Devour by M. Morel

I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure what I think about Devour, the first novel in Melina Morel’s Institu Sceintifique series.

A Werewolf…
A vampire…
And the woman who wants them both.

The dashing Pierre du Montfort is a werewolf who’s never had trouble hiding his cursed heritage. But now with his dark secret about to be unleashed, he’s willing to do anything-and savage anyone-in order to stay alive…

Beautiful and intrepid werewolf hunter Catherine Marais has no qualms about her destiny. Nothing will stop her from destroying the last Montfort werewolf. Not even Ian Morgan-the 200-year-old vampire whose electrifying touch could tempt Catherine to indulge in a forbidden darkness from which she may never return…

First off, the blurb says nothing about what really goes on in the novel.  It’s very misleading.  Well, maybe not misleading as Pierre is the last werewolf and Catherine is set on destroying him, but the romance is where everything goes astray.  While I was reading, one thing popped into my head and it stuck.  It felt right and that was that Devour is very much like a daytime soap.  There is so much going on that you instantly become captivated by all the events and want to know what’s going on.  The scenes may seem small and inconsequential, but then you realized that you’ve just spent the last 20 minutes seeing what goes on.  This can be a good thing and/or a bad thing, but ultimately, it kept me glued to the book all day.

We have three different romances going on, and yet, there really isn’t a romance to watch.  The blurb doesn’t tell you about one, and I want to say the one they leave out is suppose to be the focus.  When I saw the blurb for the first two novels – Devour and Prey – I was under the impression each novel was going to stand on its own while focusing on different couples.  However, after reading Devour, I’m not sure that’s entirely the case.  We have three separate relationships going on, where we get to see some chemistry, and yet after reading the blurb for the upcoming third novel, Smolder, I’m not really sure that’s the case.  Ian and Catherine have a very solid presence in Devour and the relationship of Paul and Julie (the ones I believe are suppose to be the romantic focus) are kind of pushed to the side.  The relationship of the third couple, Pierre and Marianne, seems to be more of an antagonist elements to help Pierre develop where he ultimately needs to go; however, his relationship is far more interesting than either of the other two.  Quite honestly, by the end, I was hoping he was going to get captured and given a second chance at love.  He very much seemed like the hero who gets turned around later on (there’s a much more eloquent way to say what I’m thinking, but it’s not coming to me).

While I get the point of Pierre’s relationship to the overall plot of the story, the inclusion of Ian and Catherine’s relationship was a bit much for me.  Especially considering I really didn’t get attached to them, or the focal couple of Julie and Paul, and they have the stage for Smolder.  Catherine and Paul’s relationships are where I really see the soap opera aspect coming into play.  We’re given these little scenes, where the circumstances are impacting their lives and their jobs, but we’re not really given anything to make us cheer for them, at least not within the novel.  It’s like we’re going to need multiple episodes with them before we really begin to care about them.  Quite honestly, we’re given more development on Pierre than either of the other characters and it makes all the other events less interesting.  Everything was a part of the story, each piece a new part of the puzzle, but it wasn’t until the final seen with Pierre that things really started to escalate.  Pierre never even knew he was being hunted and I think that took away from the story.

Overall, Devour was a really good read.  I mean, I couldn’t put it down, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.  After being told the books could stand on their own, I’m kind of left feeling like that isn’t the case.  The more I think about it, it’s kind of like the Bourne series, where there is a lot of strategy going on, and there is a romance in the background, but it’s more about all the fun locales and the little play by play events that a take-down generally has.  Like I said, Devour is good, just don’t pick it up based on what the blurb says, you might end up feeling like I did.

Read Order:
Devour
Prey
Smolder

Also reviewed by:
Lyra Rose’s Blog
CA Reviews
Scooper Speaks
Worlds of Wonder
Amberkatze’s Book Blog

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

2 Comments

  1. Hmm…I’ve had this on my to be bought list for ages.

    So, is it that there’s more emphasis on a longer story arc, spanning the 3 books, and that arc includes the romances? It sounds like none of the romances really get resolved at the end of Devour, like I would expect of a pnr. Yet, 3 romantic relationships seems like a lot for something that is more plot-driven uf.

  2. Oh no, all but one romance gets resolved and the unresolved one is the focus of the third novel, Smolder. The romance is there, I just didn’t feel like I was apart of the relationship or watching the chemistry unfold. There were never any conflicts with the relationships; they were a little too smooth.

    This is a PNR novel, simply because it’s not that plot-driven, but there’s lot more plot than I would have expected from a PNR.

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