The Wolf Next Door by Lydia Dare (Westfield Brothers #3)
Paranormal Historical Romance
June 1, 2010
Paperback, 384 Pages
Sourcebooks Casablanca

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: "I missed you.”
"Well, I didn’t miss you at all. In fact, I can’t even remember your name.”

In this much anticipated story, we finally get to see what caused Lady Prisca and Lord William to despise each other. We caught glimpses of their animosity in A Certain Wolfish Charm and it left me wanting more.

Prisca despises William. She insults and provokes him every chance she gets. Having five brothers, she has learned to say exactly what she means. William avoids Prisca as best he can. He broke their engagement years ago without explanation. He still loves her but doesn’t trust himself or his wolf around her. So he continues with is rogue ways making sure Prisca hears about his escapades. When Prisca’s brother invite William to their estate he cannot believe what he finds. Another Lycan. In HIS territory. Courting HIS woman.

Prisca’s brothers decide to take matters into their own hands and force William and Pricsa into a compromising position. William accepts what has been done and is secretly pleased to be married to Prisca. But Prisca won’t go down without a fight. Prisca assures William that the marriage will be hell for him. Pricsa does want to be married to William but she wanted him to marry her for love. And then there is that pesky little reason of WHY he left her years ago.

As Pricsa and William try to navigate the rocky shores of their marriage, they also have outside influences to combat. An unknown Lycan wants Prisca for his own who will kill to posses her, William’s mother is sick and no one knows why, and Elsbeth’s friend Catlin comes to visit and delights in tormenting Prisca.

The Wolf Next Door is my favorite of all three books. Prisca and William are adorably prickly. It’s easy to see the love between them but things have been said & done that are hard to forgive. Prisca’s wit is sharp and her tongue even sharper. She is not a wallflower of her time and doesn’t suffer fools lightly. William is sooooo smexy! He is also Honorable and chivalrous.

Lydia Dare (who is actually the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson) allows us to see William for what he truly is and you see all the reasons Prisca loves him so very much. Their battle of wits and wills left me laughing and giving happy sighs though out the book. Both give as good as they get but William is so gentle with Prisca that I fell in love with him myself.

Prisca’s brothers get major kudos for their plans and the banter between them is hilarious. They all know that Prisca and William are meant to be together. They also know they’ll never get them together unless they force the issue. So they plot, scheme, argue, and make a mess of everything. Simon, Ben and their wives are much evident in the book and give Prisca & William some payback for earlier manipulations. I really enjoy how Ms. Dare treats the wives and other characters in the book with as much affection as the main protagonists.

When William finally lets Prisca onto the family secrets; werewolves, witches, and his reason for his earlier defection, Prisca is hard to win over. But William prevails and finally Prisca sees the truth. William sees that he is not the beast he thought and he should have listened to his own advice he gave his brothers earlier. As they finally become more comfortable in the marriage…there is still the threat of the other lycan.

The ending is delightful and packs quite a little surprise for us. I cannot wait to read her next in the series-The Taming Of The Wolf.

Rating: 4.5/5

Recent Reviews:
My Overstuffed Bookshelf – 5/5
Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell – 3.5/5
Goodreads

Thanks Tori!