Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Review: A Certain Wolfish Charm by Lydia Dare, or How I Love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups



I hate peanut butter. Hate it with a passion. Even the smell grosses me out. BUT, I love Reese's Cups. I can't explain it - something about the peanut butter mixed with that chocolatey goodness is sooooo yummy; it's a perfect match, the flavors complement each other well. This book was like a Reese's Cup....only instead of chocolate and peanut butter it's a great mix of historical and paranormal romance. I'd been a bit burnt out on historical romances lately, and craving good paranormal romances. Blodeuedd's review put this book on my radar, so when I took my daughters book shopping and saw it on the shelf I grabbed it. This historical paranormal romance was just what I was looking for.

Lily Rutledge is "on the shelf" at the age of 23. She lives with her 12-year-old nephew, Oliver. Oliver's parents died in a carriage accident and Lily stepped in to take care of him. His actual guardian, however, is Simon Westfield, the Duke of Blackmore; Lily and Oliver never see the Duke, although he does support them financially. When Lily writes to ask for assistance when Oliver's behavior starts getting out of hand, the Duke's reply is to send more cash. Lily is furious at this response, and decides to pay Lord Blackmore a visit to explain what's going on and ask him to step in as a "male influence" for Oliver.

What Lily doesn't know is that Oliver is actually a werewolf, and it's not just puberty he's dealing with, but the start of "the change". In this story, werewolves are all male, and they get very moody around the full moon. When Lily travels to see the Duke, he is annoyed at the intrusion as he normally goes away during this moon phase - the last thing he needs is a beautiful woman running around his household. Once Lily explains the problem, however, he agrees to help Oliver.

The escapades they go through trying to avoid each other when they are undeniably pulled towards each other are endearing. Simon has a history as quite the ladies man, but when he falls for Lily he turns tongue tied and bumbles around saying the wrong thing, to quite a funny effect. When Simon and Lily finally succumb to their desires I wanted to stand up and cheer! The only thing is, Simon keeps his secret from Lily. Lily knows something is up, and she's persistent without being annoying. The scenes between Simon and Oliver as they established who was the "top dog" were entertaining as well.

Simon's neighbor Prisca is a saucy but sweet young thing, I have the feeling we'll be seeing her again. His brother Will is also endearing and gets his hackles up whenever Prisca is around, but their brother Benjamin also seems to have some sort of friendship with Prisca. Simon's mother seems like a kind,older woman with a backbone of steel. Her first meeting with Lily was quite a scene!

I loved this book! There was nothing about it I didn't like. If there were any historical innacuracies, I was too enamored of the story to notice or care. Lydia Dare writes a great story. The scenes flowed so naturally, there was never a spot where I thought, "oh, here's a good place to stop"; I always wanted to know what was next!

This one's going on my keeper shelf - I give A Certain Wolfish Charm 5/5 stars!

Addendum: The second book in this series: Tall, Dark, and Wolfish, releases today!

11 comments:

  1. 5/5 - oh wow! I am definitely getting this one. Great review!

    P.S. - you peanut-butter hating freak! lol. I have a serious Reese's addiction. There's one speciality shop in Melbourne that sells them (they get them in stock every 3 months or so) and when they come in I absolutely raid the place! How weird that your palate is refined enough to love Reese's, but hate other peanut butter. Like I said, freak! :)

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  2. You don't like peanut butter?!? O.O I have peanut butter toast every single morning. EVERY SINGLE MORNING. For the last 20+ years. :)

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  3. Girl you ALWAYS have the BEST reading taste! This book sounds GREAT!!!!! Ok...the hubby JUST got on to me last night about buying so many books (hehe...I was buying the latest Sookie Stackhouse) but I think this book is worth a pout or two to get my way! lol Thanks for the heads up sugar! =) Happy Tuesday!

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  4. Danielle: I loved this book, it was adorable! (They don't sell Reese's on a regular basis in Melbourne?)

    Chris: Even as a kid, I'd hide my sandwich from the nuns and throw it away if it was PB. When my 9yo eats it for breakfast in the car before school I crack the windows. Ugh.

    Monroe: This story was absolutely adorable. For me, it's got that elusive "something" that I love. (I'm picking up Sookie today - lucky for me hubs reads that series too!)

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  5. I am so glad you liked it :D
    Oh yes we will see more of Prisca

    And I will give you Benjamin this week hopefully

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  6. Wow, this sounds like a historical I'd love to read (and it's not really my genre)! Excellent review, hon!
    Btw I hate peanut butter too. :)

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  7. I also have issues with historicals - but I love the para element added to this one..

    Glad this one worked for you..

    Kudos to Blodeuedd for the rec..

    E.H>

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  8. Reece's Peanut Buttercups are da bomb. You know they have a peanut butter right?

    I to do not usually care for historicals - nice review Patti maybe I'll change my mind about my anti-historical stance.

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  9. This one sounds so cute..and I love the pnr aspect mixed with the historical :)

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  10. Blodeuedd: I loved it! Thanks!

    Buckeye Girl: Obviously I recommend this one, LOL!

    Janna: Peanut butter haters, unite! :) I've been burned out on historicals but I loved this.

    EH: The author did a great job combining the two genres.

    Smokinhotbooks: I can't explain why I like PB cups, I just do :)

    Mandi: It was very cute!

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