I've always been fascinated by werewolves. We're talking, obsessed with them years before the whole Twilight saga. I love how every culture seems to have their own tales of these mysterious creatures. It is so interesting to me how some legends say lycans can shift at will, other legends claim most females perish during a transition from human to wolf leaving werewolves a predominantly male species, still more say a wolf must shift during the full moon. The possibilities for a storyteller to harness the myth of the lycans are endless.
Julie Embleton hit the ground running with Bound, the first book in her Turning Moon series. She weaves a tale of small towns across the country inhabited by lycan packs of various sizes. She even ties modern technology into the mix with pack Alpha's keeping in touch via a secret webpage, which I thought was incredibly clever.
In this small Blackwater Ridge pack, Nyah, who is the daughter of the deceased alpha struggles to come to grips with a grisly turn of events that put an alpha in charge; an alpha none of the pack wanted. Not only is this Simon Northfell a sleazy sort of man, but he has resorted to nefarious means to control his pack. Now Nyah, daughter of the deceased pack alpha, is not one to roll over and submit. She escapes the pack and goes rogue, only to run head first into Dean Carson, another alpha.
Embleton’s storytelling keeps you on your toes. The rich settings transport her readers, and the emotional turmoil of the characters set my heart racing. The character development was well executed and I felt like I was right there alongside Nyah.
I’m currently writing a short story which includes a touch of lycan, and I hope to execute it half as well as Embleton does. Bravo with this story. You have made a fan for life. I give this story a 5/5. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series.
"His lips were skimming her ear again, and dropping a feather-light trail of kisses down the slope of her neck. It made her dizzy, and whatever words had been in her mouth, evaporated. “You smell of the forest,” her lust-drunk lips blurted out instead. “I can smell pine on your skin.”"
-Bound
The new Alpha of Nyah Morgan’s pack has aligned with dark forces and his plans for Nyah break the most absolute of Lycan Laws. With her entire pack under his thrall and her own wolf maimed by his magic, she turns rogue, her incapacity landing her in unfamiliar Lycan territory where she catches the unwanted attention of Dean Carson, an Alpha who is determined to learn the truth she hides. With her Alpha closing in and the safety of another pack at stake, Nyah is forced into making a choice. Her bound wolf is killing her, both Alphas can save her, but which one, and at what cost?
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