Mary‘s review of Taken
Sophie never believed she was special. Avoiding a violent ex, she can’t remember the last time she truly felt safe. Then vampires murder her best friend and Sophie is kidnapped by a dangerously sexy shape-shifter. Zach insists that Sophie is a Shaman—someone with a rare gift for taming his savage side—and he needs her to help him save his pack. Now, with a malevolent enemy closing in, Sophie and Zach must risk everything on a bond that may be their only salvation….
I was excited for a new Lilith Saintcrow as she’s one of my favorite urban fantasy writers. The newest novel by her, TAKEN, is such a complete departure from her normal style—not in a bad way but just very different than I expected.
For example, there’s the main character, Sophie. She’s pretty much a quivering mess through most of the novel. Divorcing her evil, rich, abusive husband left her with not much more than the clothes on her back and panic attacks. She’s living hand-to-mouth in a crappy apartment with a terrible job, pretty much hiding from the world, and trying to put her life back together after her husband dismantled it. Sophie’s so different from Saintcrow’s other female leads, major bad asses who leave the men quivering messes.
When Sophie’s only friend, Lucy, drags her out to a club for some fun and girl-time, Sophie goes but hates every minute of it, nearly having a panic attack when a tall, gorgeous man invades her space. She bolts, seeking her friend, who’s disappeared out the door and is screaming down the street.
The hottie from the club, Zach, senses trouble in the form of an upir (a type of vampire) and follows Sophie. He’s interested in her because she smells great, like something he’s been searching for for a long time—a shaman, someone who can calm his pack and become their lynchpin, leading them back into society. Unfortunately, the upir attacks and kills Lucy as well as the alpha of Zach’s pack before Zack lands the killing blow. When Sophie takes off, completely freaked out by what she just saw and the death of her only friend, Zack kidnaps her.
Poor Sophie—always the victim, it seems. So what if Zack senses she has the potential to be their shaman? Or that they’re outcasts without one? He shouldn’t have kidnapped her. However, as it goes in romance, it turns out for the best in several ways including the fact that the upir is after Sophie, and Zack can protect her. Oh, and she might also be his mate…
I really prefer Saintcrow’s other heroines to Sophie. I felt really bad for her—abused by one guy, kidnapped by another—and I appreciated her efforts to escape, I really just wanted her to grow a backbone and kick Zack’s butt!
Still, I did enjoy TAKEN—it was a fast-paced, action-packed urban fantasy with a whole new breed of shapeshifter: Caracajou. A wolverine. As the true alpha (the other alpha was Zack’s brother and Zack pretty much pushed him into that position), Zack embodies the traits of a wolverine: strength, cunning, fearlessness, cleverness, and voracity. Once he smelled Sophie and got a hint of what she was, he wouldn’t let her go, no matter what. When Sophie finally realized she was in good hands with Zack and his pack, the chemistry started brewing between the two of them. All in all, a good story with plenty of fights and excitement, as well as a dollop of romance.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
This book is available from Harlequin Nocturne. You can buy it here