ReaderMarija's Reviews

This is a collection of short stores and novellas, some of which aren’t really memorable as they’re short mini-episodes of time or brief momentary descriptions of feelings.

However, three of the eight stories in this collection, which also happen to take up most of the book’s space, are quite good: Bewitched (featuring Eve and Kristof Nast) Beginnings (featuring Elena and Clay) and The Case of El Chupacabra (featuring Lucas, Page, Sean and Savannah). As I was reading, I felt like I was watching a cool supernatural TV series—the writing was that good. The characters are real, but at times some of them aren’t very nice; nevertheless I kind of liked their twisted logic. For example in Beginnings, Clay at times reminded me of Mr. Rochester when he asks Jane in a fit of passion, “Is it better to drive a fellow creature to despair, than to transgress a mere human law, with no man being injured by the breach?” For Clay, it isn’t a human law he’s in danger of breaking, but the law of the pack. But in the end, rather than letting Elena go, he commits the transgression—at that moment, fear of her loss outweighs the danger resulting from the consequences of his actions. I love reading psychological turmoil and moral dilemmas interlaced with tension and angst in my books.

Also enjoyed reading the burgeoning romance between Eve and Kristof, though wasn’t very enamored with the location of their first tryst. I don’t know, but for me, the floor of an empty locker room at a rink doesn’t scream romance no matter how nice the guy is. ;)

And while I did like The Case of El Chupacabra, at times, I found myself quite bored with it. The story wasn’t as tight and concise as the other two, as the plot dragged. But I liked the characters.

Overall, the book was worth the read, though the best story, in my opinion was Beginnings.