Friday, September 2, 2011

Review: Motor City Wolf by Cindy Spencer Pape

 



Title: Motor City Wolf
Author: Cindy Spencer Pape
Series:: Urban Arcana #3 
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Carina Press
Number of Pages; O (EBOOK Only) 
Source: Netgalley
Release Date: 8/29/11 



Less than a year ago, Fianna Meadows was a pampered noble in the Faerie court. Then she was exiled, turned mortal and forced to work for a living—in a werewolf bar in Detroit, no less! Still, Fianna has to admit her new life isn't so bad…particularly when it comes to Greg Novak, the bar's sexy owner.For Greg, keeping his hands off Fianna has been a challenge. But his sense of honor won't let him get involved with a woman put in his care, even if Fianna is eager to explore her new feelings of lust. Resisting the temptation to claim her gets even harder when Greg's grandfather, the region's Alpha, orders him to marry and Fianna agrees to pretend to be his chosen mate.Fighting his attraction to Fianna isn't Greg's only problem. Someone is killing werewolves and attacking other paranormal beings in Detroit. He vows to do whatever it takes protect both his pack and Fianna—even if that means giving her up…(goodreads.com)


Motor City Wolf was a Netgalley find.  I didn't realize that this was apart of a series until I was about 20% through it on my kindle.  While I had no problem following the storyline without reading the previous books in the series, I found myself not caring about the heroines plight at all. In fact, the heroines story annoyed me to no end. Had I read book 2, Motor City Witch, where she plays a central part of the plot, I think I would have felt more sorry for her turning from an elf fae (as she calls herself) to human as punishment for what happened in bk 2. 


One of the things I really liked was that Fianna and Greg actually had a romance while trying to solve the mystery of who was murdering all things paranormal. The return of old characters was nice-and even though I didn't read the other books, I felt like I got their story without them overtaking the romance being told in this book. In fact, I liked the characters so much that I really want to go back and read their stories so I can get a better idea of the politics that went on in this story and why even though Fianna did this horrible thing at the end of book two, everyone was willing to forgive her in this book.

I almost wish I hadn't read this book after reading so many werewolf shapes hifter books in a row, because I also think that had a lot to with my annoyance at the characters in this book. For instance, one of my main annoyances was that Fianna  kept going on and on and on about how it felt to be human, how she missed using magic, and how unfair it was that she was punished to menial labor-working in a bar.  I  realize this was done because Fianna was pampered in her previous life, but it annoyed me how working with the public was considered punishment. (That's just the retail clerk in me speaking though. ( Greg also annoyed in the book because it seemed like every time they would be about to have sex, he would mention her cycle-and then explained it to her in detail, which I guess makes sense because she is a newly made human, but it bothered me that it was mentioned so much.

This was a fast read, and it was unfortunate that I read this book after reading about 7 or so shape shifter romances and I think that alone made it hard for me to really warm up to this book like I would have otherwise. As I said earlier, this does look like a cute series, and I want to go back and read books one and two at some point.  For those of you who haven't read a lot of paranormal romance, this is a great series to get started on. While there is magic involved and the like, it's not overwhelming and you never actually see the werewolf transformation happen, though it's talked about.  Motor City Wolf has a lot of potential and I'd like to read it again when I haven't read so many pnr's in a row. 

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