Late Night Book Review — Claimed by the Wolf

Title:  Claimed by the Wolf
Author:  Charlene Teglia
Genre:  Erotica
Pages:  Oversize paperback, 292
Published:  2009
Publisher:  St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN:  978-0-312-53742-5
Opening Lines:  "Kenric would have cursed when the demon he pursued evaded him, but in his wolf form he could only snarl."
Rating:

"Shadow Guardian Kenric is a werewolf on a mission—to stop Sybil Ames from destorying the world. Sybil is a beautiful apprentice witch who's accidentally opened a doorway to the underworld an let loose hordes of demons. Now it's up to the Shadow Guardians to stop them—and take Sybil captive to stop her from doing any more damange.

"Instead of fearing the warrior who's introduced her to his dark, seductive new world, Sybil realizes she's exactly where she belongs—and now she's falling hard for the man who brought her here. But in order to be Kenric's mate and live with the Shadow Guardians forever, she must undergo an ancient initiation rite binding her to the brotherhood. For one night, she must share herself with all five warriors—giving herself to each man, and taking all the dark pleasure they have to offer. But can she really surrender herself so completely? And once she's given in to such wild, wicked sensuality, will she ever be the same?"

~ Jacket copy

Thoughts:  I'm not sure how I stumbled onto this book, but most things involving werewolves will usually catch my attention.  This book follows the young apprentice witch, Sybil.  After buying an old spell book at an estate sale, she unwittingly opens a gate into the demon world and releases a large number of them.  While trying to rid herself of the book, it links itself with her mind and flesh to become part of her.  Now to stop the hordes of demons and a coven of witches from taking over, she must join forces with the Shadow Guardians—an elite force put together by the goddess Inanna.  However, in order to receive the goddess' mark, she must give herself to each Shadow Guardian for 24 hours.

This book is completely about the sexual relationship between Sybil and each of these men—Kenric (the werewolf), Kadar (the dragon), Ronan (the sidhe), Adrian (vampire), and Abaran (demon).  There is plenty of group sex, anal, and very mild BDSM.  While there is a story, it seems to be more of a vehicle for the sex.  If you pick this book up for anything other than erotica, you will be sorely, sorely disappointed. That being said, the story that was there was rather interesting; however, I wish the author had spent a little more time with it.  It seemed too easy for Sybil to single-handedly save Abaran, stop the coven, and seal the gate.  Even though she was much more powerful after the book bound itself to her, it still felt a little too easy to wrap the book up the way the author did.

I loved that Sybil had a personality outside of being a receptacle for semen and an object for sexual gratification.  She really struggled with the consequences of giving herself fully over to these men, what it meant to contain demon magic, and so on.  Further, the humor was absolutely a stitch!  Kadar had me roaring with laughter on several occasions, and I just adored his character.  Honestly, I found myself wishing she would end up with him.  That being said, I was sad that the time spent with Ronan and Adrian was cut short.  I would have liked to see the time spent with them given as much time as Kenric, Kadar, and Abaran. 

The author dropped little tidbits of information that gave the book a different type of depth.  When she started talking about knotting, I thought that was extremely interesting.  Even though I know wolves do it, I never would have guessed that a werewolf might experience the same thing.  It shows that the author definitely put some thought into her book beyond sex.

If you're looking for something beyond paranormal romance and urban fantasy, this book might be up your alley.  However, in comparison to some books on the market, the sex in this is rather mild. 

Current Pages: 710
Current Progress:

3/50 books