Rate: 3/5

Medium: Kindle

Overview (No Spoilers):
A little over a year ago I was first introduced to Samantha MacLeod’s The Trickster’s Lover, whereupon I was reminded how refreshing it can be to step outside of one’s typical reading genre of comfort.  As anyone who frequents my blog can attest, I’ve been thoroughly and delightfully immersed in high fantasy for much of the past year. As such, upon hearing that MacLeod had continued built upon her previously engaging literary world I was excited to pick up The Wolf’s Lover, especially with the hope that a few familiar characters might make an appearance. While MacLeod’s novels fall within the realm of fantasy they do most definitely contain a level romance that I haven’t likely read since Outlander.  I have to laugh as I think back on my previous experiences reading romance novels as when in middle school/high school my friends and I were insatiable, voracious readers that routinely switched far ranging genres with the seasons and read everything we could get our hands on, with minimal monitoring from our parents.  Due to one of my best friends mom’s owning a quite extensive collection of romance novels we spent one winter heavily borrowing from her bookshelf, forever marring our expectations of chivalry from our future significant others. Honestly, the only one I can recall to this day, even though I can’t think of the title, involved a Confederate widow and an injured Union soldier, or perhaps those roles were reversed.  Anyway, getting back to the subject at hand. In MacLeod’s novels she weaves scenes of steamy romance around the existence of familiar mythological characters within modern settings. The women in both her novels are strong minded, highly educated and intelligent, although sometimes blinded to an unreasonable level by their overwhelming love.  While I did not find myself as connected to the main characters in The Wolf’s Lover, the story grew exponentially better as the two novels began to intermingle and entwine together.  Additionally, it took a significant portion of the book for my appreciation of Karen to take shape once her heartbreaking backstory was flushed out. Overall, The Wolf’s Lover was an entertaining continuation of MacLeod’s intriguing modern take on Norse mythology

Additional Insight (Spoilers Abound):

• How will Karen and Nidhoggr’s child be different? Will it grow normally? Will it get along with Caroline and Loki’s baby?
• I enjoyed seeing Loki’s character again, especially as he was rather entertainingly always popping in during the post inopportune times. I wish there had been more of Caroline!
• One of my favorite parts of the book was Karen and Vali visiting her ex husband. It was painted as such a bad guy in the beginning of the book that it was satisfying to see him and the story evolve into something more complex.
• Why was Diana guiding Karen and Vali together?
• Karen’s grad students were such a fun addition to the story line. I want to hang out with Zeke in real life and Colin sounded like such a nice guy.
• The wedding conclusion was such a sweet scene and a great ending to The Wolf Lover.
• Will MacLeod weave a story about Odinn and thaw his frigid exterior?
• Will Vali learn to use his power?
• Karen’s poor parents must have been subjected to such a rollercoaster of emotions.