'The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf' Naked Werewolf #2 by Molly HARPER

From the BLURB:

Baring It All

Generations of werewolves have been secretly residing in a secluded valley a stone’s throw from Grundy, Alaska. So when a snooping Outsider comes to Grundy to investigate rumors of lycanthropic shenanigans in the area, the valley’s pack alpha, Maggie Graham, resolves to chase him away, even if doing so takes a quick bite on the butt. What a pity that researcher Nick Thatcher turns out to be so drool-worthy, and that his kisses make Maggie want to sit up and beg. Maggie just can’t seem to convince Nick to leave . . . and even worse, she can’t convinceherself to stay away from him. Cross-species dating is problem enough for a harried alpha female, but on top of that, a rival group of werewolves is trying to move into the valley. With interpack war threatening, Maggie can’t afford to be distracted. Combining romance and a career can be tough for anyone; for a werewolf in love with a human, it may be disastrous. . . .

Maggie Graham knows her place in the pack hierarchy – it’s comfortably on top, bossing everyone else around. As the Alpha of the Grundy Alaskan werewolf pack, Maggie literally has the furry world on her shoulders. Ever since her brother abdicated the pawed throne, Maggie has had to be local sheriff, judge and jury to her little wolf community. So when an anthropological zoologist with Trekkie tendencies comes sniffing around, hunting for ‘werewolves’, it falls to Maggie to interrogate and run him out of town.

It just sucks that Nick Thatcher smells so darn good, and happens to have a whole sexy professor vibe that gets Maggie’s engine revving. It’s also bad timing that Nick turns up right when Maggie’s aunties are dropping boulder-sized hints about match-making and mating for life...

‘The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf’ is the second book in Molly Harper’s ‘Naked Werewolf’ paranormal romance series.

I loved the first book in this series, ‘How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf’. That first book concentrated on the romance of exiled-Alpha, Cooper, and his human mate Mo. In ‘Seducing’, Cooper’s younger sister Maggie is the first-ever female Alpha and coasting in her leadership role when a handsome spanner is thrown in her works, in the form of Nick Thatcher. Wolfy hilarity ensues. . .

In ‘Flirt’, Maggie was a combative and prickly character – angry at her brother for abandoning the pack, and disgruntled at her impotence in the testosterone-filled pack hierarchy. I wasn’t sure how I'd like her as a protagonist, let alone a love interest, given her somewhat mean disposition. But Molly Harper has written Maggie as whip-quick, ballsy chick. I loved how strong she was and unremorsefully cocky. She’s a fantastic protagonist, and utterly unique in the paranormal romance genre;

“Look, Mags, I'm not any happier about him being here than you are. But I think we should take a more subtle approach than your usual ‘bite first, bite again, keep biting until they’re too busy bleeding to death to explain themselves’ method.”

“It if ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” I shot back.

Nick was the perfect Beta to Maggie’s Alpha. He’s no wimp, but I loved that his nerdy obsession with fantasy and werewolves made him well-suited to Maggie’s overbearing personality. Nick was hilarious; referencing Star Trek and Doctor Who and just being generally geeky-gorgeous. Harper writes a bit of a dark back story for Nick, which felt under-developed and seemed to halt mid-way, but overall I loved him and I adored him with Maggie.

Molly Haprer has her tongue firmly in cheek throughout a lot of the ‘Naked Werewolf’ series. I love that Harper adopts a funny-blasé attitude to a lot of werewolf mythology, allowing her to answer and explore a lot of interesting lore. She explores pack dynamics, mating rituals, the possibility of other were-animals . . . while also answering a lot of regular, every-day questions associated with turning furry. These conundrums are the sort of thing only a comedic writer can explore, in all their unperturbed hilarity;

You would think it would be weird to see your male relatives running around naked all the time, but really you stop noticing. It’s sort of sad, really. You’ve seen one penis, you’ve seen them all.

I had to stop saying that in front of my mother, because she said it was something a hooker would put on a business card.

If I have any complaint about this instalment, it’s that Harper appears to have wrapped the series up in two books. There was a strong possibility of two werewolf characters, Samson and Clay, getting their own books and romances . . . but Harper effectively nixes that idea by the end of ‘Seducing’, which is a shame. Samson was Podunk-hilarious; while Clay had an intense, smouldering thing going on . . . I would have loved it if this series continued on past two books to encompass their HEA.

Molly Harper is the queen of the funny paranormal romance. She absolutely excels in the ‘Naked Werewolf’ series – writing irreverently funny and furry romances. I wish the series was going to continue past these two books, but I can’t see that happening with how Harper neatly ties-off ‘The Art of Seducing’. Still, this was a wacky-gorgeous series and it cements Molly Harper as one of my all-time favourite authors.

5/5