Must Love Lycans by Michele Bardsley (A Broken Heart Novel #8)
September 6, 2011
Paranormal Romance
Paperback
Signet Eclipse

Reviewed by Helyce

Kelsey Morningstone is a psychotherapist who has been hired to run the Dante Clinic owned and operated by Jarred Dante. Kelsey knows how lucky she is to have this second chance to continue to work as a therapist. Just a short time ago, she was on the verge of being destitute. A patient of hers that she’d been working with turned out to be a serial killer. She’d been sued multiple times, lost every battle and lost her house, car, even her clothes. She didn’t think she’d work as a therapist again. Until Jarred Dante swooped in with his offer to cover all her debts and give her the job as administrator of his clinic. She didn’t look back, accepted the offer and was pleased with the opportunity to be helping people again. You see, Kelsey is an empath and while this ability can be a hindrance, it serves her well…most of the time.

When Damian is brought in, all she is told is that he was transferred in specifically by Mr. Dante, that he was suffering from amnesia and he thinks he’s a werewolf. When Kelsey gets her first look at Damien, he’s being held in a padded, secured room and he is gloriously naked.

“I studied my new client. His thick black hair reached midback and swung like a dark curtain as he whipped around, his agitation growing with each long stride. He was well over six feet tall. Every part of the man was built—a beautiful body crafted by hard work, not gym time. I pegged him for a construction worker, or maybe an outdoorsman. It was wrong, so very, very wrong, to watch the bunch and flex of his muscles. Oh baby…”

RAWR!!! All that long hair-yummy!

There is no hiding the fact that Kelsey is quite smitten with Damian right off the bat, but her need to maintain her professional demeanor especially after her previous work related failures have her keeping her personal feelings and thoughts in check. Damian doesn’t make it easy, though. When she has her first one on one meeting with him, he continually sniffs at her and when he leans over and kisses her, she lets him. Damian tells Kelsey that her scent reminds him of “home” and because she’s dealing with an amnesiac, she goes with it. For Damian, however, there is much more to his just liking how she smells. When he learns that Kelsey is scheduled to have dinner with Jarred Dante, he breaks out of his room, finds Kelsey and bites her. He may have amnesia but his basic instincts come through; Jarred is a threat and Damian wants Kelsey for himself.

What follows is a fabulous, joyful and often laugh out loud trip to Broken Heart, OK. Kelsey is a human, albeit with emphatic abilities. She’s clueless about the paranormal world that resides right alongside the world she knows. She gets a quick education, though, when complications arise from the bite Damian gives her. When Damian regains his memory, Kelsey is tossed head first into the world of vampires and werewolves. Apparently Damian, who he really is, and what he means to his people, is part of a prophecy and Kelsey has an important role in it as well. It will take everything she has to do what she’ll need to do to save Damian, even at the risk to herself.

I loved this book. It is so not your typical dark paranormal filled with angst and blood and gore. I can’t believe I haven’t read this author before, even though she’s been recommended to me a time or two. I completely adored the characters and the many comedic elements Ms. Bardsley weaves into her story. It’s very much on the light side, even though there are a few moments where you are like, “What???” only to turn a page or two and learn that all is well. At one point I was feeling like Kelsey accepted the paranormal world and her new role in it too easily. I got over it-and just read on enjoying the spirit in which the author writes. As this is book no. 8, I worried that I’d feel lost, but the author includes two things in the beginning: a note from the author and the Legend of the Lycans, which was enough background to set me up to enjoy this story as a standalone.

At some point, I’d very much like to read the backlist of this series. I expect to be charmed and entertained by them all. I especially hope the author has plans for a book devoted to Jarred Dante-he made quite an impression on me. If you like paranormal that’s a little lighter than the norm; I think you’d enjoy Must Love Lycans.

Rating: B

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