To Tempt the Wolf by Terry Spear (Book Review)

Title: To Temp the Wolf
Author: Terry Spear
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

First Sentence: Sucking up oxygen, the flames spread outward, devouring thirsty timber and underbrush, perfect fuel for the firestorm.

My Synopsis: Tessa and her brother Michael had been obsessed with wolves for as long as they could remember. Tessa captured their beauty in photographs, and Michael was able to portray them in paintings. As they had lost both their grandparents and their parents in the last couple of years, they really only had each other to rely on. When Michael is found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Bethany, Tessa sets out to prove him innocent.

Hunter is the alpha leader of a group of lupus garou - gray wolves to be exact. His pack had been forced off their land because of fire, so he was relocating with his sister, Meara, further north in Oregon. The rest of his pack had split up, with some going into Portland, and some to the vineyards in California. His sister was restless and was looking for a mate, so when Hunter came home to find her gone, he set out in pursuit. He met up with three wolves who he thought were involved with his sister's disappearance. They threw him off a cliff and left him for dead. That is were Tessa found him - in his human form.


When Hunter comes to, her realizes that all he can remember is his name - and that he is a lupus garou, of course. He agrees to help Tessa find out who really killed Bethany, as he can't remember where he is from, so has no where else to go.

From the very beginning there was an attraction between them. Tessa did not have a great history with relationships, so she was very wary of her attraction to Hunter. Hunter was a little surprised at how quickly he became attached to Tessa. He didn't believe in 'turning' humans, and felt that his obligation to her for helping him after his attack would be over soon. He tried to keep his distance, as he could not remember if he already had a mate.

Hunter begins to believe that Michael is indeed innocent and promises Tessa that he will help her find the real killer. This is compounded as Tessa's house continues to get broken into and they come to the conclusion that she has a stalker. Could this stalker be the real killer?

My thoughts: This was the third book in the series that includes Heart of the Wolf and Destiny of the Wolf - but it is not necessary to read them first to enjoy this book. I was drawn in immediately to the story and wanted Tessa and Hunter to hook up. There were a lot of secondary characters in the story which rounded out the plot and I felt gave it some humor. You had Ashton, Michael's best friend and also the son of the local sheriff. Rourke - a wannabe newspaper reporter who is still harboring feelings for Tessa from high school. Cara, a lupus garou who works the night shift at the hospital as a nurse. Meara, Hunter's sister and partly responsible for bringing Hunter and Tessa together. . .if she hadn't run off with the three wolves, Hunter would not have been out tracking her down. Close to the end it seemed like there were a lot of peripheral characters brought in and I was occasionally lost as to who was who. In spite of this, I did enjoy this book very much and have hopes to read the first two in the future.

There is still time to enter my giveaway for Heart of the Wolf and To Tempt the Wolf - with the added bonus of a guest post by Terry Spear!

To Tempt the Wolf
Publisher/Publication Date: Sourcebooks Casablanca, Sept 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4022-1904-7
416 pages