Title: Taking Hold
Author: Anya Bast
In: The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal romance, Werewolves
Dates read: 25th August 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: “It’s uh-” She swallowed hard.

Casey is out in the wilderness trying to find a lost young man. But the werewolf who is assisting her might just be more of a temptation than she can bear.

This is one of those short stories that I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed in the moment. But kind of forgot about once I turned that final page. Even writing this review, I had to flick back to it just to remember what I’d actually read. Maybe I’ve just been reading a little too much werewolf / shapeshifter paranormal romance of late…

Something which this short story did was make me really, really want to pick up Lora Leigh’s Breeds series. The positioning of the werewolf as a totally separate species, and not human at all kind of reminded me of that. And also the stupidity that we kind of have in our own separations, if someone is not exactly like us, they are often considered as somehow less than human, even if there is a whole heap of evidence to the contrary. The fact that this was done through the vessel of a loner werewolf and outcast teacher made the point far more subtle, but it was still there.

The care for a child is something that I think ties everyone together. Or at least, it does in this story. Even though the child in question is sixteen, the cusp of innocence is still there are Casey and Mac race against time and hunters to rescue him. It helped to bring a more humanitarian element to the storyline and detract a little from the intense passion, which kind of felt needed at this point of the collection.

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Image source: Goodreads