Tori and her Wolf (The New York City Werewolves) by Zara Doyle explores the fated-mate bond between werewolves Tori and Hunter. After a less-than-positive first impression on Hunter, Tori believes he will reject her. To avoid the brutal pain that comes with mate rejection, she leaves the state, hoping to disappear. Mechanical engineer Tori lands her dream job and moves to New York. She enters her building’s gym only to discover Hunter there. He’s the CEO, the company’s owner, and her boss. Now, she’s not only freaked out about rejection, but also fears losing her job. Rich, handsome, arrogant, rude, and frightening, Hunter is a werewolf who can have any woman or werewolf. Why would he choose Tori?
The novel gets off to an intriguing start. Doyle drew me in with her descriptive opening scenes. The way the story’s first half plays out with Tori being so fearful over rejection and running away without the author providing context for why her fear runs so deep doesn’t work narratively. Tori finally evaluates her feelings clearly and more rationally and stops running. However, Doyle develops their mate relationship so quickly that I think it hurts the story. Maybe giving them time to get to know each other more before accepting that they’re mates and starting an intimate relationship would have felt more organic. They go from zero to 60 and it feels off. Including Hunter’s POV for a small portion of the novel or more development of their romantic relationship would help make it feel less rushed.
While we get to know Tori’s character very well, we know little about the hero other than what we’re told before they get together. And what he reveals to Tori after apologizing. He does everything possible to care for Tori and her brother and show he cares for her, even before they get together—without her even knowing. I like how he took responsibility for his failings and mistakes and how much he tried to take care of her and her brother and help her without question whenever she needed it. Nevertheless, it’s hard to say we know him. While their sexual tension is palpable and intense before they explore their mate bond, and Hunter and Tori share sweet, funny interactions once he declares his feelings for her, apologizes, deciding he’s all in, their love scenes felt awkward. I, unfortunately, didn’t connect with their relationship.
The novel suffers from having an unreliable narrator in the worst way. Because it’s written in Tori’s first-person POV, we only experience Tori’s limited perspective of events and her thoughts or beliefs about what Hunter thinks and feels about her. Her confusion over her feelings of attraction to Hunter is overwhelming, and it colors all her thoughts, making it difficult for her to think rationally over the book’s first half. Doyle's storytelling heightens all the mistaken ideas, self-esteem issues, and mistaken communication that occur in romances. It gets frustrating after a while because the story goes nowhere.
It makes sense it’s written in Tori’s first-person POV since the author intends for the novel to have Pride and Prejudice vibes, Doyle captures Pride and Prejudice vibes in Tori and Hunter’s initial interactions. The scene where she confronts him before leaving town is excellently written to display those vibes, as well as those with Hunter apologizing.
The mystery behind Tori’s roots and her eyes is interesting and well-developed. Doyle incorporates other connected mysteries within the novel to keep things interesting. Tori and Her Wolf is an intriguing, suspenseful, steamy, angsty, funny, paranormal romance recommended for fans of:
• werewolf shifter
• enemies-to-lovers
• fated mates
• instalove/instalust
• billionaire hero
• forced proximity
• different worlds
• first love
• contemporary paranormal romances
CW: alcohol and drug abuse/addiction by secondary characters.
Thanks to Zara Doyle and The Author Agency for the ARC.
2.5 stars