather. They needed to be independent people and keep to their own lives, but it was all in, headfirst.
I didn't get the feeling that he's Irish at all, so I felt that was a fail. The accent was not pronounced at all. Aside from a few words, which are “Feck, boyo and arse,” I didn’t get the feeling that he was Irish because his speech didn’t reflect that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This was a little disappointing. It had some elements I really liked, but overall it missed the mark for me.
We start out by meeting our star couple, Irish werewolf Sullivan Quinn, and American Fox-woman Cassidy Po. Their meeting was somewhat unorthodox but amusing and I thought I was in for a treat because they seemed like really nice characters. And they were. Cassidy was intelligent, witty and beautiful and a rarity as a supernatural, being one of only two fox-women in the US (or maybe it was just in that State) either way, most other supes have never even heard of them. But when Sullivan Quinn gets one whiff of her at a party, he is never likely to forget her again.
Sullivan was adorable in all his Irish charm. Once he got over his initial beastly instincts of their first meet, he proved a gentleman, also very intelligent, and a great and attentive lover.
Unfortunately what could have been developed further into a great romance was then reduced to only sex scenes between the pair. They were meant to be working on a mystery, but did very little of that. So that was kind of a shame. And really, out of the whole book, considering this is essentially a romance novel, they were apart an awful lot. I think some of the time devoted to the mystery and world building could have been given to developing their relationship out of the bedroom.
Speaking of this mystery/conspiracy plot. It was not very well written at all. I got the main gist of what was going on, but after a while I found myself barely paying attention to it all. There were meetings of the leaders of the supernatural races which were little more than thinly veiled info dumping in the form of dialogue. And if you've read any other PNR this was nothing new or noteworthy- except perhaps for the addition of fox-women- so I started zoning out.
This all led up to a showdown of sorts, which fizzled into nothing. There was no real action, only a dull, suspense-less mystery, and some nice characters that were unfortunately wasted.
I will check out some reviews further into the series to see if things improve, but if not, I think I will be leaving this series here.
Wolf at the Door was a decent read. It started out slowly, but picked up the pace half-way through. It's basically about a group of fanatics who call themselves the Light of Truth, threatening to unveil the paranormal world of The Others. The Others are trying to find them before it's too late. I thought that the romance between Quinn (a lupine) and Cassidy (a foxwoman) was pretty bland. They were fine as characters, though they could have been a little more developed. I felt that there was no spark between them and I was told they feel in love, rather than shown. The plot was decent enough and I'll read the next one in the series. 3.5 stars
This was horrible, it was boring, I could care less and pretty soon I skimmed and then I mostly just jumped over pages to get to the end.
Not the book for me. Do not ask me to say more..sigh.
Fine Quinn was totally rapey at first. The girl whatever her name was, was lame. I mean what the? Stand up for yourself and kick him in the nuts or something.
Then some blah blah was going on. Dunno what happened but I never connected to anything at all.
I did not get far into this book as the main character, a werewolf, was that sexist pig arrogant ass type of character that I really despise as a so called romantic hero. He is rude, annoying and there is nothing to like about him at all. When I don't like the main characters, I can rarely get interested in the book itself and I lost interest in this story very quickly.
Warren writes well in the light-hearted scenes but when it comes to anything plot driven it's tedius. She does make use of great myths that most paranormal writers over-look and so I'd be interested in books where those entities are the lead characters. Without that edge, this isn't anything special.
I thought this was lame. I think some writers go overboard with the 'instant lust' thing. I found pants-tightening, Honeysuckle screaming hero a crude boor. I didn't like it that he chased the heroine when they first meet. The story simply failed to engage me, and since I have many more books to read than I have time, I'm moving on.
So far I am not impressed! I am about a quarter through and nothing is happing. Quinn or Cassidy haven't told me much of themselves, neither do I care at this point what they are up to. I like to give an author a chance to catch my attention and make me want to turn the page. So far I've forced myself to, but If things don't pick up soon I'll add this to my 'started and didn't finish shelf.
Within the first 20 pages I was a little bored with this book, but thought I would keep reading on. However once I got to chapter 6 I just couldn't keep reading. Quinn wasn't interesting, Cassie seemed like a little girl. This one just wasn't for me.
Why this kind books so often have such over top characters and idiotic plotlines.
For example strange man attacks and nearly rapes you, how you react. Of course you drool after him, because he has such animalistic magnetism. I only can say oh god why!!!
Sullivan Quinn (goes by Quinn) is intrigued by Cassidy Poe before he sets eyes on her. Her scent leads him on a chase, and once they actually meet it doesn't go as planned.
Still, there is no denying the attraction, so when they are tasked to work together that quickly heats up more.
As a couple they face challenges since they are from different shift types. Her grandma is against her mating with anyone, but a human (or anyone she deems lower than them), and his family has always mated with lupine shifters.
This time it's too bad. Her scent driving him crazy means more than he wants to admit, but he really doesn't have a choice and everyone else will just have to bite it.
Overall I liked this story, but I assumed that there was going to be more intrigue considering what they were searching for.
Sullivan Quinn can shred my sheets any day of the week... Christine Warren did it again with all the sex appeal, and excitement a girl could want. Between the impending reveal of the others to the human world and Cassidy's heartache between loving Quinn and the fact he is headed down the same path as her parents. Wolf at the Door is just amazing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Sometimes, I like nothing more than an easy read that will probably have a good ending, especially when it comes with paranormal romance. WOLF AT THE DOOR caught my eye because the romantic story seemed like fun and because the paranormal story sounded intriguing. It lived up to my expectation and I thought it was an enjoyable and satisfying read.
I also picked up the book because the blurb at the back of the book said “Christine Warren’s spellbinding new series takes you into the enthralling world of the others…”, so I assumed it was the first book of a series. I was wrong. After reading a few chapters, I kept getting the impression some of the characters had had a story written about them already, and I confirmed this later by checking online. It’s actually the ninth book of the series. I felt a bit mislead by the back of the book since I usually like to read series in order, whenever possible. I think it has something to do with a marketing thing, this being the first book the publisher actually came out with, but still, the truth would have been nice right from the start.
Despite that little blunder, the book can absolutely be read as a stand alone. The story holds on it’s own and I really liked being introduced to the Others, which refers to any types of paranormal beings including vampires, weres, witches and demons. The main story focuses on the probable exposure of Others to the general human population. Others have always tried to live in hiding because of witch trials and other mass murdering events of the past. But now, since the human servant of a vampire has been kidnapped by fanatics trying to expose them as bad guys, some Others feel like it’s time to reveal themselves to human in order to avoid as much bloodshed and prejudice as possible. Werewolf Quinn totally believes in the Unveiling and can’t wait to be able to live in an accepting society. However, anthropologist and Foxwoman Cassidy Poe believes revealing themselves to humans will be the Salem Witch Trials all over again.
Obviously their disagreement creates a lot of initial tensions but since Cassidy and Quinn are so attracted to each other, they try to work together to find out more about the kidnappers and their crazy fanatical sect. The scenes with Cassidy and Quinn are really fun to read because of their intense chemistry and their quirky lines. These scenes are definitively the highlight of the book, especially the scene where they first meet and they end up naked a few seconds later. I really liked how their relationship blossomed, and even if it felt a little quick, it didn’t seem forced despite their “animal instincts”.
Despite my initial confusion with the book, I think this series is definitively worth investigating. If the other books are anything like this one and have memorable characters like Quinn and Cassidy, I’m definitively in. There’s nothing like a good paranormal romance, and for a older release, this book was a good surprise.
Werewolf Sullivan Quinn travels to New York City to warn the members of the council of Others that the secret of their existence is about to be revealed to humanity. He never suspects that he will meet his mate and his match in Cassidy Poe, a Foxwoman and an anthropologist. Soon Quinn and Cassidy must work together against a foe that seeks to destroy everything they know and love.
A steamy romance with witty banter and laugh-out-loud moments.
This is a well-written and light-hearted read with detailed characterization. Quinn is simply gorgeous and has the cutest Irish mannerisms. Cassidy is intelligent and spunky, and their chemistry sizzles.
The focus of the book is mainly on the romance and it is a pity that most of the author’s efforts were put into developing the main characters backgrounds and motivations rather than investing in the world building. The secondary cast includes a variety of supernatural characters from various mythologies, and while they are intriguing in their own right, they are not sufficiently developed. I can only assume that some of them will make appearances in later installments of the series.
The conspiracy plot is the weakest point as, despite its potential, it never manages to get off the ground and the final confrontation is rushed. While the ending is not exactly a cliffhanger, it is a little up-in-the-air and lackluster. In my opinion, the book lacks an epilogue in which Quinn takes Cassidy home to “meet the parents”.
On the whole, Wolf at the Door is thoroughly entertaining and I look forward to continuing with the series.
I really enjoyed this book. It was funny, smart, and had a smoking hot wolf-shifter as the Hero. I actually really enjoyed the heroine as well. She was smart and had some great snarky commments and inner dialogue.
I like the idea of the preternatural community working together under the term "Others". It gave a sort of oneness that I think is missing sometimes in PNR. I like seeing witches and vampires and shifter, OH MY!
I actually would have given this 5 stars if not for one thing...EDITING! I am read the kindle edition, and I have to say that I was very disappointed. There were MANY misspellings, incorrect or missing punctuations, and incorrect grammar. I really felt like it detracted me from the story each time. It was too many mistakes to overlook. And actually, I had downgraded a review I had given of another book because of a few mistakes, and I am going to be adding a star back because this will be my new level of badness that I will be judging all of my other e-books by. It's a shame really because the book is so very good otherwise.
Because of that. I will give the next book in the series a shot. If it is still bad, I think I may have to send a letter to the publisher.
OK, off the soap box now. I would recommend this to people who like comedic PNR, but who won't get really distracted by the lack of editing. If it will really bother you, this book will just be frustrating (in e-book form, I can not attest to the paperback version).
I couldn't decide between a 3.5 or a 4. I settled on a 4 because I LOVE the world that Christine Warren has created.
The "others" meaning, the were creatures, vamps, fae, demons ect have been hidden from the humans for thousands of years. NOW, they're existence is threatening to be known and some WANT to be known to the humans, they think it's time to co exist in the open, and some of the others DO NOT.........here's where the story starts.
A bit of a slow start, but the characters and the world being built in this first book is WONDERFUL.
The main characters in this book are Quinn and Cassidy. Quinn is an Irish Lupine visiting from Ireland to try and convince the council of the "others" that it's time to reveal themselves to the world. There is a secret group of humans (who are aware of the "others") and are doing nasty things to try and FORCE the "others" out of hiding. The European group of the "others" thinks it's time to unveil themselves and not to be forced.
Then we have Lil miss Cassidy Poe, the granddaughter (and foxwoman) of a very high ranking political figure on the "others" council. She's also an anthropologist and a world renowned authority on social interaction.
The sparks fly all over the place when these two meet the first time and that first meeting was a doozy!
The book is supported by really great secondary, funny, off the wall,characters that I can't wait to read THEIR books and more about the world that's been created.
There was a lot I did like about this book. There was the author's voice, which was fun. I liked the world with all the different supernatural races, the snarky dialogue and the characters. None of it is new to PNR but it's presented in a fun way.
So why the low rating? First, there were a lot of typos in my ebook. It looked like a bad scan to me rather than bad writing but if the publisher isn't willing to spend the time on some basic proofreading then that's not my problem. I was willing to let that go but then I got to the end and without a spoiler I'll just say one character does a complete 180 on their world view and there's no explanation for it. In fact, I went back and re-read parts of the book to see if I missed or forgot a certain conversation. I didn't find it. This wasn't a minor point, it was critical to the plot and this character was vocal on a number of occasions about which side of the debate she was on. So when others are talking like she's on the opposite side, it really threw me out of the story. Since it was pretty close to the end it really stuck out for me.
Despite the 2* rating I'll definitely read other books in this series. My issue could very well be with just this one book. There's enough here I liked that I do want to check out more.
Although I couldn't help with the comparisons to Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhoue series, I really did enjoy this book.
Our female lead, is smart, sarcastic, and can turn into a fox. A real fox. Cassidy is one of the few foxwomen in the world, and is busy trying to live up to her grandmother's expectations in the political world of the supernaturals Warren terms "Others".
The male lead is an Irish wolf, who upon smelling Cassidy's honeysuckle scent is immediately attracted to her, and spends the remainder of the book chasing her down.
There is a lot, (perhaps too much?) build up between the two before they first get together in the horizontal sence. But once I was about half way through the book, I couldn't put it down. It was a great series setup and I could pinpoint lots of characters I would love to find out more about, and an entire group of Other Hating Religious Zealots that need to be taken down.
Now if the lead character would stop saying "Shite" and I can get past the Sookie similarities...it would have been great.
i read this book on a whim and i was happy i did, i found this book highly entertaining. i havent read anyting from this author before and i was very pleased that this book was along my line of books i like to read.... the main characters in this book are a hoot, have a ball reading this book its a must read. the story line was great from start to finish. it was easy to read and written very very well, the sex sence and very very well written(and hot), its more then just sex in this book there a conection between the 2 main characters and oh thank all that is unholly the words COCK and PUSSY are only used about 2 times through the whole book.the sex sence in the show, hot..the ending was good but it make me want to read the next book in the series to see if they go through with showing the world that the other exist(i just gave away the end fuck, but i dont care). makes me all giddy to think what will in the next book... as you can see i reconmended this book to all.. sorry i dont give any thing away in my reviews.. so if you want to know more read the book
Wolf at the Door by Christine Warren is a steamy paranormal romance with fun dialogue and characters that quickly won me over as they struggle to discover who is behind the attacks, creating a sense of danger and suspense, and making this a novel you want on your reading list.
This book didn't work for me. I found the plot weak and the heroine annoying. She spends the last third of the book stamping her foot and bleating "Where is my Nana?" I am not kidding.
On the positive side, I liked the hero, though I couldn't figure out his attraction to the heroine. He falls into insta-love and the author forgoes development of the relationship in favor of the "you-are-my-mate" device. Sad face.
Sex scenes were very well done, which made it easy to believe that the H/H were at least sexually compatible. I just couldn't get over the lack of personality and whining of the heroine.
This book does work as a standalone; you don't need to read earlier books to follow the plot of this one.
So I have had this book sitting in my tbr stack for probably close to a year and I finally decided to give it a shot for a reading challenge and I'm glad I did. For the first book in a series it was very good, there is some romance, well lust really, at first, then some intrigue, mystery, then some serious romance, culminating in a happy ending for the main characters, at least thus far. I enjoyed this first book, it's a nice easy read and I'm looking forward to the next one in the series... unfortunatley i don't have that sitting in my stack so have to "hunt" it down ;);)
I'm beginning to think that Warren's 'Others' series is hit-and-miss for me. I liked Walk on the Wild Side and Big Bad Wolf, but others (pun intended?), like this one just haven't been great. In fact, I struggled to finish it. It started off good, with some sexual tension, but then it just fell flat. The characters weren't that interesting, I felt the heroine ended up being a bit too easy after her initial reaction and the story wasn't all that entertaining. Also, Quinn's Irish brogue was awful - adding boyo in his vocabulary does not an Irishman make.
I may have given this book a low score because I missed the first 8 in the series. I may be willing to give it a better shot if I read the first one, and then we'll see how it goes from there. Until then, my verdict stands.
Update: I read the first book and I refuse to give any better ratings. The series is absolutely low IQ reading. If you just want to read sex, read the first of this series "One Bite with a Stranger." She's trying to be witty, but fails miserably, about like trying to give a "talk to the hand" but end up with a face palm instead.
Two things first. I got this inn audio book form and my biggest problem was the narrator. She was very choppy. The next thing was on the case of the audio book it said it was the first book. And it wasn't until I went to get the next book in the series did I find out that was not the case. I will deffently read the other books in the series. I really liked the characters and the story. And if I am correct I may be lucky because this book did read like a stand alone book. So hopefully I am not too far ahead. But it should not be too hard. I deffently think I found a new author to read.
Disappointed. I didn't realize when this book was published. I loved MaryJanice Davidson and her Undead series especially but at one point they just became bad and this book was written after that in that universe. Even though the main characters are different, her writing style is still more chaotic and like she just gave up wondering what people think reading it. I used to love how funny and relatable the characters were and there were bits of that in this but overshadowed by over-the-top bits.