Gwen’s Review of 
Lunewulf Law by Lorie O’Clare
Erotic paranormal romance ebook published 27 Apr 07 by Ellora’s Cave
No mystery that this a paranormal romance about werewolves. Since it’s Ellora’s Cave, no mystery that it’s an erotic romance. The premise of the book is a relatively predictable paranormal tale of (a little too) alpha males, (a little too) nubile girls, sex, (a bit too little) drama, and other such formulaic devices.
Here’s the book blurb:
An unexpected human attack on a lunewulf pack has led to devastating losses, leaving the pack with very few single females old enough to mate. Drastic measures must be taken. Lunewulf law goes into effect, stating that every female shall have three males for her mates. If the matings aren’t consummated in thirty days, the males die.
Nik Alexander knows Sophie Rousseau is his. The entire pack knows it. He’s sniffed after her since high school, and now it’s time to approach his pack leader and ask that Sophie be his mate. But with the new law in effect, Nik must share Sophie with two other males.
Nik is an honorable lunewulf. He won’t turn away from his pack. As much as he wants to rip the throat out of his pack leader, he will respect the new law. Lukas Kade and Jonathan Abram may have Sophie, but only under Nik’s terms.
Reader Advisory: This story contains a scene of menage-a-trois sex.
Publisher Note: This book was previously available as the short story Pack Law. It has been greatly expanded.
I don’t know what the author was thinking when she wrote this book, or what the editor was thinking letting her write it the way she did. I could tell there was a good story somewhere under all the chaff, but I couldn’t concentrate enough on it to find it. Everytime I turned around in this novel, there was some canine reference. “Yelling or moaning” were always “howling.” “Homes or houses” were always “dens.” “Smells or odors” were always “stink or stenches.” And if that weren’t bad enough, women weren’t “women, girls, or females,” they were “bitch or bitches.”  Â
WHAT?! Sorry, but that’s a little too much world-building for me.  The excessive use of canid references kept distracting me from the story. And that was disappointing – I could tell there was a good story in there somewhere. But, it was wearying trying to constantly make the translation in my head between canine/human. And I really, really disliked the polemic invective that was constantly used to describe the women; no matter how “accurate” it may be for female canines, or for my friends after a margarita or two, it was simply not my cup of tea after about the 150th reference (no kidding, some version of “bitch” is used over 300 times in this short book).
And if all that weren’t bad enough, in my opinion, there were so many loose ends by the end of the book that you’re left completely unsatisfied. You never do find out how it happened that so many females were targeted at the beginning of the book, but it’s obvious some kind of conspiracy occurred. And nobody in the pack seems interested in finding out! Or taking some kind of revenge on the humans! It’s just downright bizarre.
If you are a serious fan of the werewolf genre, you may like this story. Not for me, however.
Grade:Â D
I’m quite sure I’ve read the original short story, and that I adored it.
May – I have no doubt it was a good short story. The actual story was really good. I just couldn’t get into it with all the incessant re-naming of everything normal. I got really weary by the end.
I changed my grade for the book. I realized the story was better than I scored. But it still wasn’t for me. Perhaps the short-story didn’t translate to the longer novel – some authors’ devices aren’t suited to a longer novel.
Sometimes a short story is a short story and a good short story doesn’t necessarily have enough story to be transformed into long form fiction.
LOL I am surprised you changed the grade *g*.
I loved the short story. But I think it was as the starting point of a great series than as a stand alone book. I do plan to read this because I want to see how it stands up to what I remember and how it reads after all the were stories I have read.
This was by no means my fave of the series. Personally I think you would like her Sex Slave series, which I didn’t care for much.
I reserve the right to change my mind! I am a girl after all. 🙂
I realized the story was better than I gave it initial credit for – it just wasn’t my cuppa.
I just got tired of reading the word “bitch” after what felt like the gajillionth time.
Sorry, Lorie! I’ll try your other books. Based on the story, I think I’ll like your non-were books better.