Well, duh. Don't I feel dumb. I just realized I put my review on the wrong version of this book. I finished reading it weeks ago. :( Anyway...
I got ahold of Cry Sanctuary as a First Read. I had no clue what I was in for. I’ve never read anything in this series or these authors before. The first couple pages of the book totally hooked me. I immediately wanted to know what was going on. I thought the world was great. I liked the idea of Guides, the author’s attention to world building in terms of the town and the larger world outside the town, the new take on an old mythology (idea of wizards and the possible connection with werewolves), and the werewolf politics. I really enjoyed the setup of the world and the characters and how their initial interaction took place. What a great way to introduce the reader to the world and the characters! I immediately cared what happened.
Unfortunately, some of that steam evaporated when it came to the relationship between Keith and Abby. I found their relationship hurried, sort of shallow and a little herky-jerky, regardless of the hot and heavy take-me-now-before-I-rocket-into-orbit sex. There were a couple places where the action seemed to make a u-turn on itself and I found myself going "Huh?". I think this led to some of the awkwardness between them as a couple. I wanted to see more story involving them as a couple and what brought them together. Whether that was more attempts by the Baddies to get Abby back, more interaction with other residents of the town, or Abby even her losing control (which was hinted at but never happened and would have been interesting to explore (there were plenty of emotionally charged scenes where she could have lost it). I kept waiting for there to be more WHUMPH and FWOOOOSH and WHEEEE! between them other than just heavy panting.
One of the questions I had was, Why werewolves? We don’t see them turn into werewolves, we don’t see werewolves rampaging across the countryside, we don’t hear werewolves howling at the moonlight. The only real show of werewolves we get is the kind of peculiar split-personality reference characters make to their wolves and having to learn to deal with them as if they’re different people entirely (again, this would have been an interesting thing to explore more deeply since Abby is new to this and now has to deal with this Other set of primal instincts and needs).
For being a new werewolf that was made when she was attacked, who came from an abusive environment, and has already shifted once (I presume that was traumatic?) she was incredibly well-adjusted.
Clearly, I’ve come to the party late. There are a bunch of other books in this series (I have #2 to read and review as well.) Maybe there’s werewolves frolicking and rampaging around in the other books, but I just felt like if it’s a story about werewolves I wanted to see some fur flying somewhere. Hopefully there will be some werewolves in the next one! I plan on reading it and finding out. How can I stop reading with gem lines like “If you blow up my woman, I’ll end you.” Hahah.
PART 2: Coming Soon