Heart of the Wolf

Bella tried to entice a human to mate with her but he ran off for he was young. Duelyn- the werewolf who rescued her when her whole pack of red wolves including her parents died in a fire- had taken her to his pack and she was accepted but the Alpha wolf wanted to mate her - Volan- and he was violent and cruel and Bella wanted nothing to do with him, who Bella wanted as her lifelong mate was Duelyn. Bella was planning to sneak away from the pack to escape Volan and begged Duelyn to go with ker but he would not leave his pack. So Bella ran from the pack to live alone and hopefully find a human to mate with then she would turn him and start her own pack. But Duelyn did desperately want Bella to be his mate but saw no way that could happen and he still be in his pack. So he stayed alone but yearning for a mate as did Bella. Bella had a cabin she would go to and be able to freely run as a wolf and no one would realize what she was. But then she got caught and was shot with a tranquilizer gun and placed in a zoo. The zoo put in a big old red wolf to mate with Bella but she scared him off with her refusal to be his mate. But now Bella had to somehow get out because at a certain phase of the moon Bella was forced to be in human form and the zoo attendants would then find a naked woman instead of a red wolf in their wolf enclosure. Bella tried to escape when he forced human form came about but she couldn’t get out and was freezing. Luckily a nightwatchman heard her scream and they found her and got her out of the enclosure. The night watchman was puzzled how a woman and naked at that got into the enclosure.I didn’t really like this book. I just didn’t connect with the story or the characters. I felt bad for Bella first losing her family and pack then having to flee from Volan. But that was not enough to make me enjoy this book.This book dragged too much for me and failed to keep my attention unfortunately as I normally love paranormal books especially including wolves which are my favorite wild animals.

The entire time I was reading this book, the story felt very familiar. After some detective work, it turns out I read this in 2010 but never reviewed it. I have a feeling it would have gotten the same review I’m giving it now as it was a very lengthy introduction to this author’s shifter world.Bella, a red wolf shifter, was raised by a neighboring gray wolf pack after her family tragically died in a fire. Her rescuer, Devlyn, has become the focus of all her girlish (and womanly) desires, but she has always knows she was claimed by the leader of their pack, Volan. Volan isn’t the ideal mate by any stretch of the imagination, so when confronted with the opportunity, Bella runs away. She manages to stay away from them for years until a pack of hunters end up capturing her in wolf form and throwing her in the zoo.Devlyn has always wanted to be Bella’s mate, but was trapped in his pack’s hierarchy. It takes his assignment as zoo rescuer to force him to take a chance. While on the run, these two end up confronting their feelings while at the same time making some pretty sketchy decisions. On top of all this pack drama, there’s also a killer on the loose who is trying to change women into werewolves, but ends up slaughtering them instead.There is really a lot of stuff jammed into this one book, but the center of everything is the relationship between Devlyn and Bella. Their story ends happily (thank goodness), and we even get some side stories ending with a HEA. As the start to what is apparently a long series, this was a solid introduction. I’m sure everyone I’d like to see more from eventually gets their own tale along the way.

I did not realize when I requested this book, Heart of the Wolf by Terry Spear that it was the not a new book but was instead the first of the series. The cover has been updated but the story seems to be the one I read several years ago. What is different is that this version includes a novella. Night of the Wolf. This novella has ties to Heart of the Wolf, so it makes for a marvelous addition.Ms. Spear’s stories flow with an intense storyline of hot romance, suspense and more than one bad guy in the stories. There is an element of mystery but mostly the two stories are shifter romance in which the wolves have obstacles in being mated together. The physical aspect of the romance overtakes the story-line at times. Otherwise the book is an intriguing read.