Where the Wild Things Bite by Molly Harper

Where the Wild Things Bite (Half-Moon Hollow, #9)

by Molly Harper

In Molly Harper's witty new paranormal romance, a rare-book expert is delivering a package to Half Moon Hollow when her plane goes down, and a sexy vampire comes to her rescue. He's clearly got ulterior motives, but does he want to date her...or devour her?

Delivering a rare book to a valued customer is definitely part of mild-mannered archivist Anna Whitfield's job description. You know what isn't? Protecting her precious cargo from mid-flight theft by the very pilot who is flying her to Half-Moon Hollow...while trying to appear as unappetizing as possible to the only other passenger, a vampire. Undead bookstore owner Jane Jameson could be waiting a very long time for her book. Possibly forever.

Fortunately, Anna's dashing fanged companion Finn Palmeroy helps her fend off the attack, but not before their plane crash lands in the forest hundreds of miles from civilization. Great, now she's stranded with a priceless tome and a rakish vampire whose bedtime is fast approaching. Why does everyone want this book so badly, anyway? Anna just wants to get it to Jane before Finn decides to turn her into dinner--or sweep her off her feet. Okay, the second option is really tempting. But they're not out of the woods yet...

Reviewed by MurderByDeath on

3 of 5 stars

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Eh, they can't all be winners.

A rare-book expert is delivering a package to Half Moon Hollow when her plane goes down, and a sexy vampire comes to her rescue. He's clearly got ulterior motives, but does he want to date her–or devour her?

This one was always going to be iffy for me, because while I'm a fan of rare-book expert/librarian/archivist MCs, I'm not a fan of the whole deep woods survival/Predator premise.  Plus I had a bias against the love interest because he irritated the fool out of me in a previous book.

But even accounting for that, this one just doesn't work for me as well as Harper's other books.  Too much angst and not enough investment in her storyline.  Considering someone was willing to crash her plane to get what they wanted, Anne got out of those woods with a minimum of confrontation.  Plus, because it was only Anne and Finn, there wasn't nearly enough opportunity for the trademark snarky dialogue and awesome friendships I so love when Dick and Jane and Andrea are around.

The good news is the last 20% of the book, after they got out of the woods, was much better; funnier and more interesting.  Because yes, the gang's all here.  The ending also contained possibly the weakest, most half-hearted attempt at past relationship closure and karmic justice I've witnessed in a book in a long time.

It sound like I'm being generous with my rating, but it's still an entertaining read and it was easy to pick up and lose myself in it.  It's just that Harper has written so many incredibly funny books with such endearing characters and enviable friendships, that this one struggles in comparison.  Good, but far from her best.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 15 August, 2016: Finished reading
  • 15 August, 2016: Reviewed