Review: Hair of the Dog

Reviewed by Jen
 

Ezra never even knew werewolves existed until he was bitten the night of his father's wake. From that moment on, his life has been changed forever.

Callum is the local pack Alpha and he's on a mission to track down a rogue shifter, infected with a condition that makes him run wild. He sniffs out the man's scent, which leads him to Ezra, the rogue's unsuspecting victim. Callum decides to bring the young man back to the pack to help him through his transition and keep him safe, should his attacker return.

Right away, Callum and Ezra are taken with one another. Ezra is a natural beta and their pheromones tie each other in knots. Both try to fight it... Ezra, because he is ashamed of his beta status and feels like he shouldn't enjoy being bossed around; and Callum, because he doesn't want to unduly use his alpha powers to force himself on a weaker werewolf. Of course, it doesn't take long before they give in to their attraction.

In the meantime, we learn someone is manufacturing the infection that spurned Ezra's attack. So Callum, Ezra and others go to work to trace the root of the poison and fight its effects. It makes for a fairly engaging mystery and gives an element of suspense to the story.

But Callum, Ezra, and the pack are really the best parts of the book. There is both an interesting array of secondary characters and a steamy (and ultimately sweet) relationship between our two heroes. There's a deep vein of dominance and submission that runs throughout the storyline --and that's often a turn off for me. But Callum never used his power over Ezra in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. And despite that dynamic, I felt that Ezra was an equal partner in the relationship. The D/s angle didn't venture much into the bedroom, either, which was a plus for me, though it may disappoint readers looking for a little more kink.

It wasn't perfect. I found the pacing a little strange, almost like the book was divided into chunks: Ezra learns to be a wolf; Ezra & Callum come together; then Ezra, Callum, and the FBI chicks solve the mystery. --And speaking of the mystery, it really wasn't much of one... the villain is just a misogynist, homophobic alpha. No, we don't find out his name until the end, but it didn't really matter who he was, since we knew what he was all along.

It wasn't all that deep... but it was a fun and sexy m/m shifter romance. I liked it. 3 1/2 stars.

*ARC Provided by NetGalley

Click to purchase: Amazon

Hair of the Dog

by Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James

Release Date: January 23, 2012

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press