Heart Of The Winter Wolf

Title: Heart Of The Winter Wolf
Author: Dani Harper
Publisher: New Concepts Publishing
Cover Art: Jenny Dixon and Eliza Black

Random Awesome Quote:
"That’s the whole damn problem with being human. You always end up feeling things you don't want to feel."

Basic Premise:
After a traumatic experience, Jillian Descharme is finally piecing her life together. Now a licenced veterinarian and living the daily life of bills and work, only the persistent dreams filled with a large white wolf intrudes upon normality. The visions always prelude a change in her life, and when she gets a call for a job she just can't turn down, she wonders if this will be the break she's been looking for or more trouble than she needs.

Losing everything changeling, James Macleod, abandons humanity for good, choosing to release control to his wolfen counterpart and never again walk on two legs. Driven by the grief of his past and haunted by the guilt he stays close to his family but it looks like nothing can reach the man buried beneath the fur. Until a small blonde vet captures the wolf more completely than any man made trap. Now he must relearn what it means to be human and protect her at all costs, even from himself.

Critique:
Heart Of The Winter Wolf by Dani Harper is perhaps one of the best put together and entertaining story lines I have read in a long time. Ms. Harper does an excellent job of not only keeping the reader enthralled but she pulls at a few heart strings while she's at it, I swear I almost cried while reading it!

Only one paragraph in the entire book seemed to read slightly off to me, but I figure that’s pretty darn good and I was looking at it as critically as possible. (Of course, I write in run on sentences, so what do I know.) Certainly there is nothing in the book that pulls away from the story and definitely nothing that will keep you from being hooked.

Ms. Harper weaves an intricate tale that will leave you flipping pages and coming back for more. And while this is indeed a book for mature audiences only, I found that when a sex scene arose they were presented in a tasteful, yet, oh so hot and steamy way. While the sex scenes don’t overtake the book as they do in a lot of romances, prepare to have your toes curl and your knees buckle, better read while sitting down ladies.

The first novel in Dunvegan Wolf Clan Series, I eagerly look forward to reading the rest just as soon as they are released and I fully advise you to do the same.

So congratulations Ms. Harper, overall Team Doom gives Heart Of The Winter Wolf 5 out of 5 skulls, excellent job!




Swing by and check out the book on http://www.romancingthewolf.com/ebooks.html or if you have a MySpace check out Ms. Harper on her profile here: http://www.myspace.com/romancingthewolf

And to prove what a super cool lady she is, we sent her some totally random questions to poke and prod her brain and see what makes her tick, here where her answers:

Where did you get the idea for Heart of the Winter Wolf?

I started writing a story one day and my hero turned into a werewolf. I told him not to, but my characters never listen to me. As for my characters, they seem to pop out of my head almost fully formed. I'm learning to listen to them and let them tell me what the story is about. And yes, I know that sounds pretty weird. Someone once said that every good novelist is a little bit schizoid -- they just write down what the voices say!

So while it's tough to explain exactly where Heart of the Winter Wolf came from, it's easy to explain why I write romance. I’m fascinated by the different ways people come together, and how they react to each other. It makes for an infinite variety of stories to write because no two relationships are the same just as no two people are the same.

And paranormal romance is a natural for me. I've loved all things supernatural since I was a kid – and there's just so much possibility and so much fuel for the imagination!

Any experiences with real wolves?

I spent twenty-odd years in northern Canada, and I know what it is to hear wolf song on a clear winter night. There isn't a more heart-stirring sound in the world. I've been privileged to see a pack in the wild, and frustrated to have another pack steal my livestock. So I know both sides of canis lupus, but I still love and admire the wolf.

How did you react when you found out your novel was going to be published?

My full-length paranormal romance, Heart of the Winter Wolf is my very first published novel and I'm still filled with wonder and awe over the whole thing.

I've been a newspaper editor and written for magazines, so I had thought a book would be no big deal. Then, the day after the release, my best friend called up to tell me she'd bought the book and I just burst into tears -- omigod, this is REAL! So much for being cool and taking it in stride, LOL.

I thought that would be the best part, but then I started getting emails from readers telling me how much they liked the book and asking for more stories about the characters. Nothing in my writing life prepared me for that thrill! I've had my share of compliments on my news articles, but knowing that a reader connected with a story that I made up has a magic all its own.

And now for our totally weird question:

If you were a shoe, what kind would you be?

I'd be a well-worn hiking boot. I'm much more comfortable outside than in, and I'm lucky to live in southeast Alaska where the great outdoors is truly GREAT. Now if I could just figure out how to write while hiking...


So until next time all you radical readers,
Doom On!

CoD