Heart of the Wolf
by Terry Spear
Sourcebooks, 2008, ISBN #978-1-4022-1157-7
Paranormal Romance
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Red werewolf Bela flees her adoptive pack of gray werewolves when the alpha male Volan tries forcibly to claim her as his mate. Her real love, beta male Devlyn, is willing to fight Volan to the death to claim her. That problem pales, however, as a pack of red werewolves takes to killing human females in a crazed quest to claim Bella for their own. Bella and Devlyn must defeat the rogue wolves before Devlyn’s final confrontation with Volan.
Bella is a rare red werewolf, who ran from her adoptive family of gray wolves back in the 1850s, because their alpha male wanted to claim her, the alpha female, as his mate. Preferring the pack beta male instead, but unwilling to cause them to fight for her and risk her favorite fella being killed, she takes off instead.
Fast forward to modern day, and Bella’s been found. First, she’s tranq’d and hauled off to the zoo as she was hunting in her wolf form. Then she’s stalked by the local pack of red wolves (who apparently she didn’t even know existed, despite having lived there for over a hundred years) and then she’s on the news and recognized by her old family, the grays. Who, naturally, haven’t forgotten about her and have been looking for her all along.
Bella escapes the zoo pen just in time to be snatched up by her favorite beta wolf, Devlyn, who is under orders to bring her home. To his alpha, Volan. And he’s determined to do it, despite the fact that he’s always wanted her for himself and never done anything about it. Top that off with a need for the duo to solve a mystery surrounding mysterious deaths in the area (because they are, of course, the best people for the job of covering up the info and stopping the predator in order to keep their wolf-world hidden), and this is a busy story.
First off, I was intrigued by hero being a beta. There are so very many romances that are all about the alpha, that it’s really refreshing to read about a different kind of man. Of course Devlyn has the makings to be alpha, he just hasn’t made his move to take on Volan in the past couple of hundred years.
There are quite a few plot weak spots, that kept this from being a total blast. Bella easily manages to go undetected for 150 years, but –wham! –suddenly everyone finds her, knows exactly what she is, and she doesn’t manage even a decent attempt to get away. She never really seems to trust Devlyn to be strong and take charge, and poor Devlyn just lets her keep running over him, despite getting angry and pouting. We’re told he can be an alpha, but he never really seems to shed that beta role, so it’s not credible. And, finally, the resolution with Volan just left me sad, that once again Bella couldn’t rust Devlyn to handle things.
I did, however, really enjoy some of the behavioral attributes the author built into her characters, that really seemed to demonstrate a lupine tendency. The heroine intimidates Old Red, the ancient wolf she’s penned in with at the zoo, she enjoys physical rough housing and isn’t shy about stomping around naked, which she’d do all the time as a wolf. I thought the author did a very good job in breathing life into these characters and showing us their personalities through a crazy quilt of human and wolf attributes.
Assessment: Recommended, an easy read. I did not purchase any additional titles from this author.
Notice: To comply FTC Guidelines, please be aware that this book was a publisher giveaway to participants of the RWA 2009 National Conference. In appreciation, I have decided to write a book review for each and indicate whether or not the book has prompted me to purchase backlist titles from the author.
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