Blog Tour Review: Wild About You by Kerrelyn Sparks

From the Back Cover:

Handsome Howard . . .
Hunky Howard . . .
Hot Howard . . .

It’s not every day that Elsa Bjornberg feels delicate, not when she hosts a home renovation show where she can effortlessly demolish a kitchen. But from the moment she meets Howard Barr, this bear of a man makes her feel like a woman. And the way he looks at her, as if she were a pot of honey he’d like to lick . . .

Howard is not like most men. For one thing, he’s a shapeshifter. And he always thought his celebrity crush would never amount to anything more than drooling at Elsa on TV. When his meddling vampire employer gets involved, the star is suddenly within his grasp—and within a hair of her life. For an ancient curse forbids their newfound love, and Howard is suddenly torn between his desire for her and his desire to keep her alive.

My Thoughts:

I don't normally like to jump into a series out of order (this is #13 in the Love at Stake series), but I've been wanting to read Kerrelyn Sparks and I thought the set up for Wild About You sounded adorable: A big hunk of a guy who's a little shy and has a massive crush on the sledgehammer-wielding hottie from a home improvement show. That hunk also happens to have the ability to shapeshift into a Kodiak bear at will and his celebrity crush has the power to end an ancient prophecy of tragedy, though she doesn't know it yet.

Vampire Shanna Draganesti decides to take matters into her own hands when she discovers her children's bodyguard has a crush on Elsa from International Home Wreckers. Howard's so quiet and shy, he'd never actually take steps to meet his dream girl, and Shanna is convinced that tall, big-boned, gorgeous Elsa is the perfect girl for him. So she arranges for the show to come remodel their old gatehouse, and for Howard to handle the project for her. Elsa is drawn to the huge and handsome Howard right away. But his touch awakens a new sense in her, and she begins to fear that the prophecy she's always written off, the one handed down among generations of women in her family, is about to come true. Then her gun-toting aunts Ula and Greta arrive from Sweden, determined to protect her from the only thing that could awaken the curse: a berserker. A berserker they believe is going to kill her. Problem is, Elsa is slowly falling in love with that berserker, and she can't imagine Howard could be anything like the monster her aunts make him out to be. But when Howard trusts her enough to reveal his shapeshifting nature to him, will she run and hide, or will she stand beside him as their mutual enemy closes in, and let the power of their love break the curse forever?

Though it took me a while to read "were-bear" without smiling and thinking of Care Bears, I really liked the origination explanation, which involved the mythology of Scandinavian berserkers and Guardians of the Sea, Sky, and Forest. I liked both of the main characters and I can't remember the last time I read a romance where the couple didn't even kiss until halfway through the book. It was nice to watch a couple actually spend some time getting to know each other before getting physical.

My only real complaint is that too much time was spent with other characters not central to the romance. I guess fans who've read the whole series enjoy catching up with these characters from previous books, but not having read them, I kept wanting the story to hurry up and get back to Elsa and Howard. I also thought the element of danger that had been stalking both Howard and Elsa throughout the story was taken care of rather quickly and easily at the end. But overall I enjoyed the story, and though I doubt I'll go back and read all of the novels in this series, I will check out those that feature some of the secondary characters I found intriguing in this one.

My Rating:  3.5 Stars out of 5

And now for the Giveaway!

To enter, simply leave a comment on this review with your email address.

This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada and ends at 11:59pm Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012. Winner will be selected at random. Thanks, and good luck!

This giveaway is closed and
the winner has been selected.
Stay tuned for more great giveaways!

Wild About You is on a blog tour!

Click here to view the full schedule!