The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf (Naked Werewolf, #2)

by Molly Harper

A werewolf alpha must protect her pack from outsiders and rivals—all while avoiding falling for a snooping human—in this second in a witty and sexy paranormal romance series from the author of the Nice Girls series.

Generations of werewolves have been secretly residing in a secluded valley a stone’s throw from Grundy, Alaska. So when a snooping Outsider comes to Grundy to investigate rumors of lycanthropic shenanigans in the area, the valley’s pack alpha, Maggie Graham, resolves to chase him away, even if doing so takes a quick bite on the butt.

What a pity that researcher Nick Thatcher turns out to be so drool-worthy, and that his kisses make Maggie want to sit up and beg. Maggie just can’t seem to convince Nick to leave…and even worse, she can’t convince herself to stay away from him. Cross-species dating is problem enough for a harried alpha female, but on top of that, a rival group of werewolves is trying to move into the valley. With interpack war threatening, Maggie can’t afford to be distracted. Combining romance and a career can be tough for anyone; for a werewolf in love with a human, it may be disastrous.

• ISBN10: 1439195897
• ISBN13: 9781439195895
• Publish Date: 29 March 2011
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Pocket Books
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Melanie]

Review originally posted at RabidReads.com.

Part of a series review

In this second book, we go outside the town of Grundy and to Cooper’s original werewolf pack and his sister, Maggie. Nick is in town to do some research. You can imagine how well that goes with the secretive werewolves. He is a nerd in every aspect. He is a trekky and he has written the guides for a gaming series that has made him very financially stable. These two coming together was a lot of fun.

“She had a knack for relieving the tension in a room by pretending my rudeness away with cooking. Many, many chickens had given up their lives to cover my conversationalist shortcomings.”

“Look, Mags, I’m not any happier about him being here than you are. But I think we should take a more subtle approach than your usual ‘bite first, bite again, keep biting until they’re too busy bleeding to death to explain themselves’ method.”

“It if ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” I shot back.
“I’m happy either way,” Nick said. “Oh, that’s sweet.” Cooper chuckled. “You think you have a vote.”

This is a really fun series and revisit for me. There is an individual storyline for each book, so you can read them in whatever order you want. However, new characters are introduced in each book, so you won’t know the nuances with each of them, but you will still get the story. This is a great series for people who love werewolves and especially humor. If you’ve read the Jane Jameson series or the Half Moon Hollow series by Molly Harper, this takes place in the same world and there are a few little Easter eggs for those readers. If you haven’t read those series, you will not be lost with this one. This was my first series with Molly Harper.

As you can see from the quotes that I picked from each book, the dialogue is the best part of this series (and all of Molly Harper’s books, in my opinion). She is a go-to author for me when I need a pick-me-up. She is always able to make me laugh.

Narration
Anything by Molly Harper is a must listen for me. I love Amanda Ronconi’s narration of Harper’s work. She really brings out the snark of all the characters. I love her use of different types of Southern voices and the Alaskan voices.

[Berls]

My Initial Reaction…
When I started listening to The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf I was a bit disappointed. I had assumed that, like the Jane Jameson series, the Naked Werewolf series would all be told from the point of view of the first book’s MC – Mo. Yes, I’m perfectly aware that simply reading the synopsis would have adequately prepared me for this revelation, but I don’t read synopses of my favorite series. I just dive right in, because I like to be surprised. And despite my initial shock, this surprise turned out to be a good one too. I settled in and fell in love with my new MC - Maggie – and gobbled the book up in just a couple days.


The Narration…
At this point, I am a broken record when it comes to Amanda Ronconi. I adore her and absolutely everything she does. She’s the perfect match for the witty, snarky characters that she’s always paired with. And she infuses her various voices with so much personality, you can’t help but forget your listening to a book. I always feel like I’m eavesdropping on my favorite characters, rather than reading a book. She’s that good.


The Characters…
Although we’ve switched point of view, we still have many of the characters that I grew to love in book 1. Mo and Cooper are prominent parts of the story, but now we’re seeing them from Cooper’s sister’s point of view. As great as they already were, seeing them from Maggie’s point of view was as great, if not better. Maggie is just as snarky as Mo, but with a grumpy, violent streak. I guess that’s the werewolf side of her. Where Mo was into lingerie and cooking – so girly stuff – Maggie is focused on her job as the areas newest (and first female) alpha. I loved seeing her take care of the pack. She worried about their safety and cared for each member, from the littlest members (such as Mo and Cooper’s little girl Evie) to the eldest and sickest (her aunt, Billy). And I loved seeing her grow into her role and herself. Particularly as she struggled with falling in love for the first – and since werewolves mate for life, only – time.

Her main love interest is another really great character. Nick is an outsider to Grundy, visiting on a research trip. He’s a doctor of zoology and his current project is finding the truth about werewolves. So from the start, Maggie has her haunches up about him. He’s a threat to her pack. But he’s a truly gorgeous, fabulously nerdy, threat. One that she just can’t help but drool over. But that doesn’t keep her from being grumpy towards him and pretty rude, in a fabulous Maggie fashion. He seems to love this treatment – because Maggie is real. She’s beautiful but not obsessed with her beauty. She speaks her mind. I loved seeing him try to seduce her and her trying to resist. Because not only is he the enemy, but he’s not a wolf. And as Alpha, Maggie feels the responsible thing to do is marry another wolf, increasing the chances that she will have pups (rather than deadliners).

The rest of the characters were great too. As usual, Molly Harper creates such wonderful small town/family dynamics that I find myself wanting to pack up and move to Grundy, Alaska in search of this wonderful community (despite being a Texan who hates the cold). They all just feel so real and inviting, you want to be part of their world. Well I do, at least.


The Story…
The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf is another feel good story. I laughed my ass off, smiled a lot, and rolled my eyes a little. I love this series, but the plots are not earth shattering or even mystifying. The mystery in this book, which once again surrounds a series of weird, unexplained casualties, was not at all difficult to figure out. And I couldn’t help but yell at Maggie a couple of times for not realizing what was plainly in front of her face. That didn’t keep me from enjoying the book at all, it’s just not 5 star, left me a mess because it was over territory.


Concluding Sentiments…
The Naked Werewolf series is a series that I love for the great, vivid characters, laugh-your-ass-off moments and sweet romances. The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf didn’t disappoint on any of those fronts and I’m already diving into book 3.

[EBookObsessed]

Molly is a great author.

Be back with a full review shortly.

See more at http://ebookobsessed.com