Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Gentleman Wolf by Joanna Chambers

2 reviews

ridesthesun's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No

3.0

This was a fun lil listen! It wasn't like.... Good™️ but I was in the mood for some werewolves, and ya girl got some werewolves. I think the premise was just more interesting than the delivery. It does have a sequel, but I don't think I'll be checking it out. Narration was great though!
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friends2lovers's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

Gentleman Wolf is a gut-wrenching romance with a high-stakes plot, interesting  and complex characters, and a moody kind of atmosphere that I found easy to get lost in.  I highly recommend it! 

My thoughts...

  • There are a couple of things to be aware of before reading this book.  First, Gentleman Wolf is part 1 of a duology and does not have a happy ending.  You must read part 2, Master Wolf, for the romance's HEA.  Second, Gentleman Wolf is told entirely (with the exception of one brief chapter) from Lindsay’s 3rd person point-of-view.  Master Wolf is told from Drew’s POV. 

  • Chambers’ Enlightenment series was at the top of my listening queue before I spotted the Capital Wolves duology and decided to try it first (because it’s only 2 books and I'm trying to avoid starting series longer than 4 books right now).  I figured I’d listen to the 1st book gradually over the weekend and then borrow the sequel on March 1st, when I get more borrows on Hoopla.  But, this was too dang engrossing and I couldn't put it down!  To read through it faster, I ended up buying the Kindle ebook so I could switch between it and the audiobook.

  • The Kindle edition could have used another round of editing.  There were numerous typographical errors such as missing/misplaced punctuation or words.  The typos were frequent enough to be noticeable, but not so egregious that it detracted from my reading experience.  I also noted a few instances of repetition and redundancy that I was surprised were not caught by an editor.  For example, the same or similar descriptors or phrases used more than once in a scene.

  • All the characters are so well-drawn, and I loved each of them.  Well, except the villains, who are appropriately icky.

  • This was my first time listening to Hamish McKinlay.  I found 1.2x speed to be a good pace for this narrator/book.  His general narrative voice was a bit overdone and theatrical, with a jaunty, urgent intonation that felt odd to me.  Besides that, though, his character voices were excellent!  Lindsay and Drew's voices were particularly well-characterized and distinguished.  I see that he's only credited to 5 books on audible, all of them authored by Chambers.  I will definitely plan on listening to those!

  • The chemistry between Lindsay and Drew is extremely powerful.  I’m talking Kerrigan Byrne levels of intensity here.  I haven’t felt such exquisite yearning in a romance in a long time.  The sexual and emotional tension between them is palpable from their very first meeting.  

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Somerville.” His voice was deep, though he spoke quite quietly. “Drew Nicol.”
As Nicol swept his hat off, Lindsay saw that his hair was the pale gold of barley. Somehow, Lindsay hadn’t expected it to be so fair. Even less had he expected to be gripped by a sudden, inexplicable desire to touch that hair. To thread his fingers into the pale strands and tug the serious, handsome face towards his own. To kiss the unsmiling mouth.

Abruptly, he realised that Nicol was still holding his hand out, waiting for Lindsay to shake it. Lindsay quickly stepped forward to take Nicol’s in a firm grasp. The man’s scent was even better up close. Lindsay wanted to take great gulps of it and had to force himself to breathe normally.

His greedy gaze travelled over Nicol. He’d noticed the man’s beauty immediately, but now he saw Nicol’s face had character too, stubbornness in the set of that firm jaw and fierce intelligence in the blue—no, grey-blue—eyes. The initial hint of censure Lindsay had detected in Nicol’s gaze still lingered there, but there was something else too—in his eyes and in his scent—a sharp note of interest that roused Lindsay’s wolf to preen and stalk within him, sleek and vain, even as his human heart pounded with nerves.

For a long, almost stifling moment their tangled gazes held, and then Nicol seemed to realise he was staring. Mortification burned briefly in his eyes before his gaze shuttered and he quickly drew his hand back, stepping past Lindsay to move further into the parlour. Lindsay still felt the ghost of his touch though, a lingering physical memory of the press of Nicol’s fingers and palm against his own.


Series: Capital Wolves #1
Genre: M/M Paranormal Historical Romance
Setting: November 1788 (Georgian era) in Edinburgh, Scotland
Hero: Lindsay Somerville, werewolf, dresses and carries himself in an ostentatious manner (a macaroni, dandy, fop), dark straight hair, very handsome
Hero: Drew Nicol, architect, self-identified misanthrope, fair haired, broad shouldered, rangy, looks like a Viking
Tropes: dandy hero, starchy hero, opposites attract, fated mates, hero in peril
Format: Audiobook borrowed from Hoopla, pub. date 2020; Kindle ebook, own, copyright 2019
Narrator: Hamish McKinlay
Length: 8h 38m, 262 pages, 71k words
Read Date: February 26, 2022
Heat Index: 3.6 🌡️🌡️🌡️
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