The Highwayman by Michele Hauf

The Highwayman is in the Silhouette Nocturne line and is the first in the Wicked Games series. The Wicked Games series takes place in the same paranormal world as Hauf's Bewitching the Dark series. I haven't read any of those but have one in my TBR pile and look forward to reading them all.

Max Fitzroy is a French highwayman who is possessed by a demon (actually part of a demon) in 1758. After that he can no longer eat, sleep or have an orgasm. On the other hand, he is immortal and has superhuman strength. He is driven by revenge and goes around the world killing demons and familiars. Familiars are cat shape-shifters who bring demons into this world during a magic sex ritual. Aby is a Familar who has a werewolf protector. Max tracks her down planning to use her to call up the demon whose shadow lives inside him and then kill her.

What I loved about this book was the originality. The Highwayman and his super cool whip are unique and a welcome change from vamps and weres. Although Aby is a shifter, the Familiars are also new and fascinating. I was not too happy with Max having killed so many of them, though. It's a fast paced book with lots of fun action and surprises. Aby was an enchanting heroine, so innocent in many ways in spite of being so sexually experienced. I especially liked the part of the book that took place in Paris. The only complaint I have is that the ending seemed rushed and I would have liked to find out a little more about what happened to them.

I'll rate it 8.0 out of 10 and will look for the next in the series, Moon Kissed, which is the story of Severo, Aby's werewolf friend.

Alpha Wolf by Linda O. Johnston

Alpha Wolf is part of Harlequin's paranormal Nocturne line. As you can guess, it features werewolves, and I enjoyed it more than I expected.

I thought this would be a run-of-the-mill werewolf story. Not only was Alpha Wolf very well written, but the werewolves were some of the most convincing that I've come across. It was easy to believe that if werewolves existed, this is exactly what would happen.

The hero, Major Drew Connell, is an uber-Alpha. He is not only a werewolf, but he's also a military officer and a doctor. In spite of this, he is very likable and not obnoxiously overprotective or domineering. The heroine, Dr. Melanie Harding, is a vet with some alpha tendencies of her own. She seemed very real to me, brave and intelligent, yet not perfect.

The Nocturnes are short in length and there wasn't much time to develop secondary characters. I wish there had been a bit more time spent on the villain, because when he was revealed I thought for a moment "Who?" I did think the big mystery of who had been shooting the dogs and people in the area with silver bullets, was interesting and full of action.

I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys werewolf tales and I'll rate it 7.5 out of 10.

Unbound by Lori Devoti

Unbound is a book in Harlequin's Nocturne (paranormal) line. I've read several of these now and they vary a lot in quality. Some have been quite good, some average and a couple were really awful (those were early ones, though, maybe they were still learning what would work.)

I'm glad to say Unbound is one of the good ones. It features a Hellhound named Risk as the hero, which is interesting and original. Not to mention sexy as hell. The heroine, Kara, is a witch, but she doesn't realize that at the beginning of the book. There's a lot going on in this book and it moves quickly, perhaps too quickly particularly at the end which felt a bit rushed to me though it was happy. The hero and heroine were really the focus, the secondary characters were fairly standard (well, not the giant snake guy, he was cool.) The originality of the paranormal elements and the way Risk and Kara grew and changed during the story were the high points for me.

I'd rate this book 7 out of 10 and would love to read about more Hellhounds.