Review: Secret of the Wolf - Cynthia Garner

Once a generation, the rift between the paranormal world and the human world opens, allowing supernatural entities to cross. Vampire, demon, or shapeshifter, they can save the world-or send it spiralling into chaos.

As a werewolf liaison to the Council of Preternaturals, Tori Joseph is used to straddling the world between humans and immortals. She plays by the rules and always delivers justice, no matter the cost. But after a string of increasingly brutal attacks results in humans turning into werewolves, Tori doesn't reveal her horrifying suspicion: Someone very close to her might be responsible.

Investigating the paranormal violence, no-nonsense detective Dante MacMillan believes Tori is hiding something. His search for the truth draws him into greater danger as he gets closer to the dark realm of the immortals-and to the sexy werewolf who stirs his primal lust. Now with evil closing in around them, Dante must convince Tori to trust him . . . before her deadly secret destroys them both.

Warriors of the Rift Series:
Kiss of the Vampire
Secret of the Wolf
Heart of the Demon (2013)

Visit Cynthia Garner's website for more information

Review:
Please note that Secret of the Wolf is the second book in the Warriors of the Rift series and this review will contain spoilers for the first book Kiss of the Vampire. If you're new to the series I would suggest not reading any further but it is definitely worth checking out reviews for the first book.

Every 73 years a Rift opens between dimensions that allows incorporeal beings to come to earth. These beings must take over the body of a human host or they are unable to survive, the body they take over then becomes an immortal - either a vampire, shapeshifter or a demon. Traditionally the beings that were sent through the rift were other world criminals who were banished from their own dimension as punishment for their crimes but it seems like that is changing. Tori is a werewolf who works as the liaison for the Council of Preternaturals and she is currently investigating the device that Tobias managed to take from his enemy Natchook in the previous book. She must work alongside human police detective Dante to try and discover what the device is for. But work on the device comes second to investigating a spate of werewolf attacks - just why is the werewolf changing seemingly random people and can they find a way to stop them?

I enjoyed the second instalment to the Warriors of the Rift series but I have to admit that it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I had hoped to find out more about the ongoing story with Natchook (I still think that is one of the worst evil bad guy names I've ever come across!) but it didn't really feel like that plot thread moved much further forward. We learn a little more about his motivations but not enough to satisfy me. This series seems to straddle the line between urban fantasy and paranormal romance but it doesn't quite manage to tick all of the boxes for me in either category. There isn't quite enough action and intrigue for an urban fantasy series and the romance is a bit too slow and straightforward for a paranormal romance.

While I liked both Tori and Dante I wanted a bit more conflict between them. It was very clear from the beginning that they both had the hots for each other. The only thing stopping them being together was that Dante was afraid to fall in love with her and then lose her. He also didn't feel that he had enough time to devote to a relationship in between caring for his recovering sister and building his career. These just seemed like pretty poor excuses to me - especially considering the chemistry between them. I prefer my heroes to be a bit more of the go and get her type rather than too scared to attempt to claim their woman.

With regards to things that happened with Tori's brother Rand and Dante's sister Lily I felt that it was too easy to figure out what was going on. None of the reveals surprised me as I'd guessed quite early on how things would turn out for each of the main characters. It's a bit disappointing because I do think this series has a lot of potential but neither of the first two books have managed to live up to that. I do have hopes that when the author finally hits their stride with these books then there could be a massive improvement. Will I read the next book? At the moment I'm not too sure. I do want to know what happens next in the ongoing story line but characters Finn and Keira who are the focus of the next book aren't really ones that I'm particularly curious about. Don't let me put you off giving the series a try though - I've seen a lot of very positive reviews for Kiss of the Vampire and I think anyone who loved the first book will enjoy this one just as much.

Source: Received from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
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Review: Kiss of the Vampire - Cynthia Garner

Warriors of the Rift

Once a generation, the rift between the paranormal world and the human world opens, allowing supernatural entities to cross. Vampire, demon, or shapeshifter, they can save the world-or send it spiralling into chaos.

Half-demon, half-human, Nix de la Fuente is accepted by neither and mistrusted by both. Determined to prove she's more human than not, she devotes herself to solving crimes between the world's mortals and its most unsavoury undead. But her latest case brings her face to face with the one vampire she could never resist . . .

Called in to investigate a string of violent murders, special agent Tobias Caine isn't interested in rekindling his relationship with Nix. Yet one look and the vampire knows his need for her is as strong as ever. Once, their all-consuming passion nearly cost Nix her fragile hold on her humanity. Now, as their hunger for one another intensifies, exposing them to an unimaginable danger, it could cost them both their lives.

Warriors of the Rift Series:
Kiss of the Vampire
Secret of the Wolf
Heart of the Demon (2013)

Visit Cynthia Garner's website for more information

Review:
Once every 73 years a rift between dimensions opens allowing incorporeal beings to get to earth. These beings are unable to survive unless they take over the body of a human host - usually a body that is either dead or dying - and when they merge with their new body they change into either a vampire, demon or shapeshifter. Most of the beings who come through the rift are criminals but Tobias was a law enforcement officer and he followed an escaped prisoner to earth to carry out the punishment he was sentenced to. For over 200 years Tobias has searched for his enemy but he still hasn't been able to take him down.

Nix is half human and half demon, and she constantly has to work at keeping her demon side under control. She is on the edge of both the human and preternatural worlds, not quite belonging in either and not accepted by either group. She works as a liaison between the human police and the preternatural council helping to solve crimes. Five years ago Tobias was the love of Nix's life but then he broke her heart by leaving her. Now they are forced to work together to investigate a murder and the attraction is back in full force but Nix isn't prepared to risk her heart for a second time and Tobias still thinks he is a bad influence on her that brings her demon side to the surface.

I love both paranormal romance and urban fantasy so I was looking forward to starting Cynthia Garner's new series which looked like it straddled the lines between the two genres. I found her idea of a gateway between two different dimensions really interesting but I wanted to know more about where the incorporeal beings came from and quite how they ended up mixing with humans to create such a variety of different supernatural creatures. In some ways I felt it would have been more realistic (in as far as any book with vampires and shapeshifters in it can ever be realistic!) if there was only one type of supernatural being rather than so many different varieties though. Still, the whole idea was an interesting one and I'm sure we will learn more about how it all works as the series continues, it can be a fine line between overwhelming you with information in the first book and not giving you enough and I find a lot of authors end up going one way or the other.

I enjoyed the romance between Tobias and Nix but I have to admit that neither of these characters particularly stood out for me as particularly memorable. Although I understood why Tobias felt he had to leave Nix I don't like the way he went about it, he must have known how little support she had from anyone else and how much she had come to rely on him so it was particularly cruel and heartless to dump her like she'd never meant anything to him. Then he comes back on the scene and pretty much expects her to pick up where things left off but with no commitment which was completely unrealistic. I actually liked Nix's human colleague Dante much more and spent the early part of the book hoping Nix would kick Tobias to the kerb and go out with Dante instead. Tobias did win me over in the end but I was disappointed with the ending which felt a little rushed.

Overall I have really mixed feelings about Kiss of the Vampire. It wasn't the best start to a series that I've ever read but it was far from the worst too. I'm curious enough about the world to want to read more and finding out that Dante is the hero of Secret of the Wolf is enough to make me pick up the next book. Hopefully the series will just get stronger with each instalment.

Source: Received from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
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