Review: The Untamed One

Let me start out by saying this book was my favorite installment in the Wild Wulfs of London series.  This story features Jackson Wulf.  He has a weakness for women and booze… he’s the playboy of the family. Like his brothers, he carries a curse and it has already been activated.  He fell in love months ago with a woman who did not return his feelings. And even though the love was one sided, it was enough to propel him into his first change into a wolf. Now that change takes him every full moon.

The family curse originated generations ago and was cast by a witch. Jackson hopes by killing a witch now, he can get rid of the curse for himself and his brothers. He tracks one down, but as he finds her, she is in the middle of giving birth. She is alone in an old cottage and instead of killing her, he helps her deliver the baby. Shortly after, he changes into a wolf and angry villagers burn down the cottage.  The witch, Lucinda, gets away with the infant, but thinks Jackson is killed.  So she goes to his family home, announcing she is his widow and the baby, his child.

Obviously, Jackson survives and returns to his home to find the witch he had planned to kill. They strike a bargain. She’ll work to help him reverse the curse, if he promises to adopt the baby and raise it as his own. She is too poor and the child’s father (who raped her) is looking for the baby to kill.

Of course, Jackson and Lucinda are fated to fall in love. And honestly, it’s the best love story of all the brothers.  Perhaps, I liked it so much because Lucinda is a great heroine… and a mother willing to do anything to protect her child… even sacrificing her own happiness.  Jackson is the bad boy, finally driven to become a better man by his love for a woman and a child.  It also doesn’t hurt that there is great sexual tension between Jackson and Lucinda. And when they finally give in to their passions, it is hot, hot, hot.

4 1/2 stars.