欧宝娱乐

A lot of authors tend to rely on supernatural abilities to make their fantasy and paranormal characters more appealing to us foolish mortals who seek our escapes amongst their pages. But Kelley Armstrong鈥檚 werewolves in Bitten must rely on grit and personality alone, because aside from having the ability to Change their shape, they don鈥檛 have any bizarre powers. They aren鈥檛 immortal, they can be killed just as easily as any other non-supernatural creature and it doesn鈥檛 take a silver bullet to do it鈥攖hey could be gored by a deer, hit by a truck or even strangled or have their throats slit by a human psychopath.

The abilities Armstrong鈥檚 werewolves were granted were surprisingly believable, even without that total suspension of reality that is required to read a book about werewolves or vampires or the Fey. They were stronger than the average human, able to run harder longer, bench press more and do more pushups. And they could heal faster, but healing wasn鈥檛 an instantaneous process, it still required rest and time. And even though there was a slight psychic connection between the alpha and his pack, it was no more eerie than the close bond between a set of twins or best girlfriends or a married couple so in tune to each other that they frequently find themselves dialing the phone to call the other at the exact same time. It was Armstrong鈥檚 ability to subtly draw you into the werewolves鈥� world that sold me hook, line and sinker.

Like so many others who read urban fantasy and paranormal romance, werewolves have not been my favorite characters. Vampires, yes. Other fantastical beasts, erm, okay, but only if there鈥檚 a vampire somewhere in the book. But werewolves??? Eh. Pass. Fortunately, the high ratings this book has received practically forced me into giving this book a shot. And frankly, I loved it!!

Elena Michaels is one of the most intriguing heroines I鈥檝e encountered in quite some time. She is the only female werewolf in existence and in the history of the Pack. She was raised human and after losing her parents in a car crash, was in and out of foster homes for her entire young life. She suffered the unwanted attentions of her foster fathers and grew up wanting nothing more than to have that normal human life: a good career, a caring husband, a home鈥�

But when she was bitten by a werewolf during college, everything changed and her dreams for a normal life were ripped away from her because suddenly she was faced with violent urges, a ravenous appetite and the need to periodically change form and run as a wolf through the night. Obviously the latter is hard to do in a big city like Toronto, but after gaining some control over her other half, Elena tries to make it work.

She takes a job as a journalist with the newspaper, has a wonderful human boyfriend named Phillip who is kind and considerate and buys her flowers, and she quietly appeases the werewolf inside her by sneaking in-between meals at street vendors so her live-in human boyfriend doesn鈥檛 notice her above-average appetite and she sneaks out of the apartment at 2 a.m. to stalk and scare local security guards鈥攁 sad excuse for an all-out deer hunt, but she makes do.

But then she receives an urgent message from Jeremy, the Pack leader, and Elena can鈥檛 ignore it: her Pack is in danger. Elena leaves Toronto and flies to a remote area in upstate New York where her Pack is headquartered. And there she finds Clay, just as she left him, waiting for her, still in love with her.

Like Elena, Clay is also a dark, tortured hero. And the relationship Armstrong weaves for the two is both passionate and painful and oh-so wonderful, and the fact that the relationship was second to the urban fantasy plot of an all-out werewolf battle for territory didn鈥檛 make it any less satisfying.

No spoilers here, so I won't say anything else, except that I highly, highly recommend!