Book Blurb
Sebastian Xenakis is still coming into his power as a wizard. He can shapeshift by magical means and runs as a wolf using the power he draws from the elements. But young women are dying--raped by a human and then slaughtered by a wolf. Suspicion falls on the shapeshifting Chanku, but Sebastian wonders if he might somehow be guilty of the crimes.
Then he meets Lily Cheval, the uncrowned princess of the powerful Chanku, and realizes he will do whatever it takes to clear his name and win her love. But evil walks where Sebastian goes, and there are mysteries neither Lily nor her father, the powerful wizard Anton Cheval cannot unravel.Is Sebastian the perfect mate for Lily, or is he instead, one she should fear?
Book Excerpt courtesy of katedouglas.com
Toot's Review
Ok so let me say this first and foremost.....I LOVE KATE DOUGLAS! I happened to stumble upon some of her books on Amazon.com for free around the time this blog started. Her book series, StarQuest, was one of the first I reviewed for this blog and have been a fan ever since. I promised her I'd stalk her when RWA came to San Diego in 2016 and she laughed and said she'd stalk me back, LOL. What's not to love about that! Needless to say, I love reading all her super steamy, super smexy books. Her books are unlike anything I've run acrossed since. If you like super sexy, I mean jaw-dropping sexiness, you'll love her books but you will totally have to keep an open mind when reading them. There is absolutely NO vanilla in these books!
With all that being said, let me give you a run down of this series and my thoughts....
Series History:
Dark Wolf is the newest addition in Kate Douglas's shapeshifting Chanku world. Her very popular series, Wolf Tales came to an end with Wolf Tales 12 but as Kate said, there were still more stories to be told. The premise for the stories and the series is this *in a super small nutshell*: Anton, A Magician/Wizard, went on a mission to find answers to some pretty heavy questions he had. While doing research, he stumbled upon some books referring to a lost species of shapeshifters known as Chanku. The books state that humans who are born with the specific gene for shapeshifting had lost the ability because they stopped eating the nutrients needed to trigger the latent ability. Anton tracked down the almost extinct nutrients found in a Tibetan grass and cultivated them again. He started to take them himself and found that he was one of these humans with the recessed gene and after eating the grass, he could indeed shapeshift and with the shapeshifting came numerous other abilities such as long life, telepathy and a raging libido! Eventually Anton finds others with the recessed gene and a pack is born with Anton as the Uber Alpha, elected, respected and loved in that position, not won by might or right. The original Wolf Tales is about Anton's journey and the individual stories of those in the original pack.
Dark Wolf is the newest addition in Kate Douglas's shapeshifting Chanku world. Her very popular series, Wolf Tales came to an end with Wolf Tales 12 but as Kate said, there were still more stories to be told. The premise for the stories and the series is this *in a super small nutshell*: Anton, A Magician/Wizard, went on a mission to find answers to some pretty heavy questions he had. While doing research, he stumbled upon some books referring to a lost species of shapeshifters known as Chanku. The books state that humans who are born with the specific gene for shapeshifting had lost the ability because they stopped eating the nutrients needed to trigger the latent ability. Anton tracked down the almost extinct nutrients found in a Tibetan grass and cultivated them again. He started to take them himself and found that he was one of these humans with the recessed gene and after eating the grass, he could indeed shapeshift and with the shapeshifting came numerous other abilities such as long life, telepathy and a raging libido! Eventually Anton finds others with the recessed gene and a pack is born with Anton as the Uber Alpha, elected, respected and loved in that position, not won by might or right. The original Wolf Tales is about Anton's journey and the individual stories of those in the original pack.
So where does Dark Wolf fit in to this super long shapeshifting series. Well like all great series, Wolf Tales's original members had kids and so this next series is the kids stories. They are all grown up and are finding their way in the world and so Dark Wolf is born. It's the first book in the new crop stories spun off of the original Wolf Tales but it's really not a spin-off, more a future continuation.
Dark Wolf is about Anton's first born daughter, Lily. Lily has become an alpha female all on her own. When we first meet Lily in the original Wolf Tales, she's definitely something special. She is one of the first born of two fully Chanku parents and Anton being a Wizard, she has some magic all her own. Also being one of the first born children of the Uber Alpha, she's treated as the Princess of the pack. Lily has also earned her title. As she's grown, she's become the head of a lot of the pack's companies and become the face of the pack for the media. All around she is well loved but she longs for a companion. She wants the white picket fence, children and a loving, passionate partner. All her life, she's been expected to mate with Anton's second in command's son Alex. Alex and Lily grew up together, literally. They shared their crib, had their first shift together, even lost their virginity with each other but they have always known that they were not meant to be mated. There is a soul deep love but not passion and they both want passion but their parents are convinced they belong together.
While attending an arts gala in the packs honor, Lily attends in her father's place and meets the son of another powerful businessman, Sebastian. Sebastian is the son of the pack's biggest opponent. The man is very outspoken on the wrongness of the Chanku to the point of being a bigot. When they meet, sparks fly but could Sebastian be the one Lily is looking for or is he just as bad as his dad?
In this book, we also get Alex's story as well. Alex is a total player and is just biding his time while Lily makes a decision about their future. Either they will finally give in and mate with each other or they will find true love elsewhere. While Alex waits, he has no problem lovin' the ladies. He's never serious about any of them and they all know he belongs to Lily, or so he lets them believe. One night, while on a date, he hears someone in distress down an alley. When he goes to investigate, he sees a small woman being hassled by three men. Being the gentleman he is, he jumps in to save her. After rescuing the lady, she thanks him by name, WTH? Alex soon realizes that this is Annie, a missing member of the pack whom he grew up with but she left to go study in Europe. Annie has come home and maybe for good?
While attending an arts gala in the packs honor, Lily attends in her father's place and meets the son of another powerful businessman, Sebastian. Sebastian is the son of the pack's biggest opponent. The man is very outspoken on the wrongness of the Chanku to the point of being a bigot. When they meet, sparks fly but could Sebastian be the one Lily is looking for or is he just as bad as his dad?
In this book, we also get Alex's story as well. Alex is a total player and is just biding his time while Lily makes a decision about their future. Either they will finally give in and mate with each other or they will find true love elsewhere. While Alex waits, he has no problem lovin' the ladies. He's never serious about any of them and they all know he belongs to Lily, or so he lets them believe. One night, while on a date, he hears someone in distress down an alley. When he goes to investigate, he sees a small woman being hassled by three men. Being the gentleman he is, he jumps in to save her. After rescuing the lady, she thanks him by name, WTH? Alex soon realizes that this is Annie, a missing member of the pack whom he grew up with but she left to go study in Europe. Annie has come home and maybe for good?
The Chanku stories are honestly some of my favorite shapeshifter books and not just because I love Kate as an author so much but because I love the twists she puts on the classic. The Chanku are not just your typical Uber Alpha Male stories. Kate's wolves follow very closely to a how a real wolf pack operates. There are dominant Alpha Males and Alpha Females. The Males know their roles as protectors but they know the real power is the Females and always defer to them. Even with the mating, in these books, only the Females can choose their mates or decide to have pups. Every one of Kate's Alpha Females are just that, Alpha and who doesn't love a series with strong women and men that know the women have all the power?
Another thing that sets Kate's books apart are the polyamorous relationships. All of the Chanku not only have their main mates but they also have lovers. Because of their raging libido's, they recognize the overwhelming need for touch, love and sex but love is the main thing. Just like any family or pack, love is at the heart of everything, not just the sex but they also don't define love as just male/female. If it feels good and everyone is consenting, it's all good! Be aware, this is an erotic book/series, so you will find M/M, F/F, M/F, threesomes and foursomes as well as some animal/animal lovin', shapeshifter style but it's all done in a way that flows naturally with the story and only makes you want to eat some grass and see if you're Chanku yourself.
All in all, if you want some big family, big hearts, great shapeshifting, sexy-sexy PNR...give Dark Wolf a try.
4 out of 5 books
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