This is another one of those cases for making it blatantly obvious what number a book is in a series. "Bloodlines" by the same author showed up here at work, and it's been on my Amazon recommended list as well as my sissy's Wishlist for a while, so I scooped it up. Only to check it back in within the hour - after reading the blurb on the back, I realized it was the third book in the series. ARGH! Of course, we didn't have the first two here, so I had to resort to an interlibrary loan to obtain "Tempting Danger". (We will have the first books, though; I make recommendations about this sort of thing all the time to our Collection/Development dept, probably too many!)
Anyway, I'm very glad I asked for this book! It's well-written, has an interesting plot, and the romance part doesn't overwhelm the rest of the book. And again, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! Just can't say enough about that, can I?
Lily Yu is a homicide investigator who has just come across a very ugly case. It would appear that a man has been killed by a lupi (werewolf to us mere mortals), something that will cause all sorts of problems. See, the lupi are "out" in this world, albeit walking on eggshells. There's a bill being tossed around in Congress that would give them all the legal rights of humans, but would also subject them to all "human" laws, making things like Challenges a thing of the past (anyone not familiar with werewolf behavior needs to read up on it - there's always an Alpha male and fights for dominance are frequent). At this moment in time, it's still legal to kill a lupi if they attack in that form. You can shoot the wolf, not the man. Lily's case is going to have all sorts of implications if a lupi is really responsible for the attack.
Lily's biggest problem is going to be convincing her department that they're looking in the wrong direction. It wasn't a lupi that killed the man - it was a sorcerer. How can she possibly know that when all the physical evidence says otherwise? Lily is a sensitive; she can touch a person or object and feel the magic left behind. This isn't common knowledge, as most "others" are still not accepted by the "normal" human population at large. Complicating matters further is the offer of help from the Lu Nuncio of the local lupi pack. Rule Turner might be a suspect, most certainly is involved in some way, and there's a definite attraction between him and Lily, one that she can't resist. No, not in a "he's so hot" way - Lily is Rule's Chosen, his mate for life, something that neither of them will be able to ignore.
Cullen Seaborne, a lone lupi and sorcery practitioner, is also heavily involved, as well as being one of Rule's best friends. Can the three of them solve the case and bring the killer to justice? Is the killer human or much more, possibly one of the Old Ones that Rule and Lily's Grandmother talk about? How much trouble is the shift between the realms bringing on them? Will Lily be able to walk away from Rule? What if he really is the killer - can she bring him to justice?
Pretty much all these questions and more are answered by the end of the book. I thought Wilks did a great job with Lily; she's a very engaging female character, one I found myself liking, which is quite a feat. Too many of the females in the realm of paranormal romance come across as too snarky or too wimpy - Lily is just about right. And while described as handsome and sexy and all those other descriptive words, Rule is written as a whole person, not just a gorgeous cut-out. He has a back-story just as much as Lily, which helps when the two are drawn to each other. They feel like real people, not stereotypes. Always a good thing!
Go digging around and find yourself a copy of "Tempting Danger" today!
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