Swann's considerable writing skill isn't matched by originality in this historical supernatural romance, the sequel to 2009's Wolfbreed. The opening scenes are gripping enough, as Brother Josef, a probationer in a "convent of warrior monks" in 14th-century Prussia, encounters evidence of a massacre carried out by a werewolf. When the beast attacks his group, Josef manages to strike the creature in the eye with a silver crossbow bolt and to survive his serious injuries. As he's tended by Maria, an attractive servant, he develops strong feelings for her, but Maria is drawn to Darien, a hunky stranger with a scar on one of his eyes. As those two grow closer, Darien reveals that Maria herself is a wolfbreed, setting up a predictable love triangle and the usual struggles between human loyalty and animal nature. This is nothing new for fans of paranormal romance, horror, or historical fantasy.
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In 1353, Maria, a 16-year-old servant in a Polish fortress, witnesses the arrival of a party of Teutonic knights, warrior monks, who are battered and beaten. Seeking refuge after a horrible defeat, they surrender their weapons, which, surprisingly enough, are edged in silver. Maria is assigned to care for Josef, who is not expected to survive his wounds. One night when heading home from the fortress, she is attacked by a stable hand and rescued by revenge-seeking wolfbreed Darien, who comes out of the woods and displays super strength. When he gets her to remove the silver cross her father and stepmother have insisted she wear her entire life, she discovers that she is a wolfbreed. Maria begins to fall in love with Josef, even though he is a member of an order dedicated to exterminating the wolfbreeds, who are considered demonic. Torn between Darien, the wolfbreed she believes she belongs with, and the man she loves, who has vowed to exterminate her kind, Maria is in danger. This action-packed, muscular historical romance is a stand-alone companion to Wolfbreed (2009). --Diana Tixier Herald
