Skip to main content

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Elena Michaels is determined to go it alone. She doesn't need the pack. She doesn't need Clay, the werewolf who misled her, made her believe he loved her, and then turned her into one of them without her permission, without even telling her what he was. To make matters worse, it turns out she's the only female werewolf in the world. That's right. Elena's the Only One and so not interested in dealing with the inevitable "attention" this brings her way. So she leaves the pack and moves to Toronto where she gets a job as a journalist and finds a nice, normal boyfriend to cuddle with. Problem is, she can't outrun her past and she can't escape the call of the wolf.

Her troubles intensify when the pack needs her help and Jeremy, the Alpha, calls her home to help them solve a string of grisly murders. They suspect some mutts (rogue wolves) of causing the mayhem and Elena's specialty just happens to be tracking mutts. Unable to refuse Jeremy's summons, Elena reluctantly returns to the compound in upstate New York. Gritting her teeth in anticipation of the welcome she'll receive. Turns out Clay's been waiting for her this whole time, insisting he's still in love with her and always has been. Elena's pretty sure she's still in love with him, too. But none of this stops them from bickering like teenagers and snarling at each other every chance they get.

The scenes where members of the pack interact as a motley, roughhousing family are extremely well done. As are Elena's painful transformations from human to wolf form. The undeniable sense of freedom and belonging she feels back with the pack is vivid and tangible and I found myself wrapped up in finding out the fate of these vulnerable, larger-than-life characters. Elena's external and internal conflicts were well-plotted and compelling and the book builds strongly toward an intense showdown between the pack and the mutts. Only in the last few pages is anything resolved and, unfortunately, I felt the internal conflict was wrapped up entirely too quickly. Elena and Clay's relationship was wonderfully messy and complicated, with layer upon layer of distrust and longing. The book itself was almost 400 pages and trying to clean the mess up in just the last six pages left me dissatisfied and upset. I liked the whole tangled web and felt it deserved a more careful treatment in the end. I am currently still wrestling over whether or not to pick up the sequel, Stolen.

Links
BookLoons Review
Trashionista Review
Twisted Kingdom Review
Labels:

Comments

  1. Delia D'Nell4:38 PM

    I liked this book, but I agree with you about cleaning up the relationship too quickly at the end. I am going to read the 2nd book...I just want to see if she does a better job. Thanks for the recommendation!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Angiegirl5:01 PM

    I'm glad you enjoyed it (for the most part). I still haven't been able to bring myself to read book 2, so be sure to let me know what you think.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

Angie's 2025 Must Be Mine

  As ever, begin as you mean to go on. And so here are my most anticipated titles of 2025: And we're still waiting for covers on these, but I'm just as excited for each of them: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 9 by Beth Brower Wish You Were Here by Jess K. Hardy Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher Pitcher Perfect by Tessa Bailey Father Material by Alexis Hall Alchemised by SenLinYu Breakout Year by K.D. Casey What titles are on your list?
2 comments
Read more

Interview with Diana Peterfreund + Rampant Giveaway!

Ever since I fell in love with Diana Peterfreund 's Secret Society Girl series last year, I've been hoping I'd get the chance to interview her here. Tomorrow marks the release of her new novel, Rampant , and let me tell you that you have not read a book like this before. You can read my review here , but all you really need to know is that it's a story about killer unicorns and the young women who hunt them. You want to read it now, don't you? Oh, yeah, and it's YA and the first in a series! To celebrate the release, Diana graciously answered a few of my most burning questions. As she is always a delight, I know you'll enjoy them as much as I did. First things first: When did the idea for Rampant first hit you and what (if anything) did you know right off the bat? In early 2005, just after selling Secret Society Girl , I had this dream of being chased by a very dangerous unicorn. I woke up and went to go look it up to see if I could figure out the meanin...
120 comments
Read more

Review | The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vols. 1 & 2 by Beth Brower

I feel a bit giddy finally talking to you all about this series. If you'll remember, I fell madly in love with The Q  when it came out a few years ago. Now, Beth Brower is writing The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion — a series of novellas set in London in 1883. Each volume is an excerpt from the incorrigible Emma's journals, and the first two volumes are already available with the third on the way soon. I think they'd make rather perfect pandemic reading. Humorous and charming down to their bones, they're just what the doctor ordered to lift your spirits in this uncertain time that just proves to be too much some days. If you're experiencing one of those days, I suggest giving Volume 1   a go (it's only 99 cents on Kindle, $4.99 for a trade paperback copy). It will surprise exactly none of you that I own print and digital editions of both volumes.  Miss Emma M. Lion has waited long enough. Come hell or high water (and really, given her track record,  both a...
4 comments
Read more