Bitten

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong is a book I've been trying to get around to for ages. It's the first of the Women of the Otherworld series... a series of about eight books that my husband and eldest daughter have slowly been working their way through. They both love them and I knew I at least needed to give this first book a try and, at long last, I've managed it.



Elena Michaels is your average 21st century girl, living in Toronto with Philip her fortyish partner. Except that Elena is not average - she just happens to be the only female werewolf in existance. She used to belong to a pack but left it when she made the decision to lead as normal a life as possible. The pack is led by Jeremy, the aplha male and also includes Clayton, a man/wolf that Elena has some history with. The pack is based at Stonehaven an estate in the middle of the New York state forest. The story starts when Jeremy begins calling Elena... there is a serious problem at Stonehaven and her help is required. She resists at first, not wishing to return to the pack but is persuaded by Philip to go. Philip, not knowing that Elena is a werewolf thinks it's a family problem. When she gets to Stonehaven, Elena is told that there have been murders in the nearby town and that the problem is 'mutts' - rogue werewolves. Between them the pack need to solve the problem before attention turns to Stonehaven and its unusual inhabitants.

Quite a good read this one. I'm not sure I'm quite as enthusiastic as my family but the writing engaged me well enough. Part of the problem was how familiar the whole thing seemed to me, as though I'd read it before when I know very well I haven't. I found the book a lot less irritating that the Anita Blake series and this is down to the writing - Armstrong's writing is much more competant than Laurel Hamilton's, imo, the characters more fleshed out and the dialogue much more believable. That said, it was quite predictable and perhaps that's why it seemed so familiar. I'm not going to rush to read the next one, Stolen, straightaway, even though we own it. But I will read it at some stage; 'something' about them must have gripped my family. I would add for anyone contemplating reading these that they are very much 'adult' books; there is quite a lot of gorey description and some explicit sexuality... definitely NOT a book for anyone under sixteen, imo.