Review: A Werewolf in Manhattan by Vicki Lewis Thomson

January 13, 2011 By Catherine 15 Comments

A Werewolf in Manhattan I started out really enjoying this book. It was light—both in terms of worldbuilding and tone—but sometimes I don’t want heavy or complex. Sometimes I just want to smile and giggle and enjoy a lighthearted romance. I think if I had to liken it to something I would probably pick the Argeneau series by Lynsay Sands. They’re not the same storyline or writing style, but the tone is similar.

The setup of this book really appealed to me. An author who writes about fictional werewolves hits a little too close to home for the real werewolves, so they have to send in someone to see how she knows so much. Sounds interesting, right? It was, at least in the beginning.

I really liked watching Aidan trip over his attraction to Emma while trying to investigate things for his pack. He amused me (in a good way) as he tried to insert himself into Emma’s life without getting too close to her personally. He was cute and determined to resist his attraction, but his unfortunate genetic flaw made it difficult for him—a little too conveniently at times. I also enjoyed watching his interactions with his brother as he tried to talk sense into Aidan. They had some pretty hilarious lines together.

“”You’re an idiot!”

“Not according to my test scores.”

“Which are nullified by your testicles, apparently. I knew you had solid-brass ones, but this is arrogance taken to the max!”

“Get out of the car, Emma.” He paused, as if the next words cost him a great deal. “Please.”

He was scaring her a little. “Okay, but only because you used the P-word.” She unfastened her seat belt.

“I have a P-word for you, bro,” Roarke muttered. “Puss–”

“Zip it, Roarke.”

Unfortunately, things went downhill for me when Emma found out the truth about the werewolves. Her personality took a sharp left turn into the land of delusion and I didn’t appreciate having to go along for the ride.

Some might consider the following SPOILERS, so I would turn away now if you don’t want to read them. I just can’t say why it got the grade it did without discussing it.

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The whole premise of the story is that the werewolves are investigating to find out if someone has discovered their existence. Ergo, they take it pretty seriously when they sense a threat to their secrecy. So, when Emma actually does find out about them beyond a shadow of a doubt it’s not something they’re just going to shrug off. If they didn’t care about people knowing about them they wouldn’t have investigated a fiction writer. But does Emma care? No! She seems to think that she still has rights after they put her on lockdown and even after she hears that a few of the pack members are arguing for her death to protect their secret.This idiot is more upset that they might refuse to let her write her werewolf stories than she is that she might die. She frequently turns insane and starts ranting about how she’d rather die than be censored. Uh, honey, you just might… Get a clue. She also goes off about her First Amendment rights. I’m sorry, maybe I’m the odd one out, but she is writing fiction. It’s not like they’re suppressing facts in non-fiction or the news. They just don’t want her to use the facts that she has learned about them. She continues to push for more and more details about them after she learns the truth and makes no bones about the fact that she wants to include them in her books. She is seriously TSTL.

***

I was also a little irritated by Emma’s hypocritical green attitude throughout the book. She faulted Aidan for having the money to afford incredible luxuries and even when he called her on her crap and pointed out her designer outfits and her enjoyment of the luxuries she’s allowing him to give her for “research” she never really changed. It’s a pet peeve of mine when characters harp on the evilness of wealth, so that was not a fun personality trait for me to read about.

I wouldn’t say this was a horrible book, but I definitely wouldn’t say it was good. The relationship ended up being too disappointing and Emma too irritating for me to really enjoy it.