Heart of the Winter Wolf by Dani Harper

TITLE: Heart of the Winter Wolf
AUTHOR: Dani Harper
PUBLISHER: New Concepts Publishing
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 111k)
GENRE: Werewolf romance
COST: $6.49

Veterinarian Jillian Descharme has dreamed of a white wolf nearly all her adult life. When the opportunity to take a job that seems too good to be true arises, she takes it and moves across Canada, hoping that she’ll eventually get the opportunity to study wolves in the wild. She is surprised to soon discover that the wolf of her dreams has followed her – literally. An encounter on a hike has her grateful for his continued presence, but along with it comes an encounter with the reserved James Macleod, the long-lost brother of her boss. What she doesn’t realize is that the wolf and James are one and the same, or that her life is about to change forever.

I think the key word for this review is “otherwise.” In thinking over the various elements, I find myself facing flaws in most of them, flaws that I’d consider serious in other stories, but then almost immediately qualify it with an, “…otherwise…”

The prose, for instance. Harper’s writing is dense with detail, and her pacing is slow and even. It draws you in for a languorous comfort read, but then, out of the blue about halfway through the book, there’s a section of headhopping and just such poorly edited prose that it jars you out of the story. But it doesn’t last long, thankfully, and then you’re drawn back into the story, falling in love with the characters when…it happens again. There are a few instances of this scattered throughout the latter half of the book, and the quality of those chapters is so distinctly lower than the rest of the story that you can’t help but notice. Otherwise, it’s rich and vivid, a serious, thorough approach to a tale that demands such attention.

Then there’s the hero. James has suffered tragedy. His wife and unborn child were murdered for being married to him, and he was too late to save them. Injured himself, he retreated into his wolf persona for decades, only coming out when Jillian enters the picture. Now, the author takes her time drawing all this out, giving his tragedy the time it needs in order to heal. James is understandably withdrawn and reluctant to enter another relationship, but I’ll be honest. The constant flipflopping – I can’t be with her followed by a wonderful moment of some sort followed again by James withdrawing – gets tedious after awhile. I’m not saying it’s not warranted. But when the middle section is all about character/relationship building and not action, it gets to be too much for me. Otherwise, James is solid and attractive, worthy of any romantic hero mantle.

Now Jillian is my favorite part of the story. This is a woman who’s had her own share of tragedy, but rather than wallow and retreat as James did, she took the comfort she received from her white wolf and used it to forge a better future for herself. She doesn’t falter in the face of difficulty. If anything, it makes her stronger. She’s independent, almost too independent sometimes, but not without her feminine side. There’s a lot to really like about Jillian, and like her I did.

In spite of the obvious flaws, I was fully prepared to absolutely love the story until the ending let me down. Oh, don’t get me wrong. It’s romantic, and an HEA, and anybody wanting closure is absolutely going to get it. What didn’t work for me was just how perfect it was. Because ultimately, what I was getting throughout the story was that the world wasn’t perfect. That bad things happen. That it’s okay for things not to be perfect as long as you stick together and work through it and hang in there for the other side. I loved that realism – even if it was an unreal world of werewolves. I guess I’m disappointed slightly because the ending – to me – didn’t stay true to the tone of the rest of the book. It was too much goodness, if that makes sense.

Otherwise, it was a very satisfying read. Thank you, Teddypig, for the recommendation!

Readability	7/10 – A few sections in serious need of editing and a midsection that drags hinder otherwise very readable prose
Hero	8/10 – Maybe he angsts just a little bit too much, but in light of what he endures, it’s understandable. Otherwise, he’s solid and attractive
Heroine	9/10 – Strong and intelligent, without forgetting she has flaws.
Entertainment value	8/10 – An ending a little too sweet for the tone of the rest of the story mars what was otherwise a really enjoyable read.
World building	10/10 – The detail in this is thorough and nicely painted, without leaving questions unanswered in the end.
TOTAL:	42/50

The Thief of Mardu by Marie Harte

TITLE: The Thief of Mardu
AUTHOR: Marie Harte
PUBLISHER: New Concepts Publishing
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 40k)
GENRE: Sci-fi erotic romance
COST: $4.50

When a statesman is murdered, bounty hunter Catam of Mardu gets sucked into helping his peacemaker brother track down the thief who did it. What he doesn’t expect is the almost violent sexual attraction to thief Isa Araye, or her vehement protestations about her innocence. Her story sounds all too plausible, so together, they work to prove she was set up to take the fall. And have a little bit of fun while they do it.

Marie Harte is one of the handful of authors I’ve reviewed so far on this blog that interested me enough to go look at her other published works. When I couldn’t find a third new release that interested me enough to buy this week, I picked one of her older titles that sounded like I might enjoy it. The result was very interesting.

According to the copyright, the book’s two years old, and trust me, it shows. Where Tied and True was easy to read with few errors, The Thief of Mardu has distinct head-hopping throughout the book – almost always the mark of a beginner – and florid prose when writing sex scenes that make it look like the author’s trying too hard. Referring to a pussy as “woman’s fruit” is just too purple for me, though thankfully, she only used that one once or twice. On top of that, because the story is sci-fi/fantasy/futuristic-based, almost everybody has an unusual name. Catam. Nu Fas. Rantak. Then there’s all the place names she makes up. Ragga. Mardu. Nebe6. And yes, that’s a 6 in that name. Normally, this wouldn’t be a bad thing, but she throws all of them out there – without explanation most of the time – almost all at the same time. There’s little time to adjust, and for somebody coming into this universe she’s created for the first time, it’s too much. She has other stories set in this same milieu, but she doesn’t do herself any favors of coaxing new readers if she can’t make each one as easy as possible to understand.

When the sex isn’t weighed down with heavy-handed words, there are glimmers of the hot eroticism that her later work carries. Her heroine in this is just as likable as Lindsay in Tied and True, too. I do have to give Ms. Harte credit for learning as much as she has in the past two years. That’s the sign of an author who’s interested in a real career. It also means that the books I want to keep an eye on are the ones she’s got coming out in the future, not the ones she’s already written.

Readability	4/10 – Head-hopping, unclear terminology, and florid prose doesn’t make it the best read.
Heroine	7/10 – Spunky and likable.
Hero	6/10 – Heroes with enhanced sexual abilities have a tendency to turn me off. Catam was no exception.
Entertainment value	5/10 – I’m left with a feeling “meh” when I’m done
World building	4/10 – I’m sure this is a rich world she’s building, but there’s too much information in too short a book to make it work as a standalone.
TOTAL:	26/50

Shadow Vision by Samantha Storm

TITLE: Shadow Vision
AUTHOR: Samantha Storm
PUBLISHER: New Concepts Publishing
LENGTH: Long novella (roughly 36k)
GENRE: Paranormal romance
COST: $3.99

Friday Maxwell is a Demon Killer, or rather, a Demon Killer in training. When she is ambushed on the way home, her savior turns out to be a mysterious Van Spencer, with an attitude as thick as molasses and a grandmother who reads Tarot cards. Her life quickly becomes entangled with his, and they join forces, albeit reluctantly, to save a group of children from the same demons that destroyed Friday’s DK group.

While the blurb for this long novella sounded like most of the other urban fantasies out there right now, the excerpt that was posted on the site was too entertaining not to try. The entire story is written in 1^st person, a common feature in this type of kickass heroine story, and while sometimes it’s obvious the author doesn’t really have a handle on it, Ms. Storm does surprisingly well. Her heroine Friday is funny and astute, without being obnoxious about it. She gets her way through action scenes with aplomb and takes the reader along for the ride.

Where the story is let down is in its editing. There are numerous errors that should have been caught prior to publication, including one that’s unintentionally hilarious when, at the climax of a sex scene, Friday reflects, I felt another organism building inside me. I don’t want to think she’s all of a sudden Ripley, and an alien is going to rip out of her chest.

This story is an urban fantasy first, and a romance second, which is likely why the characterization of Van, Friday’s unwilling partner, doesn’t get the same attention Friday’s does. As an action figure, he’s intriguing to watch. His taciturn behavior on the down time, however, makes it very difficult to form a solid opinion about him.

While an enjoyable afternoon read, what this story really needed to be a truly great book was to be about twice its length in order to give Van more time to develop and the plot to smooth out and make more sense. The ending makes it clear the author intends this to be a series, so I hope she doesn’t shortchange her stories in the future. It’s okay to write longer stories when the plot and characters merit it. Let’s hope the author realizes she’s got a heroine who’s worth it.

Readability	7/10 – An entertaining author’s voice gets spoiled by unfortunate editing.
Hero	6/10 – Great as an action figure, but when it comes to personality, a little lacking.
Heroine	9/10 – Kickass, sassy, and likeable with a sense of humor.
Entertainment value	7/10 – An entertaining heroine kept me involved, but editing issues and jumps in plot that came out of nowhere pulled me enough out of the story not to have this higher.
World building	7/10 – 1st person stories are hard with detail, though this succeeds on a small level. Where this lacks is the history/explanation of all the paranormal elements, leaving a reader to scratch her head more than once.
TOTAL:	36/50