Secret of the Wolf by Cynthia Garner (Warriors of the Rift #2)
Paranormal Romance
June 26, 2012
Forever

Reviewed by Helyce

Tori Joseph was separated from her family when she was sent through the rift over 100 years ago. Now, she is the werewolf liaison to the Council of Preternaturals. She’s called in to respond to any altercations where a werewolf from her district is involved. She gathers the facts and then reports to her superiors. When a string of brutal murders in another district point to a rogue werewolf, she finds herself working with sexy Dante MacMillan.

Dante is Tori’s human counterpart and he works closely with her on a case by case basis. When the murders start to escalate, he and Tori will have to work together to gather clues while also working on a secret project for Tobias Caine, a council member. The more he works with Tori, the less he can deny his attraction to her, but he is not at a place in his life where he can get involved and he does not want Tori to be a one night stand.

As the investigation moves forward, Tori and Dante find themselves in a place where denying their attraction to each other is impossible. Once they give in, they realize how much they truly mean to each other. But as the clues start to point to someone Tori knows, she’ll struggle with sharing her suspicions and protecting someone she cares about.

I loved the fresh premise of this series. From the book back:

Once a generation, the rift between the paranormal world and the human world opens, allowing supernatural entities to cross. Vampire, demon, or shapeshifter, they can save the world-or send it spiraling into chaos.

What this does not say is that the only thing that comes through the rift is the essence of the paranormal creature. Once through the rift, he/she must find a human host. When they do, they take over the host completely. Even though they do retain the host’s memories, for all intents and purposes the human is gone.

I liked Tori’s character. She comes off as a very strong woman, good at her job with very strong feelings about right and wrong. She’s also very clear about wanting Dante and she is aggressive toward him on the subject. She knows what she wants and she goes after it. Dante definitely wants to explore his feelings for Tori, but he’s not a player at all and he feels he couldn’t give Tori the time and commitment that he would want to should they pursue a relationship. But he has obligations. He is very close to his sister and as she is recovering from breast cancer and her chemotherapy, she is his first priority.

I liked that both of these characters had such wonderful values and strength of character. I also liked that it was kind of a switch that Tori was the aggressor to Dante’s wanting to take things slow. I enjoyed the build up and the tension and I really liked that they didn’t just jump into bed too easily.

There is a bit of a continuing story arc and here I think I would have benefited from having read book one, Kiss of the Vampire, where this is introduced. I didn’t make the connection between Natchook and Stefan until near the end. Had I read book one, I might have felt more of a connection to that part of the story and a better understanding of why Natchook is such an important character.

While I admit I found the use of the “rift” a fresh take to explain the presence of the paranormal creatures on earth, there is really very little explanation of how or why this initially occurred. I felt that I was left to assume too much and form my own conclusions.

Additionally, once Tori’s suspicions are noted, I had an easy time deducing who the murderer was, so that part of the conflict fell a bit flat for me. Lastly, while the chemistry between Dante and Tori is clear, the struggles they go through near the end were a bit predictable and seemed to wrap up a bit too nicely.

Rating: C

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