This book is Book One of Armstrong’s “Women of the Otherworld” series. I enjoyed it enough to want to read Book Two.
Elena is a conflicted woman. She is caught between two worlds, and has not yet decided just where she wants to be. One world she shares with Philip, her long term boyfriend. They share an apartment, have normal jobs that pay well enough, and normal lives. Or so Philip thinks, anyway. Elena has another world, that she is keeping a secret from Philip. Elena is a werewolf.
Some years ago, when Elena was in college, she was bitten by a werewolf. She was bitten against her will by someone she thought she knew well, but who had not told her that he was a werewolf. She survived, and ever since then, has needed to Change into a werewolf from time to time. There is a Pack that she belongs to, but, Elena has mixed feelings about the Pack, how she feels about certain members of the Pack, (one in particular), and what life is like living with at Pack of other werewolves. This brings her to living in Toronto with Philip, and constantly hiding all traces of her secret from him.
Then, something happens, and the Alpha of the Pack calls her back, expecting her help. This is where things get sticky. How long can Elena keep Philip from finding out what she really is? What will his reaction be when he finds out? What exactly does she feel for one member of the Pack, who was her lover before Philip? The Pack is in danger, and Elena must help to protect them. While lots of drama surrounds her, Elena start to question her life, and her ideas about family, love, happiness, and what it means to have a “normal” life.
I think that Elena’s confusion is something we can all relate to. Many of us keep our “work life” and our “family life” as two distinct and separate entities. Also, like Elena, I think that many people have at one time or another tried to keep a love relationship going by always presenting only their best self to their lover, hoping he or she will never see one’s darker side, for fear of being rejected by this special person. In some ways, Elena is no different than many of us.
Armstrong’s presentation of “woman as werewolf” is very exciting. Elena is not only the main character, but she is strong, smart, fierce, and a survivor. I also found it interesting that Elena is the only female werewolf in the “universe” of this book, and the reason’s why that is so.
This book has lots of action, as one might expect from a book about werewolves. Some scenes detail what it’s like to view the world from the perspective of a wolf on a hunt. There are lots of fights, which are graphic, but not over the top. It is one of those books where as soon as one problem is resolved, the next one pops up, and the characters are running from one tragedy to the next. After about halfway through the book, it started to get a little repetitive, but still not entirely predictable.
If you like stories featuring strong female characters, you will enjoy this book. Its a little bit science fiction, a little bit romance novel, and a whole lot of action.
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