Review: Big Bad Wolf

If this book could be summed up in a few words, they would probably be “gratuitous smut”.

Then again, this is a Christine Warren book, so instead of being a normal PWP (read: Porn Without Plot), there’s actually some character strife/development involved.

Big Bad Wolf is part of The Others verse, a world occupied by humans and shifters, a curious race of magical folk that run the gamut from wolves to various animals of the savannah (if you haven’t already been mentally scarred by Warren’s rendition of lion sex, here’s your chance). The story is pretty much a fluffier rehash of one of Warren’s previously published stories, Fur Factor.

The story centers around Melissa “Missy” Jane Roper, your run-of-the-mill kindergarten teacher who snags the interest of the Alpha of the Silverback Clan, Graham Winters. If you’ve already read Fur Factor, then you pretty much know how the plot goes from there – Graham gets challenged by Curtis, a pregnant lady runs from a pack of wolves in a lycra bodysuit (because it’s just so safe and exciting that that shit needs to be made into a national sport), yada yada yada.

Warren’s made a few changes from the older, more hardcore version of the story – basically, just tossed a bunch of euphemisms in for genitalia, cut out the parts which were too raunchy, added some bits in to pad out the middle… Basically, it’s Fur Factor Lite.

That said, Big Bad Wolf was a fairly fluffy read (as fluffy as smut goes, anyway). Recommended for fans of Warren’s works, or those hoping to venture into the raunchier realms of paranormal fiction.

Plot/originality: 2.5/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3/5

Total score: 8.5/15

Review: Walk on the Wild Side

Lion sex.

If that isn’t reason enough to get you to read this book, then it’s highly unlikely my review will sway you otherwise. :p

Walk on the Wild Side is the fifth in The Others books by Christine Warren. Like its predecessors, the story is independent to the rest of the books in the series.

I actually liked this one – mostly because of its originality. While the whole idea of shapeshifters isn’t a novel concept, the idea of a lion shapeshifter pride in the heart of Vegas is. The story focuses on Kitty Sugarman, a half-human, half-shapeshifter intent on travelling to Vegas to find her long-lost father, who happens to be the leader of the pride. Yep. Leader of the Pride. Except he’s dying, and his scheming family’s trying to push Kitty out of his inheritance.

Kitty ends up taking lessons on shifting into her lioness form from Max Stuart, the pride baas and next in line for the title of Felix (the pride leader). Naturally, things heat up between them – who else is surprised at this, really – and lots of sexxors takes place. There’s even an unforgettable scene in the forest where they do it. As lions.

The story isn’t half-bad, actually. There’s loads of action throughout, and the pride dynamic was well-established. The villains were a tad one-sided, though, and I’m pretty skeptical about people/lions being able to get pregnant in a day – doesn’t the sperm need more time to travel? Other than that, Walk on the Wild Side was an entertaining read.

See also: Wolf at the Door, She’s No Faerie Princess, The Demon You Know, Howl at the Moon, One Bite with a Stranger, You’re so Vein

Plot/originality: 4/5

Characters: 3.5/5

Writing style: 3/5

Total score: 10.5/15

Review: The Demon You Know

The Demon You Know is the third in The Others series by Christine Warren. This is a standalone story from the rest, though numerous characters from her already existing books make cameos. And of course, the smut. Who can forget the smut?

The story revolves around human Abby Baker, who gets possessed by rogue demon Lou/Louamides in a turn of unfortunate events. She gets taken in by the others, who try to keep her under control while they figure out how to carry out an exorcism. Abby attracts the attention of Rule/Arunagal, some hot demon (seriously, all the male protagonists are hot in the series – I’m waiting for the day when Warren decides to put in a troll) and they end up shagging within the week. Thankfully, not all of the plot is about the smut, unlike Warren’s Fixed series, where it’s exceedingly uncommon if the main couple doesn’t jump straight into things in the first three chapters.

The thing I disliked about Abby was that she was more of a Mary Sue than any other protagonists in the series. The moment Warren mentioned “heterochromia” the thought that immediately popped into mind was, “Oh, it’s going to be one of those stories.” Bah.  I did like Lou, though. His snarky presence kept the story from being a total snore-fest. There should’ve been more Abby/Lou interaction, since building on that would’ve truly strengthened the plot.

The Demon You Know isn’t a bad read, though it certainly isn’t the strongest book in the series. I’d recommend it to adamant Christine Warren fans, but that’s about it.

See also: Wolf at the Door, She’s No Faerie Princess, Howl at the Moon, Walk on the Wild Side, One Bite with a Stranger, You’re so Vein

Plot/originality: 3/5

Characters: 2.5/5

Writing style: 2.5/5

Total score: 8/15

Review: Wolf at the Door

Before I begin…

SMUT ALERT! SMUT ALERT! SMUT ALERTTTT

Now that that’s all taken care off, we can move on to the actual review. Wolf at the Door is the first in The Others series by Christine Warren, and it centers around Foxwoman Cassidy Poe and Lupine Quinn Sullivan. No, this is not an episode of the Justice League – there’s no spandex involved and lots of randy sexxors! (Which would be totally inappropriate in the JL, since we all know any sexxors that happens there requires copious amounts of spandex and oodles of kinky stuff whoooo)

…I digress. Wolf at the Door was actually a pretty entertaining read for me, despite all the smut. Warren builds on the social hierachy of The Others, a collective term used in reference to otherworldly beings running the gamut from faeries to living gargoyles. The story takes place in New York City, opening with Irish lupine Quinn quite literally chasing the girl of his dreams around a greenhouse and off onto the busy streets (as a wolf, no less!). The main couple were a little quick to jump into the sack (a few months too early, I’d say) but Quinn’s character was so utterly endearing that I was quite ready to overlook this. Plus, he’s Irish! Everyone knows Irish blokes are made of win.

Warren has a quirky and amusing way of writing, quick with witty barbs and electric characterizations. The political structure of the council is well fleshed-out, and the plot really picks up in pace in the second half of the story. The action sequences weren’t half-bad, either, but the real selling point of this book would have to be the dynamic interactions between the different characters, which livens up the story considerably. On the whole, Wolf at the Door is a promising start to the series – if you enjoy urban fantasy romances with a dash of adventure (and the occasional smutty interlude), you’ll want to follow up on the second book in the series, She’s no Faerie Princess.

See also: She’s No Faerie Princess, The Demon You Know, Howl at the Moon, Walk on the Wild Side, One Bite with a Stranger, You’re so Vein

Plot/originality: 3.5/5

Characters: 3.5/5

Writing style: 3/5

Total score: 10/15