5 January 2015

Daierwolves of Paris - Lou by Roxane Dambre

Hey everyone,

Its been a while since I've updated due to New Year's Eve and then my own failings, however, the posts will now be back on track and return to my normal every third day schedule! This week I'm reviewing Daierwolves of Paris - Lou by Roxane Dambre, a paranormal romance that I believe was originally written in French. I obviously read the English translation as a) my French is not that good and b) that is what was available in my country. Although this book came out on ebook late in December 2014 it will be released in paperback format on the 6th January (i.e tomorrow).

The book:

Lou is an offbeat, sexy young woman who just happens to be a Daïerwolf, able to transform into any animal she likes—though she prefers to be a panther. Steeped in Daïerwolf tradition and adept at living undetected among humans, Lou infiltrates the French secret service in order to track down a rogue Daïerwolf who threatens to end the peaceful balance all other Daïerwolves strive to maintain. As she tries to restore order in her community, as well as in the whole of Paris, she meets the man she didn’t think existed: her perfect mate.

With an inimitable perspective on life, the constant threat of danger looming, and love in the air, Lou demonstrates time and again why humans should be thankful for animal instincts.




My thoughts:

I'll be honest with you all I struggled with this book, and that is partly why this review is up a day later than I originally planned. I had high expectations for Daierwolves of Paris due to the positive reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads, which praised the detailed world building, humour and character development. Perhaps it was these high expectations (always dangerous) led to my dissatisfaction with this book or perhaps it was translation from French to English, which left something to be desired.

Rather than rich world building I felt instead like I was thrust into a world with little explanation, for example this is a world with three species living parallel (Daierwolves, Chalcroc & humans) yet two of the species have been kept hidden from the humans since forever I assume. Personally I felt like very little information was given into how these species came into existence and would have liked more information on how the Dairwolves functioned as a society rather than merely being teased with information.

Another aspect of this book that didn't work for me was the humour. Now I realise humour a subjective element and therefore will differ from person to person, but for me personally I found the main female figure Lou to be irritating rather than amusing. This started with the constant need to make lists and ended with the other need to constantly point out her cleverness commanded to the humans she was interacting with. I get it Daierwolves are super clever but does that automatically make all humans dumb? I think not.

The third reason I found it hard to get into this book was due to the robotic and stilted writing style. As mentioned above this book was translated into English and therefore I wonder if this was to do with translation rather than the author's ability. From study French and Latin at school I know that languages don't neatly translates meaning the fluency of the original text could have been lost. For this reason I wouldn't mark down the book on this criteria even though it did in part prevent my enjoyment.

The fourth and final reason why I disliked and struggled to finish this book was the lack of romance in it! I felt like I hardly knew the hero and the limited time him and the heroine spent together was overshadowed by the criminal case they were working. For me the romance plot was underdeveloped in comparison to the suspense/action plot; I realise for some reader of romance this isn't an issue but I personally want the focus on the romance plot.

Sorry this wasn't a more positive review to start of 2015 but just think it can only improve as the year processes!

My rating:
Happy reading everyone and see you next time!

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