Are you in the mood for some paranormal/historical romance, with witty werewolf characters? If so, then you should pick up Wolfishly Yours by Lydia Dare. We get to know another Hadley brother, Greyson, who is just as out of control as the rest of his family. Wolfishly Yours is everything I’ve come to expect from Lydia Dare, it’s funny, romantic, and highly entertaining.
It Takes A Beast…
Grayson Hadley is in his own special hell-being treated like a wayward pup by the tutor employed to turn him into a true gentleman. So when he meets a hot-blooded American beauty with the mark of a Lycan, he’s only too glad to slip his leash.To Bring This Lady To Heel.
Accustomed to running wild in the swamps of Louisiana, Miss Liviana Mayeux is shipped off to her grandfather’s in London to learn a thing or two about polite society. At first she scoffs at the English Lycans’ apparent tameness. Little does Livi realize how very close she is to unleashing the passion that lies just beneath the surface…
The Hadley brothers, as I mentioned before, had me from the beginning (they show up first in Dare’s Regency Vampyre Trilogy). In Wolfishly Yours, we finally get to see Greyson’s story, who is Weston’s twin from The Wolf Who Loved Me. These two are a lot alike in that they are always in trouble, acting before they think and have the reputation of straggly dogs. No respectable lady wants to be associated with the Hadley’s. But these boys don’t care; they are proud of their heritage and don’t give much thought to people judging them. That’s why I love these boys.
But all the men are very similar. So much so that I can’t come up with a significant marker between Weston and Greyson (and their brother Archer), other than Weston has a scar. And when Livi’s brothers are introduced it became a bit confusing, because they, too, act the same as the Hadley brothers. It’s too many devil may care and sarcastic personalities all in one room. This doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy their antics, I do; I just wish there were more differences between the male characters. Something unique to each character to set them apart from one another.
One of the things that I love about the characters in Lydia Dare’s books is that most of them are vibrant and totally outrageous. There are a few ‘boring’ characters, but not so boring that you ignore or forget them. They just get overshadowed by the Hadley boys who are always in trouble, pulling pranks and mouthing off. I hate calling the other characters boring to be honest, because they aren’t; they are normal characters with normal lives. It’s just that when you have a character who is proper and circumspect in a scene with someone who lives to push peoples buttons and is funny as hell, well, that other character doesn’t stand a chance.
One of things I didn’t like was the villain. I won’t tell you what he does because it does affect the main characters and that would spoil things. He didn’t scare me, he didn’t intrigue me, I didn’t feel anything for him to be honest. There wasn’t a lot of build up; you meet this guy, you think he’s just a minor character then he goes and hurts someone out of the blue. The scene itself is weak and over rather quickly, creating very little suspense or intrigue. Not to mention you don’t see what happens to him, just speculation that one of the characters will find him and make him pay. This may have been left wide open for the next installment, I don’t know. He had the potential to be so much more, so much meaner and scarier, but his part just fizzles to nothing.
There also could have been some actual “werewolf “time. You see the werewolves get drunk before the full moon so they don’t change and expose themselves to the humans. When talking to outsiders they have to be careful not to expose their secret and make sure no one else does. Basically, you only know about them being werewolves because of dialogue. I would love to see some actual turning into beasts in this series! Show me they are really werewolves, pretty please?
Wolfishy Yours is still a romance and there are those predictable moments we’ve come to expect from any romance: the love/hate relationship between Greyson and Livi, our hero and heroine; she needs to learn to be a lady; he is reckless; her reputation getting compromised somehow (no spoiler, sorry folks); him growing up and taking responsibility for himself. Of course, the ending is wrapped up nicely with a big red bow, and I wish there could have been more conflict and turmoil for these characters, BUT it’s how its written that makes or breaks Wolfishy Yours. The writing team that is Lydia Dare know how to create a unique, funny yet romantic story, even with all the cliché romance novel plot lines. If the characters weren’t as colorful, the story would drag on with one boring scene after another, or those situations wouldn’t be as volatile or dangerous and I’d be bored out of my head. The writing style is smooth, well paced, and just enough ingredients mixed together to keep me coming back for more.
I know I seem off my rocker to love books that I have rather big complaints about. Believe me, I think I am, too. But I do love the writing style of the Lydia Dare team. The characters are funny, very real and likable. The setting is amazingly fantastical with its carriages, kid slippers and the grandness of old England and it’s social etiquette. This mix of historical romance with paranormal in the form of werewolves, is a great combo. I love it enough that I can overlook all these red flag, keep reading and still have a good time. ).
I may have my issues with Wolfishly Yours by Lydia Dare, and the Westford Wolves series, but I highly recommend it anyway. Even with all the bad, it’s a rich fantasy ride of romance and werewolves, like no other series I’ve read.
Read Order
A Certain Wolfish Charm
Tall, Dark and Wolfish
The Wolf Next Door
The Taming of the Wolf
The Wolf Who Loved Me
Wolfishy Yours
