Hey there and welcome to my stop on the Winter Wolf Blog Tour hosted by Fire and Ice Book Tours! Click here to follow along with the full tour schedule.
Title: Winter Wolf
Series: A Witch & Wolf Novel #2
Author: R.J. Blain
Publication date: November 24th 2014
Publisher: Pen & Page Publishing
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Thriller, Supernatural Suspense
Source: Copy for review
The Hunted Wizard
When Nicole dabbled in the occult, she lost it all: Her voice, her family, and her name. Now on the run from the Inquisition, she must prove to herself—and the world—that not all wizards are too dangerous to let live.
The savage murder of a bookstore employee throws Nicole into the middle of Inquisition business, like it or not. Driven by her inability to save the young man’s life, she decides to hunt the killer on her own. Using forbidden magic to investigate the past, she learns that the murderer is in fact a disease that could kill the entire werewolf race.
Forced to choose between saving lives and preserving her own, Nicole embraces the magic that sent her into exile. Without werewolves, the power of the Inquisition would dwindle, and she could live without being hunted.
Nicole’s only hope for success lies in the hands of the werewolves she hates and the Inquisition she fears, but finding someone to trust is only the beginning of her problems. There are those who want to ensure that the werewolves go extinct and that the Inquisition falls.
But, if she fails to find a cure, her family—including her twin sister—will perish…
When I signed up to review Winter Wolf for the blog tour, I didn't realize until I started reading it that it's technically the second book in the Witch & Wolf series. But it has different characters and really can be read as a standalone. I'm now curious to read the first one at some point in the future.
Nicole is a character I found myself liking pretty much right away. She has abilities that she has to hide so an organization known as the Inquisition won't find her and execute her. After she decides to use forbidden magic to investigate the cause of a murder that happened right next to her, she has to decide whether to save werewolves or let them die out. If they die out, she wouldn't have to worry about the Inquisition any longer, but she has family who are werewolves, which made me wonder why she hates the species so much.
My only issue with this novel is the repetition - Nicole repeats things A LOT, such as her fear of the Inquisition and that jobs for her as an actress have dried up. I lost count of how many times Nicole mentioned these things and found myself annoyed when she'd bring them up because I knew these things already. Other than this, I really liked the story.
Winter Wolf is a fun and entertaining novel to lose yourself in with interesting characters and the situations they find themselves facing. There's a lot going on with the abilities Nicole has, the werewolves, and the Inquisition, and it was a race to the end to find out how everything was going to turn out.
My Rating:
RJ Blain suffers from a Moleskine journal obsession, a pen fixation, and a terrible tendency to pun without warning.
When she isn’t playing pretend, she likes to think she’s a cartographer and a sumi-e painter. In reality, she herds cats and a husband. She is currently on a quest for a new warrior fish.
In her spare time, she daydreams about being a spy. Should that fail, her contingency plan involves tying her best of enemies to spinning wheels and quoting James Bond villains until she is satisfied.
Favorite Books & Series
In no particular order:
Anne McCaffrey’s Pern
Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar & Gryphon Series
Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera & The Dresden Files
Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris
Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega, Dragon Bones, & The Mercy Thompson series
Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time
Enter to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card! Open Internationally. This giveaway will run 11/24/14 – 12/22/14. Enter through Rafflecopter.
Thanks so much for the blog post and the review! :) very appreciated; I'll definitely remember your words for my next novel!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I'm glad to be a part of the blog tour - I enjoyed your book! :)
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