The Wolfe

Kathryn has created a legacy of brave men and women, down family lines, involving real historical figures and events. I own every one of her books. I return to one set or another, feeling as if I’m meeting up with old friends. Right now, recovering from surgery, I restarted the deWolfe series. Kathryn has a great sense of the HEA romance readers want, adding in intrigue, sadness and outright loss that reminds us that there are real loves in real life. You cannot go wrong with any book by Kathryn La Veque!

Le Veque knows how to make you feel like you know the characters personally. I love how she has multiple characters in her stories. There are heroes and villains, maidens all with great character development so that you feel their emotions and historical background make for a great romance and history lesson. I am on a mission to read all her books!

I enjoyed this book for the most part. I only gave a 4 star because it got annoying reading constantly about the female lead being the most beautiful woman on earth. Every male fell in love with her, she was the kindest the most......basically most perfect woman ever and it got kind of disgusting. Even the knights that claimed to love her cousins ( the other 2 love stories in the book) were secretly holding a flame for her or basically in love with her too.The female character I enjoyed was Jemma. She was not perfect like her sweetly perfect cousin Jordan. Jemma was more real and I think she should of had a novel to herself. But yeah I got tired of reading how Jordan was so perfect in every males eyes and that she was the most beautiful so I tried to skip through the book after awhile to get to the parts of Jemma or basically once the characters started fawning all over Jordan I tried to skip those parts because it was just too much. If that was toned down and Jordan had some flaws and not every male was in love with her then yeah the book would of been perfect because I love historical romance novels and Kathryn's books I really enjoy.

The tale of Jordan and William, The Wolf, had the makings of a decent romance in a historical setting. Now, there are aspects of their love story that do not appeal to me personally, but I could see other readers eating it up like candy had the abysmal length (800 pages), numerous editing errors, and pacing issues not bogged it down. I have read from some other reviewers that even the historical aspect was not all that accurate. I can’t speak to that personally as I can’t profess to be an expert when it comes to 1200 A.D. However, what I can speak to is that, although I found the presentation of the setting fine (to my less-than-knowledgeable self), the actions of our leads and consequences of “said actions” in some circumstances did not seem fitting to the severity of their choices. Jordan and The Wolf pull off some pretty ballsy things that probably should have gotten them both hanged, lynched, or at the very least, exiled, but they seem to skate through these events like the cat that ate the cream.The ProsA Medievalish setting full of knights. Some cute, romantic moments. Some great action, at times. Fun side characters—some of the time.The ConsAnnoying and unlikeable leads.Jordan (unfortunately our ingenue) is selfish, vain, and one of the most dimwitted heroines I have ever had the displeasure of reading. She is written to be this virtuous (big fat, knee-slapping laugh, excuse me while water shoots out of my nose from laughing so hard after drinking my carbonated beverage) woman with a beauty that seems to transcend her I.Q. on every level—and not in a good way. The praise of her beauty is by far one of the most redundant and annoying devices in the book. Every man wants her. Every woman wants to be her (I can’t fathom why). Every word, action, and thought of Jordan’s is cringeworthy and tiresome by novel’s end.William, the great and feared, Wolf, is no better. Meet muscle-boy with rocks for brains. Or more aptly, he leaves the most important decisions of his life to the nether regions between his legs. His love and adoration of Jordan, although he insists otherwise, is purely primal and based on his libido. There is no other explanation than this, as Jordan shows nothing redeemable or appealing to offer the opposite sex other than a promise of a hot bod and a fantastic lay.Wandering Side StoriesAlthough the side characters were often amusing and far more likable than the leads, their stories were what unnecessarily extended the length of this novel and should have been the contents of a second novel in the ongoing series. Alongside the book’s main love story between Jordan and The Wolf was yet another romance between two of the side characters. This is not unheard of in romance novels. It is even enjoyable if done right, if seen more so in a “behind-the-scenes” sort of way. Or in brief vignettes. Oftentimes, this secondary romance was treated like the main attraction (complete with sex scenes. Yes. More than one sex scene was afforded these secondary, nonessential characters).Pacing and EditingSeveral events of this story felt more like filler and did not progress the story or character growth in any way. With the extraction of a few of these “fluff” scenes, the novel would have been tight and fast-paced, making for a much more engaging and satisfying read. LeVeque has a note at the end of the novel that explains how this is her first-ever “serious” story that she had written down on several notebooks, etc. A friend of hers kindly transcribed all the pieces of the story into one digital file. LeVeque also states that she decided not to do “too much editing” in order to preserve the work as it was originally conceived. This was a mistake on her part, as there are several grammatical and editing errors in the PDF version that I read. This may also explain why the story is so long-winded.Unnecessary EpilogueI personally found the epilogue to be more on the hokey side. Perhaps my distaste for it also comes from the fact that I had just read about 800 pages of at least half of a story of aimless filler. And to have yet another batch of pages of redundancy was just a few pages too many at that point. However, had the novel been tightened up and more of a standard 400 or so page length, I would still find that epilogue hokey as all get out. To each their own, I guess.Do I recommend this novelI cannot say that I do. At least, not this novel as a first try at this author. I had previously read two of her other titles, the first novel in the DeWolfe series and Netherworld. I did enjoy them. Those novels seemed more focused and probably better examples of the author’s growth as a writer over time.Although, a caveat here, I did listen to them on audiobook, so that may have also enhanced my enjoyment, as Brad Wills made the listening experience quite exceptional.I chose to read this book instead of listening to the audiobook because the recording of The Wolfe is atrocious. The speed is off and maybe because of this the VA’s reading is either too fast or too slow no matter which speed you change it to, with little to no differentiation between voices. It was not a great experience, so I quickly opted for the Kindle version.

I love medieval romance novels but this one went on a bit too long. Jordan was a bit too lovely, and how William managed not to wring her neck sometimes, I have no idea. Both she and Jemma acted like spoilt, silly school children with no sense of responsibility. There were also annoying mistakes, such as the constant use of the word 'wunna ' instead of 'willna '. Also, if Americans are going to write about England, then I wish they would get at least the basics right. Several times it was mentioned that they were going down 'to London' and went to Windsor Castle!! Please, Windsor Castle isn't in London nowadays let alone in medieval times when London was a fraction of the size of is today. As for the epilogue, what was the point in that? It seems as though this author just had to get some Americans into the story somewhere; it was the same in the previous book of the series, but it adds nothing to the story at all. By all means, write a book on modern American descendants of The Wolfe, but why put some in the medieval stories?I will read more of this series because, as I say, I love medieval romance, but I hope there are no more mistakes.

I loved the characters, the action and the exciting plot. The romance was almost secondary to the story and I didn't bother reading the graphic sex passages.The book was exciting enough without them.

Absolutely loved this book. If I could give it more stars I would. Love the plot, characters, setting. I was totally immersed in the story. Not too much description of setting/characters, just the right amount to inform, but not distract from the plot. It made me feel the emotional pull of the characters and what they are going through. It also made me smile, a lot. Recommend this book and the author.

This book is simply brilliant. Strong characters and supporting characters that add hugely to the storyline. The camaraderie between William and his men and the way they interact with Jordan and Jemma is one of the nicest things about the book. They are there for each other through happy and sad times. I have read numerous books from this genre and can honestly say that this one gripped me from start to finish. I usually read roughly 4 books each week and I have never written a review for any of them, so the fact I felt compelled to do so for this one shows how good it is!

A great read, couldn’t put it down, so funny in places and in others sad, a true Romance storey, thanks look forward to the next one.