When I picked up The Lure of the Wolf, I thought that I was in for another fun shapeshifter series. Unfortunately, I found cardboard, beefcake males who spurn clothing, and the women who have sex with them for two days straight and call it love. There was also a fantastic alternate reality world that nearly suffocated me with its complexity. Needless to say, I wasn’t impressed.

This book is the second in St. Giles’ series of Shadowmen (the general grouping of the were-beings) and it picks up right where the first one left off. In fact, it overlaps. Aragon is the leader of a group of Blood Hunters, werewolves who reside in the spirit realm, fighting the eternal battle between good and evil and sworn to protect the special humans who are of the Elan blood (and are therefore very tasty to vampires). Aragon sees his brother, Jason, dying on top of Spirit Wind Mountain in the middle of the Sacred Stones and runs up the mountain to save him. When he fails, he casts his amulet into the ether and renounces his calling, vowing that he will kill Pathos (once a Blood Hunter and for the last millennium the evil leader of the Vladarian vampires) and then fade.

Annette Batista is on the mountain in the mortal realm, helping her friend, Erin, save Jason and also hoping for help in finding her sister, Stephanie, who disappeared from the Sacred Stones six months ago. She finds Aragon’s amulet and, knowing what it is, keeps it as a sign that she might not be alone in her fight to find her sister. That night, she unknowingly calls Aragon to her in the middle of his quest and is both drawn to and shocked by the savage werewolf that greets her. When he disappears, she takes a bath and calls him to her again. He lands naked in her tub (because these Hunters never have clothing on) and their relationship starts from there.

Almost the entire time I read this, images of low-budget warrior shows kept popping into my head, like Hercules or the male side of Xena (or maybe Beastmaster, since these guys are werewolves). Of course, these hunks run around naked with their swords and flowing locks. The world that St. Giles creates is so complex that it becomes somewhat absurd and hard to follow. Lots of beings on the side of Logos battle the forces of Heldon, which is actually what is happening when storms break out on our earthly plain, the rain being the warriors’ blood. Then there are the special Elan on earth, and I’m not even sure why they’re special, except that their blood holds more power than that of normal humans. Then there is normal magic in the form of the Irish Emerald, who apparently can only speak two Irish words, “gack” and “bleedin’”, which she spouts off incessantly throughout the entire novel.

There’s a lot more to the worlds, but another important bit is that Aragon can pour his spirit into Annette and read her thoughts, heal her, and communicate with her. The first time they have sex, he combines his spirit with hers, because he is a virgin and wants to know what she wants him to do. After that he does it for the reasons already mentioned and to make the sexual experience stronger. It’s certainly interesting when virgins know exactly what gives the greatest pleasure and when their repertoire is immediately broad (especially when they grow up outside the mortal existence and don’t have Playboy or buddies to talk to). And how many times can a person experience something that is the greatest thing ever experienced? The merging of souls gets old real quick. I think the author used it to give some semblance of the characters getting to know each other, of “knowing each others’ souls”, because without it, they would only know the sex.

There was just so much in this book that I found either too silly or unbelievable. Neither Annette’s charms nor her physical appearance are described very well, but Pathos, who hasn’t been attracted to a woman in decades or longer, wants her with a burning passion to the point of abandoning certain goals. There were also a few anachronisms relating to the warrior hunks who do not know anything about the mortal world beyond its language and history. One finds it difficult to imagine such a man, who does not even know what a phone or a gun is, using a phrase like “gunning for”. Oh, and I can’t forget the running. There were so many images of the big, beefy, probably naked man sprinting from danger with the distressed damsel in his arms. It was so casually used, in fact, that at one point the damsel actually uses the air created by their swift passage as a hairdryer.

This book combined most of the things that I dislike about stereotyped romance novels. Everything was overdone: the setting, the relationship, the characters. As a result, I found Lure of the Wolf lacking allure. I will be staying far away from these particular shapeshifters.