Wolf at the Door

July 25, 2013 by Whit!!!!!!!!!

Title : Wolf at the Door

Author : K. Drew

Publisher : Dreamspinner Press (BUY HERE)

Genre : M/M, Paranormal

Length : 200 pages (e-book)

Published : July 26, 2013

Rating : ★★★1/2

Blurb:

For Nicholas Ashbee, life has been a struggle. Growing up in the desolate town of Constance left him bitter and resentful, craving a more engaging life. While training to be a nurse, he is lucky enough to land a plush internship at luxurious Blackwood Manor on Staten Island, home to the wealthy patrons of his college. Nicholas is in charge of caring for Lilith, the sweet and aging matriarch of the Blackwood family who is slowly dying from a mysterious ailment. Nicholas must also deal with her brooding young husband, Sebastian, whose stunning beauty immediately captures Nicholas’s attention.

However, there’s something odd about the inhabitants of this remote manor hiding from the outside world, and Nicholas becomes increasingly suspicious of the Blackwoods when a young man from the neighboring area goes missing after being seen with Sebastian. Perhaps the Blackwoods are not the loving couple they pretend to be and their respectable life is merely a façade masking an ugly secret. Will Nicholas’s undeniable lust for Sebastian place him in danger, and will he discover the truth about his employers before he falls prey to the wolf at the door?

Review:

Nicholas has come a long way from the Singer Trailer park to being picked for the single coveted internship as caretaker of the elderly Mrs. Lillith Blackwood. He’s promised himself he’ll make it out of his small town for good and be a success. Nicholas had no idea what he signed up for. No phone or contact with the outside world. Days and nights spent doing tasks above and beyond his duty because he knows he needs good reports. He grows fond of Lillith and develops a need for approval from Sebastian. The solitude thrust upon him and mystery behind the mansion gets to him. Nicholas begins snooping for clues about the woman and man he’s now working for. Strange things start to happen. Terrifying nightmares and close calls with death don’t scare him from the manor. Something is definitely not right with the Blackwoods but his growing feelings for Sebastian Blackwood start to blur the lines for Nicholas.

To be honest this book had some highs and lows. I was sufficiently sucked in from the beginning. There was certainly a creepy vibe going on throughout the book. Trying to figure out what the hell was going on based on the hints being dropped was fun. Although the details and descriptions were vivid and thorough they started to bog down the pace of the story for me. The extravagance of the Blackwood manor and its owners could only hold my attention for so long. I needed more interactions between the characters to become invested in their relationships. The romantic storyline between the MCs went from terror to dislike to one night of passion and then love. I think with a little more building of their relationship I would have been more invested.

Nicholas’ character was kind of conflicting for me. The beginning of the story has him living in a trailer park with no exposure to art or the finer things in life but he’s able to describe them at length in the book. Although I enjoyed the descriptive narration it doesn’t fit the character portrayed. Not that a small town boy can’t know that stuff but I couldn’t grasp where in his life he was exposed to enough art to recognize the style of Gustav Klimt or which decade pieces came from. Seemed a little extensive for his character and it kept pulling me out of the story wondering if I’d missed something somewhere. I was also questioning why he wasn’t questioning all the strange things happening around him more but I guess that’s part of the story. He was determined to make it work for the sake of being successful.

I really enjoyed the gruesome gory bits of the story. Some of the imagery from the storytelling was pretty scary and I love a good horror story. I think the abrupt ending was my favorite part. Without getting too spoilery, he learned some pretty dark things about himself and the people he surrounded himself with. I loved Sebastian’s character. He was dark and brooding but with just enough softness when needed. Sexy and tragic. I wish he had gotten more page time. I’d love to read a continuation of their story. I’d certainly read it. Or maybe something from Sebastian’s POV?

Rated 3.5 stars by Whit