Dance of the Wolf

I loved this book. The series is great. It is a book and series to get.

When his best friend Dr. Charles Watkins vanishes after using Dallas' hottest nightclub Fantasies as a spot to help the poor, Dr. Jared Gies investigates his disappearance. He is a bit surprised when he hits owner Elena Cabrera with his car, but she insists she is okay as she needs to find Charles who she recently fired when she saw him change into a monstrous werewolf; her fear is he harmed her reliable dancer Damien who is missing. Jared is stunned as he wants her immediately, but he knows first his inquiry then his libido. Elena is worried about Damien too as he has been reliable since she hired him to replace the monster. Charles Watkins. Elena reciprocates Jared's desires, but is wary also as two of her dancers have recently been killed. Still she and Giles agree to team up on an investigation into who is the predator. As they fall in love, Jared knows they have no future together as he would have to reveal that his lone wolf is not a shapeshifting act Elena creates this totally enthralling and enjoyable paranormal romantic suspense with amateur sleuth elements. She is courageous as she refuses to back down from the Pack (see CRY OF THE WOLF and TOUCH OF THE WOLF), a clever killer, nor love. Werewolf romance fans will enjoy Karon Whiddon's latest tale. Harriet Klausner

Dance of the Wolf is the latest (8th?) entry in Karen Whiddon's Pack series. Wolf-Shifter Dr. Jared Gies really knows how to make a lasting impression, he knocks lovely strip club owner Elena Cabrera off her feet -- literally, using his car, oops. Though Jared's dormant wolf is stirred by the proximity of Elena who seems to be his mate, Jared isn't looking for a mate -- in fact since he's been crippled by a car accident he's not allowed to claim one. Jared's looking for his missing friend, also a shifter, who disappeared after revealing his true nature to Elena. But little does Elena realize that her club is a magnet for the otherworldly, shifters and vamps both, and even though Elena may be in denial about the existence of werewolves, someone else believes and is killing the shifters among her dancers. At the beginning of the story I was a tiny bit disappointed with Dance of the Wolf because the plot reuses a few major elements from her short story "Soul of the Wolf" (Beyond The Dark: Forever MineHaunt MeSoul Of The Wolf (The Pack, Book 3) (Silhouette Signature Select)anthology): Elena's rejection of Jared's friends' wolf to make Jared hesitant about revealing himself to her and the underlying reason for the shifters' deaths -- though the method and motivation for the murders are different. But Elena and Jared and the development of their relationship was new, and since Dance of the Wolf is not a short story there was more time to overcome the additional obstacles of Jared's handicap and to take him from a loner curmudgeon to a man who is totally vulnerable to rejection should Elena not be able to overcome her fears. I liked the way that Jared points out her prejudice to Elena, who as a Latina apparently doesn't like the thought of that at all and it was fun watching Elena's eyes open and her attitudes shift when she realizes that the many of the employees that she has mothered are the `monsters' that she thinks she should fear. The suspense elements of the story were okay, but probably don't hold together all that well under closer inspection, but I tend to focus on the characters and the relationships myself so it didn't really bother me. I have to admit that I have a soft spot for Whiddon's Pack, they were among the first werewolf romances I read when I first discovered paranormal romance and Whiddon apparently has a few more of these light shifter romantic suspense novels coming out under the Nocturne banner. If you like these you might also want to check out Rhyannon Byrd's Last Wolf series (which I really liked) and Michelle Read's Scion series, these are Nocturnes too. Whiddon's Pack: One Eye Open (The Pack, No.1) (Sihouette Intimate Moments, No. 1301) The Pack: One Eye Closed (Book 2) (Silhouette Intimate Moments No. 1365) Beyond The Dark: Forever MineHaunt MeSoul Of The Wolf (The Pack, Book 3) (Silhouette Signature Select) The Pack: Secrets of the Wolf (Book 4) (Silhouette Intimate Moments No. 1397) The Pack: Touch Of The Wolf (B