Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran

Bitten
Women of the Otherworld, Book 1

Author: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: fantasy, romance
Pages: 436

Brief Summary:
Elena has managed to build a fairly ordinary life for herself: steady job, apartment, devoted boyfriend. The only thing that mars her normal life is that she has to sneak out of bed once a week or so to go running around the city...as a wolf. Elena is a werewolf (or shifter?). In fact, she is the only female werewolf in existence, since only males can inherit the werewolf gene and women have to be bitten and survive. Elena separated from the werewolf pack, unable to escape her confused emotions for Clay, her love and the man who turned her into a werewolf. She wants to stay with her boyfriend in Toronto, but a crisis calls her back to New York where the pack lives. Mutts, werewolves outside the pack, have started going on a killing spree on the pack's doorstep and they cannot be stopped without Elena's help.

Review:
I determined to read this series (well, I was planning to read it anyway, but I fasttracked it) after enjoying Armstrong's teen series. One of my friends told me that this series was set in the same world, so I really wanted to find out. Honestly, I am not yet sure on that. Overall, I found this book less interesting than the teen series. I never got particularly interested in what was happening or in the characters. It wasn't bad, but it just didn't grip me.

One thing that really confused me was the werewolf gene being only male. Is that a thing genetics does? I mean, maybe it could, but it's just odd. Really, it seemed like a choice made so that Elena could be the one all of the guys wanted, in order to up the sexy drama of the book.

Elena's relationships with pretty much every guy in the book also confused me. She has father issues (unsurprising since her parents died when she was young and she was abused by her foster fathers). Even worse perhaps is the sometimes sadomasochistic relationship betwixt herself and Clay. She is as guilty for the situation as he is on some levels, but it made me so uncomfortable to read.

Recommended to paranormal romance fans, perhaps those that liked the Alpha and Omega series (of which I could not even finish the first book). I do not plan to continue with the Women of the Otherworld books, after having read the description for the second book.