Guest Review: The Wolf Who Loved Me by Lydia Dare

Posted April 13, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Tracy’s review of The Wolf Who Loved Me (Westfield Wolves #5) by Lydia Dare

Lady Madeline Hayburn Has Money Problems…

Specifically, she has so much of it that she’s dogged by fortune hunters, including her bewilderingly attractive, penniless neighbor, with his wild nature and uncouth manners…

Weston Hadley Has An Identity Crisis…

Specifically, he’s just turned into a wolf while Madeline was watching. Now it’s up to the regal lady to tame the wild beast…if she can…

We met the Hadley brothers back in book 4 – they are the half brothers to the Earl of Brimsworth (who in this book they kept calling Eynsford so that was confusing) and Brimsworth is the alpha of their pack. You see they are all wolf shifters and hide that fact from the ton.

The Hadley brothers are not good ton. Sure the oldest brother is a Viscount but they really are quite disreputable and receive invitations quite rarely. They are friends with Robert Hayburn and are therefore invited to Castle Hythe for a week. Others that were invited by the Duke of Hythe are there to vie for the hand of the Duke’s daughter, Lady Madeline. Weston Hadley has been in love with Madeline since he saw her 3 years before but has never even spoken to the woman. During the week Madeline and Wes get to know each other a bit. When Madeline sees Wes hit a man and then pick up the unconscious body she’s concerned and head to the stables to find out what’s happening. What she sees is Wes turning into a wolf – which of course freaks her completely out and she tries to run for help. Wes manages to get her into the woods and then they hop a carriage and are off to Gretna Green to marry because only mates of wolf shifters are to know about them and if Wes marries her then all will be well.

Madeline is none too pleased to be kidnapped and forced to marry but as the trip continues she finds herself liking Wes more and more. He makes her understand that he can give her the passion that she seeks. She’s all for that but unfortunately Wes is dirt poor. He lives off of his brothers and has no means to make money. Madeline is used to the finer things in life and he’s can’t quite figure out how he will support her (as he knows he won’t get her dowry). This ends up being the crux of the couples problem with Wes eventually thoroughly believing that he’s not good enough for Madeline and that causes all sorts of issues.

I gotta tell you that I’ve really enjoyed the books that Lydia Dare has put out – whether they’re wolf shifters or vampires the books are always fun and engaging. This had humor and love as well but it was definitely a little short on both the romance and the paranormal aspect and that was a bit disappointing. Besides Wes shifting that once and them talking about his other powers – sensitive hearing, can run fast, uber strength – there were no other paranormal parts to the book. So sad.

Madeline was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She’s always had everything she’s ever wanted and what she got was the best of the best. Now she’s been kidnapped. Attacked in the woods when she was frightened out of her mind and rolled in the mud. She’s less than perfect and we constantly hear about her hatred of being dirty and her need to be clean. I understood that this was a major point because it was that issue – Madeline wanting and Wes not having – that truly was the major angst point. I know that Madeline was written as a snob to drive home the differences in their stations but that girl really got on my nerves at points. lol I do have to say that Madeline matured substantially during the course of the book. She realized that there were things she needed to give up for love and it shed a whole new light on her life.

Wes was great. He was kind of lost in the shuffle of life at times and his self-esteem has really taken a hit because of it. His face had been scarred so people had a hard time looking him in the eye. (Madeline didn’t have an issue with the scar at all and I liked her all the more for it.) He hadn’t planned on being married although he loved the fact that he was going to be able to marry his lady love. He wanted what was best for her but in the end he cut off his nose to spite his face and that just didn’t work at all. He was willing to give up something he loved to make someone else happy. As much as my heart ached for him I wanted to shake him and tell him to cut it out!

In the end it all worked out – of course, with a great HEA. I do have to say that the scene where Wes and Madeline come back together was a bit too much for me. Madeline actions and words, while seeming romantic at first, were highly inappropriate and I was almost embarrassed for her.

I will continue to read this series as I can’t wait to see Wes’s brothers, Gray and Archer, fall in love.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Series:
Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This book is available from Sourcebooks Casablanca. You can buy it here or here in e-format.


Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.