Challenge Review: Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong

FROSTBITTEN
BY KELLEY ARMSTRONG

Title: Frostbitten
Series: Women of the Otherworld #10
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: Urban Fantasy Fiction, Supernatural Fiction
Elements: Werewolves, Demons, Shapeshifters, Necromancers
Publisher: Bantam Books, Random House Inc.
Format: Hardcover, 339 Pages
ISBN: 9780553806625
Release Date: September 2009
Source: Borrowed from Wentworth Library
Rating: 5/5

Purchase Here: Kindle // Paperback

Tagline(s): ~NONE~

Summary: Being the world’s only female werewolf has its advantages, such as having her pick of the Otherworld’s most desirable males. And Elena Michaels couldn’t have picked a more dangerously sexy and undyingly loyal mate than Clayton Danvers. Now their bond will be put to the ultimate test as they follow a bloody trail of gruesome slayings deep into Alaska’s frozen wilderness.

There’s nothing the werewolf community dislikes more than calling attention to itself. So when a pair of rogue man-eaters begins hunting humans, it’s up to Elena and Clayton to track down the predators. But any illusions their task would be simple are quickly dispelled. For even in werewolf terms, there’s something very disturbing taking place in the dark Alaskan forests. A werewolf more wolf than human and more unnatural than supernatural is on the hunt—a creature whose origins seem to spring from ancient legends of the shape-shifting Wendigo.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Clayton and Elena find themselves confronting painful ghosts from their pasts — and an issue neither of them is eager to discuss. For one of them has been chosen to become the new Pack leader, and as every wolf knows, there can be only one Alpha. They’ve always been equals in everything. Now, when their survival depends more than ever on perfect teamwork, will instinct allow one of them to lead...and the other to follow?

Review:

Elena Michaels is tracking a young werewolf who ran with two known man-eaters, Liam Malloy and Ramon Santos. She only wants to speak to Reese Williams and warn him about Liam and Ramon's backstabbing tendencies. But with a reputation like hers, Reese isn't going to stop for a chat, so he takes off for Alaska.

Coincidentally, Alaska is where a number of possible wolf kills has taken place, and Jeremy sends Elena and Clay to investigate. With strange wolf behavior, missing friends, mythical shapeshifters, and a pack causing all sorts of trouble, Elena has a lot to handle and she gets a taste of what Alphahood will be like.

The first thing I realized when I read the names Liam and Ramon was that these are the two werewolves that attack Derek and Chloe in the Darkest Powers series. It seems that when they couldn't pin their kills on Reese, they went after a young, not necessarily naive, werewolf.

Being from Minnesota, I was able to really appreciate Elena's remark about the Minneapolis Airport and the Mall of America being traps for the directionally challenged. I've never been in the MSP Airport, but the MOA really is a trap for those who don't know where they are going. I can't even find my own way in that place.

I thought it interesting that Elena may or may not have a familial connection with the Russian Pack. Elena's mother was an Antonov, and there are a few Antonovs in the Russian Pack. It's an old werewolf family in Russia, apparently. Roman Novikov, the Alpha of the Russian Pack, invited Elena, Clay, and Jeremy to Russia to see if there is indeed a connection. I'm really curious about this myself, I would love to know if Elena has family in the Russian Pack. That could possibly help her in the long run when she becomes Alpha of the North American Pack.

One of my favorite moments was when Elena visited Lynn Nygard and saw a painting of herself as a wolf on Lynn's wall. That is way too coincidental that Lynn had a print of one of Jeremy's paintings.

We know Elena's history with her foster fathers and brothers, how they sexually abused her, some even raped her, and that was all brought to the forefront of her memory when she received a letter from one of her foster fathers, asking for forgiveness as part of his therapy. So when she met Travis Tesler for the first time and he tried to rape her (and the numerous times after that first meeting) she was brought back to that little girl who just tried to hide from it all. But Elena, being who she is now, was finally able to fight back. Elena is probably my favorite character in this series, and the strength she showed in Frostbitten just reinforced that.

Then there is the Stillwell family. They were former members of the Pack, but left and moved to Alaska when the Alpha ascension was taking place. Dennis still kept in contact with Jeremy, though, but hasn't made contact when he said he would. This is another thing Jeremy asked Elena and Clay to check out. I don't want to say too much about them, because they play a big part in the Tesler takeover, but in the end the Pack gains a new member from this family. Plus two more possible members if Reese Williams decides to stay, and if Morgan Walsh decides to head south after his experiment in Alaska.

With a mythological shapeshifter race (which one it is, I won't tell) and a rogue werewolf pack close to waging war in the Alaskan Wilderness, Elena must act as mediator and take matters into her own hands before more innocent humans are killed. This is all definitely a great way to get Elena ready to be Alpha.

"So, what do you think of your pack?"

About this Author:

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.