Tempting Danger by Eileen Wilks
Series: World of the Lupi #1
Published by Berkley
Published on: October 5th, 2004
Genres: Paranormal Romance, Werewolves
Pages: 301
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed
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Lily Yu is a San Diego police detective investigating a series of grisly murders that appear to be the work of a werewolf. To hunt down the killer, she must infiltrate the clans. Only one man can help her--a were named Rule Turner, a prince of the lupi, whose charismatic presence disturbs Lily. Rule has his own reasons for helping the investigation--reasons he doesn't want to share with Lily.
Tempting Danger takes the cake for Most Bland Title A Paranormal Romance Author Could Use. Was there not some distinctive location or activity involving weres that could have been slapped on the cover? Anyways title beside, this read efficiently and competently – with a fair share of delightfulness thrown in (more on that below) – establishes a U.S. with its fair share of were and magic problems.
Lily, the eye of the storm, a police detective with a dark past, is drawn into a case that is more than it at first appears to be. Note: “eye of storm” cliche, check ; “dark past” cliche, check ; “case that is more than it appears to be” cliche, check. A sea of cliche and now to make the difference?
It is the pacing, particularly the jumps in time, that make this read pro as a centuries old were. One may say this read is a master of shifting, a rapid read (patent pending).
And now to the eye candy. Lily’s house cat, a stray named Dirty Harry, stole the show as he fought, in his catty ways, the werewolf love interest for supremacy. This spirited clash was a stroke of genius and forever changed the way I will view animal and were relations, especially when it comes to cats. Of course, within this interaction, there is plenty to be built on in future installments. It nearly demands an entire narrative arc to walk through this brilliant congruence, Werewolf Meets Housecat.
As far as enjoying characters aside from the cat, Lily’s love interest and the cat’s rival, Rule Turner, stayed bland, a coffee fanatic playboy who loves opera. But his off-the-wall friend, Cullen Seaborne, said the darnedest things. Also when it came to the weave of the Fates, Cullen was handed a frittered strand throughout. This must have kept him interesting as well.
But let us not lose sight of the bigger picture. Police procedural, this is. The case(s) at the heart of this read engage the reader as much as Lily. No motives are spoonfed. And just because the clues strongly suggest one order of events, it doesn’t mean this order is anywhere close to the truth. Thus one may deem the happenstances raw, just the way an audience of weres like ’em.
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| Recommended: | Highly |
| Like this, like that: | The Tales of an Urban Werewolf series by Karen MacInerney and the Blades of the Rose series by Zoe Archer |
I’ve read a book in the series but not the first one, I need to read more, and mainly this one. Glad it’s good!
Sounds interesting, but I totally agree about the title.
I really love this series. I think it’s one of the most underrated ones out there, but the titles are downright horrible. Absolutely nothing about them stands out and I can never remember them from one book to the next. Book 9 (I think) has just been released and I couldn’t tell you a single other title in the series.