Wednesday, July 14, 2010

CBR Book#52: Stolen by Kelley Armstrong


This book is the second in Armstrong's Women of the Underworld and also the second to center on female werewolf Elena Michaels. There may be spoilers in this review, but I'll try not to be too spoilery. Also, this book successfully completes my Cannonball Read for this year. I'll still be reviewing books and numbering them from this book, but everything past this is just to piss off geep (just kidding!).



Elena has settled back into her role in the Pack, which includes keeping dossiers on all mutts and checking out  possible media scrutiny. She also trolls websites that tout paranormal evidence, which is where she finds something curious. Someone is trying to sell evidence that werewolves were involved in some deaths in Arizona and they welcome media attention, which is not a good sign. So Elena decides to fly to Pittsburgh to see if the seller has any real information and then decide what steps need to be taken to eliminate a possible threat to her Pack.

These sellers, however, are other supernaturals. Witches to be exact. And they want Elena to report back to her Pack Alpha about a plot to kidnap supernaturals so that werewolves can join their committee. No, really! Elena has never met or seen proof of other supernaturals, so she is skeptical and refuses to admit that she is a werewolf. That night, Elena is tracked while on a run and follows her would-be attackers to the witches. The threat becomes real and Elena contacts Jeremy, her Alpha.

After Jeremy and Elena attend a meeting, they are joined by Clay, Elena's mate. The three of them are then found by the same attackers Elena encountered before. The werewolves decide to leave Pittsburgh and get home, since their trust in the others is even more shaky. Elena drives separately and engages in a game of racing with Clay in the other car. Unfortunately, she pulls ahead, only to be ambushed and kidnapped. The rest of the book deals with Elena being held captive in a facility collecting the supernatural in order to study them and hunt them.

Armstrong has made another enjoyable read with new characters. Since I've read some books out of chronological order, like Personal Demon, I had been introduced to Paige Winterbourne before. However, the character is younger in this story and her personality and presence reflects that while still being familiar to me. Since this is a Women of the Underworld book, it only makes sense that Clay is featured less than Elena, but it was disappointing to me. I really like Clay. And I read his lines with the voice of Josh Holloway in my head. I am excited to finish the rest of the Underworld books.

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