Having usually leaned towards vampire fiction rather than werewolves, I picked up Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten on an impulse and am glad I did.  Elena is a werewolf, the only female werewolf in the world to be precise and she’s trying to live a normal life in Toronto with her steady but not very exciting boyfriend, who knows nothing of her true identity.

Returning to the werewolf family home in rural New York at the request of Jeremy who is head of The Pack,  Elena discovers that something or someone is hunting down members of her pack and she is unwillingly drawn back into the crazy world of werewolves that she has tried hard for years to avoid.  Going home also means facing up to her old lover Clayton (Clay) who in a thoughtless and selfish moment many years previously, bit her, ending her human life without giving her a choice.

The murder mystery isn’t quite as intriguing as the characters themselves. I know I should probably pay more attention to the plot but with Bitten I preferred to concentrate on Elena and Clay rather than the werewolf story, and that’s because I’m a sucker for romance.  There was sizzling heat between these two, so much so that I sought out and devoured the story of how they came to meet, which is narrated in Armstrong’s novella Beginnings.  Besides the central relationship, the idea that Elena is the only female of her kind is an interesting notion.  The Pack is unused to having women around and Jeremy’s fatherly love for Elena is both surprising and touching.

Action-packed, oozing vibrant characters and with a sassy, kick-ass female lead, Bitten is a great place to start for those thinking of venturing beyond the vampire realm.

****

Check it out on Amazon HERE