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Saturday, October 29, 2011

Blood Howl by Robin Saxon & Alex Kidwell

Main Characters:  Jed Walker is a man who knows what he wants and isn't afraid to go after it.  He appears to be ex-military - special ops.  But we also see that his morals seem to be questionable.  Some of what he does might be considered illegal.  He also owns a cat named Knieval.  Redford is a man who appears to be very quiet, introverted and quite shy.  He's not quite what he seems to be - a werewolf.  For a werewolf, he almost appears to be afraid of his own shadow - not really what you would expect.
Jed has a new client named Fil (Filtiarn - which means "Lord of the wolves").  Fil sends him to a house where he meets Redford.  Jed doesn't feel right about what he was sent to do and takes Redford to a bar.  There he explains what he does for a living.
We learn that Jed's sexual preference is domination.  Is this something that will work between Redford and Jed?  Especially since Jed is the one that likes to be dominated.  At the beginning there's a lot of sexual talk and innuendos.  The book's not about the sex but a romance between a human and a werewolf with suspense thrown into the mix.  But it is also very light on the "paranormal".
In the first quarter of the book, the only indication that we have that Redford is a werewolf is his word and the mention of a cage.  We also see that there are people after Red for that reason.  Jed has decided that he needs to protect him.
In one scene, Jed and Red start to make out but then are interrupted by sirens.  The interruptions seem to be a common them for at least half the book.  Is this a good thing?  Is this what keeps the reader turning the pages?  Or is it to see what type of werewolf Red is?
Things start to escalate between the two of them at which point Red reveals he's a virgin.  Our authors do a great job at describing the interactions between Jed and Redford.  They're two people learning about each other - this includes falling in love.  Jed takes Red to the zoo and this is when we finally start to see their relationship blossom.
As a reader, you may get frustrated that our couple keeps getting interrupted.  But isn't this what builds the suspense?  Once they get back to Jed's apartment, this is when things explode between the two of them.  You will see that this scene is very descriptive.
In true romance novel fashion, one of them says those three magical words and the other says "no" and leaves.  Redford goes home and finds trouble waiting for him.  But our hero is there to save the day.  Then our authors give us the predictable make up scene.  But is happily ever after meant to be theirs?  You will have to read the book till the end to find that out.
If you are judging the book by it's title and thinking it will be a paranormal romance you may be a little disappointed.  I would have loved to see more of Redford as his werewolf self - it would have added a little bit more to the story.  If you judge it as a work of adult fiction you may find it ok.  It is a gay novel but as I was reading the book, I completely forgot that it was a book about two men.
I wouldn't say that it's the best romance book I ever read and I wouldn't say it's the worst.  Having read it once, I wouldn't put it in my pile to read again.  I would give "Blood Howl" 3 1/2 stars.

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