Customer Reviews

Once a Wolf (Historical Werewolf Series, Book 2)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Unable to heed her brother Braden's orders to marry a fellow werewolf for the good of the Cause (see TOUCH OF THE WOLF), Lady Rowena Forster fled England for America. By 1878, Rowena is tutoring young ladies in New York City and engaged to wealthy financier Cole MacLean. However, Cole's enemy Tomas "El Lobo" Randall has other plans for Rowena. While Cole is away on business, Tomas persuades Rowena to head West to save the life of her twin brother Quentin.

However, now that the outlaw El Lobo has hidden Cole's fiancee in the middle of New Mexico Territory, he finds himself mesmerized by her. Instead of an aloof society lady, she, like him, is a werewolf allowing her animalistic nature to surge through her heart. As Tomas and Rowena fall in love, Cole follows them because no one steals a possession of his, especially his family's long time enemy.

ONCE A WOLF, the second tale in Susan Krinard's historical werewolf romantic trilogy, is a wonderful supernatural story. The story line takes loup garou elements and successfully plants them inside a western romance. The lead couple is a warm blooded duo while the support cast provides insight into the era as well as enhancing the paranormal elements. Fans of werewolf romances or western romances will fully enjoy Ms. Krinard's blending of the two sub-genres into an exciting novel.

Harriet Klausner

Susan Krinard has outdone herself with Once a Wolf, the sequel to Touch of the Wolf! While I was prepared to enjoy the story of Lady Rowena Forster, who was introduced in Touch of the Wolf, I was instantly enthralled in this story that has proven to be a vivid, explosive western romance.

Lady Rowena has been kidnapped by Tomas Alejandro Randall, known in the West as the outlaw El Lobo, in revenge for the murder of his parents by Cole MacLean, Lady Rowena's fiance. But Lady Rowena only knows Cole as a wealthy financier who has, like herself, distained his werewolf blood.

Thus begins a journey filled with danger and dangerous passions, and the uncovering of many deceits and lies. Rowena and Tomas must find their way through this intricate maze and try to understand the powerful feelings each feels for the other. This is a marvelous love story that will not disappoint the reader on any level. Ms. Krinard is a very talented writer and you will be left with a yearning for the next tale and the hope that there will be many more!

Karen King

Susan Krinard's ONCE A WOLF revives the flagging lethargy that drowns the plot in many paranormal romances and is definitely one that enchants with its sweeping romance in the Wild Western frontier.

After Touch of the Wolf, it has been a long time that this sequel has arrived - and it does not disappoint. It tells of the identity crisis that Rowena Forster has with her animal instincts and under the deceitful Cole MacLean, she decides to abandon her roots and conform herself to the civilized society in England. Tomas Randall, who is also of the wolf descendent, are seeking vengeance on Cole who robbed him of his family. He kidnaps Rowena by tricking her on a visit to her brother, Quentin. Tomas is inexorably attracted to this Lady of Ice who hides her passion and desires behind her nonchalant facade.

The romance thrills with a surreal realm of the paranormal and breathes lush sensuality. But most importantly, the plot has tight pacing and wages emotional roller-coasters with readers. It speaks volume of the internal struggle in Rowena to follow her own heart and how Cole who despises his wolf heritage is ultimately the villain - the wolf in sheep's clothing. There is visual splendour - the wild west terrain is vividly portrayed against the blossoming passion. Towards the end, the poignancy envelops the reader and is sure to evoke tears from many readers.

Ms. Krinard has never been better since TOUCH OF THE WOLF - but perhaps her villains can get stereotypical easily. Cole sounds virulent enough but falls flat in the story with his unilateral emotions - hatred. The side characters like Weylin can be made more memorable. But these flaws cannot mar the undeniably passionate Once a wolf. It is no wonder romance readers are staying all night long to wolf down the story in one go.

I have long been a Susan Krinard fan. I absolutely loved her first books, Prince of Wolves and Prince of Night, etc. and I also enjoyed reading Touch of the Wolf. For some reason, I did not get into Once a Wolf very much. The ending picked up and brought the book up to a 3 star rating for me, but I found the beginning and middle dragging by at a very slow pace. At one point, I looked up and found much to my chagrin that I was already on page 178 and nothing much had happened yet.

The last 50 or so pages are much more what I expected from a Krinard novel. All of the pieces of the puzzle came together and the characters all interacted beautifully. Six "main" characters and many lesser ones (villagers and extras) helped to bolster my interest. Actually, throughout the story I was more interested in Weylan, Esperanza and Sim then I ever was in Tomás or Rowena. Cole was just WAY too out there as a "bad guy" to empathize with at all. I suppose absolute power corrupts absolutely - or some such drivel, but he was really corrupt. It was interesting seeing Weylan's struggle for justice and how he had to handle his human and werewolf sides. Whereas the whole story was dedicated to explaining Rowena's coping with being a werewolf, it was Weylan I found interesting and wanted to read more about. Tomás just reminded me of a spoiled little boy who has, needs, and wants no responsibilities. Rowena changes this, and that is basically the crux of the story but I did not find it compelling reading.

This book is the second in a trilogy and I hope Quentin's story has more connections to the other characters in the other books. I would like to see Esperanza, Sim and Weylan again and maybe a larger tie to the werewolf community. What about Brandon and the European group? They are briefly mentioned, but that is all. I kept waiting for Quentin to make an appearance (since he was supposedly in the American West too) in this novel to help his sister, but to no avail. I like Ms. Krinard's writing, I just wished I liked this story more.

Romance among the werewolf set isn't in the plans of Lady Rowena Forester. She refuses to follow her brother's orders and marry the man chosen for her. She has settled in New York and chosen the powerful financier, Cale MacLean. The one-armed Maclean has enemies, the hereditary. His enemy Tomas Alejandro Randall, called El Lobo, plans to seduce and kidnap Maclean's woman. Susan Krinard is one of the best, and I consider her Once A Wolf first rate reading. Werewolves make exotic lovers, and we are fascinated

I'm having a tough time deciding how to rate "Once a Wolf" by Susan Krinard. It took me several days to get through the first 200 pages, which is absolutely unheard of for me. But after that it really picked up and I was captivated by the story, until I had finished the entire second half of the book in one sitting. So, though the first two hundred pages were slow reading, I feel that Krinard redeems herself with the exciting and well-written conclusion.
Lady Rowena Forster wants nothing to do with her werewolf - or loups-garous - blood. She fled England to New York several years ago, to escape an arranged marriage to a man she has never met. However, ironically, once in America, Rowena was wooed and is now engaged to the very man she was determined to avoid. Her fiancé, Cole MacLean, a fellow werewolf and wealthy financier, is a man who hides his cruel and murderess practices behind a veil of manners and wealth. Rowena would be appalled at the blood on her fiancé's hands, but she is completely unaware of who Cole really is.
Tomas Randall, also known as "El Lobo", is a lifelong enemy of Cole and the entire MacLean family, who murdered both his parents and stole his family's land. This dashing outlaw has dedicated his life to having his revenge on the MacLeans, and has decided to steal Cole's soon-to-be wife out from under his nose. Tomas convinces Rowena to go West with him, telling her that her twin brother Quentin needs her help.
But once Tomas has kidnapped Rowena, who hides behind her "Lady of Ice" exterior, he begins to see her less and less as a means to an end and more and more as a lovely, courageous, and compassionate woman. Rowena too finds her Lady of Ice appearance melting under the heat of the passion she feels for Tomas. And though they both fight against the tender and unfamiliar feelings they have for each other, they don't stand a chance against the power of their love.
But many things stand between Tomas and Rowena's happiness. Cole MacLean is determined to find his fiancé and get her back, because nobody, especially not a Randall, can get away with stealing something that belongs to him. And Cole will use any method necessary to catch "El Lobo" and claim his woman. So while they must find a way to neutralize Cole MacLean's threat, Tomas and Rowena must also work through their own insecurities and issues, and find the courage to express what they are feeling. Because neither of them are willing to tell the other how they truly feel, and they may just let their one chance at happiness slip away!
This western romance, set in 1878 contains a provocative and engaging love story, once it gets going. The beginning of the book may seem to drag on, or it may not, depending on the individual reader. It's not so much that the first half contains poor writing, it has beautiful descriptive settings and great character development, but it's just that nothing much really happens until the second half of the book. I've wavered back and forth between a three and a four star rating for this book (if I could I'd rate it ***1/2 stars), but in the end, I feel that the second half went a long way to redeeming the entire book, so four stars it is! "Once a Wolf" is an original and enjoyable book, and it is most definitely worth the read.

I've been wanting to read this book ever since it came out, and I finally got the chance to do so a couple of days ago. It was written poorly. Susan Krinard obviously has a lot of talent, but it does not make an apperance in _Once A Wolf_. The characters were too hard to get to know and the plot line was a little too complicated. I don't usually mind complicated plots, but by the time that I really got into this book, I was not interested in it enough to really pursue all the twists and turns. Rowena was too stuborn about her werewolf heritage. Susan Krinard never really gave me a reason as to why Rowena hated her past so much. Tomas and Cole were interesting, but once Ms. Krinard starting getting into the family conflict, I started getting bored. There was not much passion in _Once A Wolf_ and as for Rowena and Tomas' relationship, most of the time my electric toothbrush had more electricity in it. The dreaded Big Misunderstanding at the end just really pushed me away. I couldn't get into the book. I would put it down and pick it up a day latter thinking "I wish I could get this done with". The paranormal aspects of _Once A Wolf_ didn't put me off at all. Infact, I wish Ms. Krinard would have spent a little more time in that department. Ihope Ms. Krinard takes the time to write a book about Esperanza or Weylin... that I would read. This book did not put me off of Susan Krinard and I'm sure her other books are much better. You'd be better off just skipping _Once A Wolf_. Not enough passion, not enough umph in the whole book. I'm looking for another read by her and I hope it is much better.

Lady Rowena's story was every bit as fascinating as I thought it would be! Tomas was a dream of a hero and knew just what Rowena needed. All he had to do was convince her!

Once a Wolf was even better than Touch of the Wolf. I am really looking forward to the third book which I hope will come out soon. Thank you, Susan Krinard, for having such a wonderful imagination and the excellent ability to put that imagination into words.

I could give this one high marks for character development (hence the one star), but little else. It was far too slow and uninteresting. It was all I could do to finish the book.