Book 10

Book 10 is Dancing with Werewolves by Carole Douglas Nelson. I picked up the book since it was by an author whose mysteries I loved (the Irene Adler series, not the cat one), and I thought I would give her first turn at paranormal romance a try. It was only okay-my main gripes with the book where that I didn't feel the story was very coherent and that there wasn't enough back story about the world set up. The world building in the novel left a lot to be desired-there were some interesting ideas (dowsing was explored as a form of magic, some neat fey-type characters), but nothing was really fleshed out any further than the basics. Also, the setting was the world of today with magic, monsters, etc. Only this book, unlike most paranormals, gave little background of how this all happened and what the "rules" of the world were. The plot was ok-reporter who was an orphan and raised alone sees what looks like her twin dead on a TV show, and goes to Las Vegas (where the show was shot) to find out who the look alike is. The problem with the plot was all the jumping around-one minute the main character was just a reporter in Kansas, the next she was a hard ass sex bomb in Las Vegas. Big jumps, and the author seemed to expect you to intuitively know what was going on. I got confused a few times as to what had just happened, which is not a problem I often have. 

There were some good points. The descriptions of character appearances were excellent, as was the setting of scenes. The world felt real in term of physical descriptions, just not in terms of the magicy parts. The main character, Delilah, was great. She was intelligent, funny and came off as very real, not some crazy Mary Sue. The secondary characters were also well done. Also, I liked the fact the author took the time to really describe what her characters were wearing. It's a nice touch a lot of authors don't cover, and one I always appreciate, since it helps to give me a clearer mental picture of the world.

I would not recommend this book. Maybe if there is a second novel, and it clears up some stuff, I will. While I did like it, it just did not grab me in any real way that said "other people will like this".

Dancing with Werewolves

Carole Douglas Nelson

1/10/10