Search - Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, Bk 1)

What a great beginning to a series I am looking forward to following. A wonderfully strong and intelligent female lead who, of course, is surrounded by good looking men, but, unlike a certain vampire series (LKH, pay attention!), she doesn't feel the need to be the only brain nor is she boffing everyone in the cast. I am picking up the second book, "Stolen", as soon as I click, "Save Review"...

This was an incredible book - I loved every moment of it. It caught my attention right in the beginning with the description of Elena's run. It got even better when Elena went back to the Pack. The tension between her and Clay was absolutely intense. But the descriptions are really what caught my attention. Armstrong seems to really know how it feels to be a wolf - or at least how to describe it so it seems that way!

I have read all of Kelley Armstrong Women of the Otherworld series so far. Her series is awesome. I enjoyed every book so much, that I ran to the store to buy the rest of the series. Can't wait for the next one to come out.

When I started getting into paranormal romance and urban fantasy books, I quickly learned that I had a lot of catching up to do. One of the books that kept coming up in conversations with friends, online reviews and recommendations, every list I looked at, was this book--Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. There were people that told me this was the book to which all other shapeshifter books should be compared. Now, I'm not going to gush quite such high praise, but I will say this is going on my five star shelf (and I don't say that about many books).

The story is told entirely from the first person perspective of Elena. Ten years prior to the main plot, Elena was bitten by her fiance and thrust into a world of werewolves she never dreamed existed. She has done everything in her power to seperate herself from the Pack (the leading clan of werewolves) and make a life for herself in the human world. But when her alpha calls and demands her help with some unruly mutts (non-Pack werewolves) she can't refuse. Thrown back into the violent and unpredictable world of werewolves, Elena must fight those who threaten her loved ones and come to terms with who and what she is.

This book is brilliant in it's simplicity. I guess I've grown accustomed, with most fantasy books, to being inundated with information about vampires, shape-shifters, witches, fairies, and all the customs and rituals and rules that go along with each. It's not that I mind that in the slightest, but sometimes a story that's just about one thing--werewolves in this case--is best. I got a really clear sense, from the brilliant use of Elena's perspective, exactly what it might be like to be a werewolf. Her journey, her pain, her relationship with the other wolves, occupied most of the space and I mean that in the best possible way. I loved the Pack and the disfunctional family atmosphere they create. And the romance between Elena and Clay (the wolf who bit her) is remarkably sweet. Even the villains are fleshed out, with believable and interesting motivations.

What I liked most about this book, at the end of it all, was how thuroughly Elena's worldview shifted. There's nothing quite like watching a character finally come to accept herself. When it's done right, it makes the book spectacular.

If you're looking for a werewolf book, look no further. This one's a keeper.

This was my first taste of Kelley Armstrong and I must say, I was impressed. While I wasn't very connected to the characters in the beginning (that changed, don't worry!), I was really enjoying the plot, the history of the werewolves, and the writing style.

Elena was a really great narrator. She had me laughing, sniffling, and screaming at her for her stupidity at times. She is a strong female who doesn't want to accept the supernatural side of herself, and has tried to run from it. Her strong-willed personality is what I love about her most.

I adored Clay from his first scene, and suddenly became very engaged in the history between he and Elena when Clay had to "protect" Elena in Toronto. Clay is the adopted son of Jeremy, the Pack's leader. While his hot temper and violent tendencies made him seem more wolf than man, at times, he is over the top for Elena and you can feel his devotion leak off the pages.

Good action, good lovin', good characters and good writing

A disappointing and hard read. The author's attempt to portray the heroine as a strong woman only came across as an unlikable self righteous, bratty bitch. It was a fairly straightforward simple plot, no twists, turns or surprises, you knew who the bad guys were and that was about it. Various characters show up and are killed before you even have a chance to care. Others were fairly one note and very bland by the time their turn comes around you still don't care. I had to force myself to finish and it couldn't happen soon enough, lots of pages wasted on uninteresting boring information that leads nowhere most times. The ending picked up a bit but overall, left much to be desired.