Monday, November 1, 2010

ARC Review: The Taming of the Wolf by Lydia Dare



Title: The Taming of the Wolf
Author: Lydia Dare
Series: Westfield Brothers #4
Publication Date: November 2nd, 2010 
Number of Pages: 372
*Sent to me by the publisher to read*







Lord Dashiel Thorpe has fought his true nature his entire life, but whenever the moonlight proves too powerful, Dashiel is unable to control the werewolf within him. It is on one such moonlit night that Dashiel accidentally bites the beautiful Scottish witch, Caitrin McLeod. Though now bound to him irrevocably, Cait decides that she wants nothing to do with him. When she flees to her native Scotland, Dashiel has no choice but to follow her and convince her that it was nothing short of destiny that has bound them together body and soul. (From GoodReads)

This book completely charmed me. No one was more surprised then me when I started this book and  found myself unwilling to put it down. I read almost the entire book in one night. I probably shouldn't  admit this,  but I had such a hard time getting through Tall, Dark & Wolfish and The Wolf Next Door that I kept waiting for something to happen to make me not like this one as well. Something funny happened though-nothing happened! I loved the entire book. The writing style reminded me a lot of the first book in the series, A Certain Wolfish Charm.


In Tall, Dark and Wolfish Caitrin played a pretty large role in keeping the hero, Lord Benjamin and the heroine Elspeth from being together. It's safe to say that she annoyed the crap out of me. I thought that she was a little over the top in her dislike of Lord Benjamin.  She was a little more likable in The Wolf Next Door, but not much. When I learned that this book featured her, I wasn't sure I would be able to read it. However, everything I didn't like about her in the previous books (her stubbornness, one-mindedness, etc.)  I loved in this one. I thought she was the perfect match for the hero, Lord Dashiel.I wasn't too thrilled about the hero in this one either. In The Wolf Next Door, Dashiel made a very boring villain. I skimmed the last 100 pages of the book because I was so bored with him. However, in this book he makes a wonderful hero. He's witty, stubborn and won't give up on winning Caitrin. The two together made a perfect couple. 

This storyline was more about the boy winning the girl and not being afraid of who you are then the past books, which had more to do with the hero covering up his secret that he was a werewolf. In this book Caitrin already knew Dashiel was one, so it was all about romance-which is maybe why I liked it better then the last two I read.

The only thing I had a problem with this book was that one of the storylines had to do with setting up the next book. It didn't make sense to me why a certain character (I don't want to say who or what for fear of giving to much of it away) was thrown into the storyline until I saw on Amazon that there was another book after this one. It didn't have a synopsis but judging from it's title I'm guessing it had to do with this character being thrown in the story and the  unresolved storyline that went along with it.  All in all though, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading more from Lydia Dare.


I could have sworn when I looked on Goodreads last week it said this book was a stand alone, but now it's saying it's book 4 in the Westfield Brothers Series. The Westfield Brothers make a brief cameo in this book, and like all series it helps if you read the other ones in the series (esp book 2) but this one really can be read without reading the others in the series.
My meters are all low-but I think it's because I'm just used to Urban Fantasy Heroes and Heroines  I still enjoyed this book. :) 

Curran Crush Meter: Low
Barrons Hero Hotness Meter: Low 
Ethan/Merit Sizzle Meter: Low 
Rhiannon Kick Ass Heroine Meter: Medium 
Sigh Meter: Low