Made with love
© Victoria Gryson 2024
Dr. Raisa Montefiore has based her life on science, but at the moment, only three facts are relevant: A) werewolves don’t exist, B) she may have created the one standing in front of her, C) revisit fact A.
She’s a magic scientist with a mission to heal, but when her passion project is twisted to create the world’s first wolf shifter and her entire world comes crashing down, she’s thrown from the lab and onto a path filled with changing—and dangerous—unknowns.
With her life’s research on the line, she’s forced to work with the wolf, an infuriating man who was bossy enough before he went furry. Worse still is their cover story: fake dating. Their deadly pursuers are looking pretty good in comparison.
She’s trusting the Big Bad Wolf to protect her from the perils of the forest, while hoping he’s not the biggest danger of them all. Or that she won’t give in to the urge to throw his corpse in a vat of strong acid, leaving no trace of his remains.
Either way, Raisa is redeeming her life’s work and no man—or wolf—is going to stop her.
Woohoo, we’re back in the world in the Jezebel world! And even though we do meet up with Ash and Levi, it’s a whole other ballgame now 😀
As I’ve just said, we’re back in the Jezebel world, which is pretty much the same world we’re living in now, except there are people (Nefesh) that have magic. However, it has a distinct ‘new’ feel to it, as Raisa runs in a totally different circle of people than Ash and Levi did. So same world, totally different setting, got it!
As we’ve come to expect from the author, worldbuilding is pretty damn good, the scenes and environments are clear and well-detailed, and it was a pleasure to immerse myself in the story.
Our main heroine is Raisa, Levi’s cousin, and she’s a kickass magic scientist! On the verge of a significant breakthrough in her work to help burn victims, it all comes crashing down when during a police raid, her lab and all her work get destroyed. Except for one sample of her untried formula, which may or may not have caused a certain police inspector to get turned into the first-ever wolf shifter… yeah, not a typical day at the lab, let me tell you that.
For Raisa, getting her life’s work back is her number one and only priority. She is very intelligent, and her brain is pretty much going on about things 24/7 (it took me a while to get used to, haha).
Gideon Stern has poured a lot of time and work into the case of the money laundering lab owner, Dr Woodsman. Getting turned into a wolf shifter was not part of his plan, but not even that will come in between his mission to bring Woody to justice. It just got a whole lot more personal.
Having Raisa and Gideon work together was pretty much fire and water, with a hint of steam now and then 😉 They feel the other is more in the way than anything else, but when they’re forced to work together, it allows them to learn about their partner on another level and bring more insight into why they are… well, as they are.
I could relate to Raisa on many levels; weirdly enough, it gave me some insights into how I live my life and the things I want to change (go Raisa!).
All characters, main or side, old or new, felt real and believable. They were well fleshed out and had enough backstory. Gideon is still a mystery, so I’m looking forward to learning more about him in the following instalments.
Well, the book starts with a bang, I can’t argue with that 😀
It had a good flow, bearing in mind that this was the first book and the stage needed to be set again.
A few parts here and there that I felt were a bit too slow, but overall, pretty good pacing. Good balance between all the conversation and the action.
The book itself was well written with no (noticeable) errors.
I can’t find how many pages there are in the book, but it has 32 chapters and is told from Raisa’s point of view.
I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book, and I’m so happy to be back in this world (even though it feels totally different)! The characters feel exciting and have enough layers, and the story is doing a great job of keeping you in the dark for as long as possible 😀 Looking forward to the next book!
© Victoria Gryson 2024