Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

This is a first novel in a collection called 'Women of the Otherworld'.

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Most werewolves are male and the result of the mating of a male werewolf with a human female. Elena joined the ranks after being bitten and amazingly surviving the transformation. She seems to be the only female werewolf in North America that her pack is aware of. Lucky for her, she has been adopted in a pack lead by the Alpha, Jeremy Danvers, who live near Syracuse, New York.

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From the day of her 'bite' Elena has rebelled against being a werewolf and having to live within its confines. She desperately wants back her human life with all the details of love, family and job. She finds this increasing hard to do when Jeremy calls and says its urgent she return to the pack. They need her help.

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Its interesting to meet the pack members and learn their histories, specially that of Clayton who was found as a child living alone in a swamp in Florida many years earlier. The pack functions together as a family with a very big secret that must be maintained at all costs. What is different is that they all defer to the Alpha and would never questions him, well, with the exception of Elena who was not raised in the pack.

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I loved reading how Elena struggled to maintain her human ties while distancing herself from the pack. She still wanted the 'family' she hadn't had since her parents died when she was quite young. She kept being drawn back to the pack by her werewolf nature and to ensure her survival and ultimately that of the pack, she had to discover her true self.

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The subtitle may be "Women of the Otherworld" but the majority of the novel is filled with totally ripped men, OK, they are werewolves but don't let that interfere with your enjoyment.

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Canadian Author Kelley Armstrong has created a world in which werewolves and human live side by side. This could be peaceful except for a number of 'mutts' who wantonly continue to kill humans. Shame that there is always someone who wants to spoil it for everyone else.

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This world continues throughout the 'Women of the Otherworld' series as well as the 'Darkest Powers' series. It seems that new characters appear in each book. I'll have to read more to find out for sure. Be sure to visit Kelley's website for full details on each book and how the series interact with each other.

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This is my 25Th and final read for the 'Canadian Book Challenge'. John will be announcing the 3rd version of the challenge after Canada Day on July 1st.