Tempting Danger

So I have been off of urban fantasy for awhile now. Reading the newly released books in my favorite series but not starting any new urban fantasy series. If a friend hadn't recommended this series to me -- repeatedly, I wouldn't have read it. The cover doesn't call to me and urban fantasy just doesn't hold the same appeal to me anymore. And if I can avoid murder investigation urban fantasy books, I do. So there was a lot working against me picking up this book. But damn, I am so glad I read this book.

Tempting Danger is good, the story is good, the writing is good, the world is unique and the characters are even better. Many UF series depend on a sarcastic heroine that is abrasive and who is generally not liked by most of the side show more characters. There is none of that in this series. The main character is not rude nor is she funny, but she is strong and enjoyable to read about. She is actually a character I would enjoy meeting and I wanted her to succeed.

Shifters have been done and done. Police investigation UFs have also been done and done. But somehow, Tempting Danger approaches these storylines in a unique way. There are little surprises along the way and not everything is wrapped up perfectly, but it is done satisfyingly.

Because it is shifters and because there is a romance storyline there is a predictable theme -- the dreaded fated to be mated. I normally am not a fan. But this is the best fated to be mated storyline I have read. All the questions you would wonder yourself - like how does it feel to have all choice taken away and have a mate forced on you? Wilks doesn't tread lightly on this topic or romanticize it.

So how does it compare to other urban fantasy series? My favorites are Mercy Thompson, Katie Daniels, Psycop, Penryn & the End of Days, Experiment in Terror, Dresden Files, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Tempting Danger has good characters that I think will only get better. Wilks doesn't take the easy way out with her storylines and writes in a complex way. I can see it not appealing to everyone. She doesn't world build or define terms or belief systems. She expects her readers to pick it up along the way. She shows rather than tells. And personally I love that. It is a more complex way of telling a story and it means that the reader has to learn as she goes but it makes for a better story in my opinion. So to answer to my first question -- how does the World of the Lupi compare with my favorite UF series? Well, it wasn't compulsive must finish read but I still read it in about 3-4 days. I immediately bought the second in the series after I finished the first. I am not sure if this is going to be a favorite, but it has potential to become a favorite series of mine.

I cannot wait to continue on to the next book in the series. show less

In deference to Mimi, I'm letting my four stars stand.

Lily's years in Vice and Homicide prior to making detective had rubbed the green off, but her shield was still shiny. She figured she could be philosophical about handing this one off to one of the senior detectives... after she conducted the initial interviews at Club Hell.

Originally read back in my urban fantasy heyday, Tempting Danger was written in 2004 and added to my library back in 2010 (I have no actual clue when I read it) with a four star rating. I'm guessing I found Wilks through an anthology, [b:On the Prowl|285212|On the Prowl (Alpha & Omega, #0.5)|Patricia Briggs|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1422192630s/285212.jpg|276710], back when I was looking for more UF that show more wasn't completely paranormal romance, and on that level, it mostly satisfies.

It begins with Detective Lily Yu at a murder scene, examining a person who has clearly been killed by a large animal. Werewolves, or lupi, are no longer shot on sight, but this killing could re-open human-lupi hostilities, especially as poster-boy-lupi Rule is the lead suspect.

Everyone else reacted. Not Turner. He didn't shift position by so much as a finger. Rather, he seemed to gather stillness around him like a force field, a quiet whose power lapped out over the others, gradually silencing them. He spoke two words: "Who died?"

The narration is third person and primarily from Lily's point of view. She's easily one of my favorite things about the book. Methodical and analytical, she feels like an experienced detective, despite being only 28. We get a solid sense of her background in the department, her strategies for dealing with her peers, and her sometimes-challenging relationships with her family. It becomes almost a running joke with her and Rule that she has "a couple more questions," both professionally and personally. Secondary viewpoint is from Rule, with very minor page time given to another lupi, Cullen.

The plot is interesting, and a nice combination of police procedural and UF Big-Bad-Threat. It moves quickly, and Lily and Rule's separate problems end up dovetailing nicely.

It's interesting, to go back and read a book in a genre that has since exploded. There were aspects that felt very tropish to me, which is to say, the way people acted was not particularly surprising. It made me think quite a bit about UF conventions and where they came from. The first Sookie Stackhouse came out in 2001, Kate Daniels in 2007, Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan in 2004, Rachel Caine published her first UF in 2003, Carrie Vaughn in 2004, Marjorie Liu in 2005, Karen Chance in 2006, Cassandra Clare in 2007, Patrica Briggs' Mercy 2007, Jeaniene Frost in 2007, Karen Marie Moning in 2007, Nalini Singh 2006. By contrast, the first Anita Blake was in 1993, so perhaps it is not any wonder that this had an Anita Blake vibe to it. Wilks also had solid history publishing romance before this series, so that is evident as well.

There's parts about this that feel perhaps a bit stereotypical, but Wilks writes with such skill that things that might have been eye-rolling for me in a lesser writer just seem appropriate, if not fantastic. For instance, a Native American doctor-earth healer, a grandmother with mystical connections and the precog in the wheelchair all had the potential to become ugly tropes but empathetically were not.

Verdict? This holds up on re-read to an older, less patient carol., who would easily give it 3.5 stars. If a detective-paranormal is your jam, bring on the bread. I think I'll be dipping in and out of this series to see what Lily's up to. show less

Wonderful start to a series! The tone of this book reminded me of a cross between the early Anita Blake series(the first book is: [b:Guilty Pleasures|30281|Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #1)|Laurell K. Hamilton|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309206550s/30281.jpg|3349934]) and Patricia Briggs' Alpha & Omega series ([b:Cry Wolf|2355575|Cry Wolf (Alpha & Omega, #1)|Patricia Briggs|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1310494063s/2355575.jpg|2362332]).

Someone is trying to frame Rule Turner and homicide cop Lily Yu is the lead detective on the case. Things complicate the case when Lily finds out she's Turner's chosen mate. Wilks takes does an interesting take on the fate mate trope. Turner and Lily do not automatically fall show more in love in fact Lily tends to feel trapped by the mate bond. Especially since there's a lot about it that she doesn't understand. So like in Briggs' series, there's a lot of trust to be built and the romance is very slow burning.

I also enjoyed the grittiness of the world that Wilks has built in this series. Like in Hamilton's series the supernatural community is integrated within the human world. But there's a lot of conflict and prejudice between the two. This book takes place at a cross roads where its no longer legal to brand shifters or shoot them on sight, but there's still not many laws that protect them and people still largely fear anything not human. Its an interesting set-up for the novels and I can't wait to continue reading about Lily and Rule in the rest of the series. show less

Tempting Danger
3.5 Stars

In a world where humans and other species live side by side, San Diego Homicide Detective, Lily Yu, is called in to investigate what appears to be a werewolf attack. When the prime suspect turns out to be Rule Turner, the Prince of the local pack, Lily’s loyalties are suddenly put to the test as her connection to the enigmatic Rule goes far deeper than mere attraction.

A well written story and the plot has potential. Nevertheless, the romance is only so-so and the world building is oftentimes derivative.

Perhaps my impressions of the world building stem from reading numerous series in the paranormal genre. However, the overriding feel is that many of the elements have been done before by other authors such as show more Kelley Armstrong’s “Women of the Otherworld”, Sherrilyn Kenyon’s “Were-Hunters”, Nalini Singh’s “Psy-Changeling”, and particularly Nancy Gideon’s “Moonlight” books, which also focus on a police officer/werewolf relationship.

Nevertheless, the story and the characters are appealing. The interactions between the humans and members of the various other species, as well as the complex portrayal of lupi politics, is interesting with undercurrents of animosity, prejudice, and racism. The plot is also quite complicated with several seemingly unrelated threads that ultimately merge into one comprehensive storyline.

The characters, both primary and secondary, are fleshed out well with detailed back stories that hint at interesting things to come. Lily is a likable heroine and it is entertaining to watch her attempt to navigate the different parts of her life whether it be her job or family commitments.

Unfortunately, Rule is not as appealing at first. There are certain aspects of his personality that put him in danger of joining the anti-hottie harem. While most of these issues are mitigated as more details are revealed throughout the book, his initial characterization as a sexually indiscriminate and possibly irresponsible womanizer makes it difficult to view him as an acceptable love interest and this puts a pall on the romance.

All in all, a solid beginning to the series and I am eager to find out what happens next with Lily, Rule, Benedict, Curran and, of course, Grandmother Yu. show less

It took me awhile to get into this book. Something about the pacing threw me off. I was also a bit confused about the world in the beginning.

After awhile I fell into the story and ended up enjoying it. I like the direction Wilks has gone with paranormal aspect. Giving werewolves civil rights is pretty ingenious.

Toward the end Lily, the heroine, started to bother me. I realize the mate-bond was forced on her and she needs time to adjust. But the way she kept Rule at a distance began to annoy me.

The action was well done and the suspense plot interesting. Overall a solid read. I plan to continue the series.

I have a hard time judging this because apparently there is no normal audiobook for this so I listened to the "Graphic Audio" instead.
It's bad. Really really bad. I've tried Graphic Audio before and hated it and this was no different.
I rate the Graphic Audio experience 1 or maybe very low 2 stars.
It's a huge mess.
The Graphic Audio badly exacerbates sentimental scenes by overlaying the worst mood music. Instead of supporting the scenes, the soundscape stultifies them and makes them sound like they deserve this.
In many places, the stock soundscapes don't fit the scenes at all. As an example, at the climax, there is a fight between a hand full of people. There are a few handguns involved and some hand to hand but the soundscape sounds show more like D-Day with explosions, cries of pain, and constant machinegun fire in the background. It makes it almost impossible to take anything seriously.
Another example is unsettling psycho-thriller music in the background of romantic scenes. It's supposed to emphasize the unsettling nature of the mate bond attraction but it just ruins the entire romantic buildup instead.
The voice actors overact almost everything. There is a scene where the FMC works in the garden and the scene is quite long. And the entire time it sounds like an asthmatic fat chick tries to dig a grave in the background.
A werewolf is disgruntled? He growls like he is about to rip everyone in reach to shreds.
The MC has a headache? She makes noises like someone is amputating her foot.
All scenes involving arousal are so comically bad, even the acting in bad porn is far better.
I get what they are trying to do. It's in their tag line after all. "A movie in your head". These Graphic Audio thingies try to assign some kind of noise to every action or interaction. But that's not how this works! Just as an example, you just can't hear someone grimacing. There is no grimacing noise.
I rely on the narration (which is totally fine btw) to provide the visuals and all this contrived stuff just distracts and destroys my immersion instead of helping it. It's not that I can't appreciate a soundscape. I can totally see a Graphic Novel like that working great for me but the audio needs to sound more like an actual audio track from a movie. You just can't replace visuals with noises. If you are not able to visualize the narration, no amount of audio can help you. The audio can only ever play a supporting role.

Onto the book itself.
It has the unfortunate habit of cutting out of interesting or tense scenes and then the protagonist summarizes them to the reader afterward.
This happens with some fight scenes and with all sex scenes and I think I would've been really frustrated by it normally. But the Graphic Audio of these scenes was so comically bad that I was relieved that I didn't have to suffer through them in their entirety.

I have a minor nitpick I have to mention. The word choice of the child is completely off. That is not how children talk. An actual child voice actor says those lines (very cool!) which makes that even more obvious.

In general, this book is just unoriginal tbh. It's the typical werewolf life mate PNR template with a clichée baddy, a special snowflake MC, and evil powers stirring etc.
Within the bounds of this hackneyed template and its stereotypes, it's an enjoyable read. It's nothing special and doesn't have any of the usual steaming smut but as a light read on the side it's not bad.
I think you can do far better for every aspect of PNR with other books though.
I guess I should go easy on this book with the same old PNR accusation as it was published in 2004. At the time this was probably the cream of the crop of the genre.

I have to say though, I am not very confident in my judgment because of the entire Graphic Audio thing and it being so incredibly bad. show less

I almost didn't read this book. I started reading it but it didn't grab my interest immediately, so I let it stay on my Kindle and ignored it. Finally, as it was about to expire, I tried again and once I got past the first chapter, I was hooked. Good love story, good mystery and lots of good supporting characters. This is of course first in a series, but I've already got the next one reserved. Let's see, werewolves, magic, tough female detective, what's not to like?
Recommended.