Bad Wolf, Jo Raven

Promises.  Family.  Love.  Hope.  The boy grew into a man and needs saving, but don't confuse him for a vulnerable lamb, he's all wolf and it'll take everything Gigi has to convince him that he has a home with her.

I generally liked the story.  There was plenty of steam, grit, passion, and moments where you were sure they'd break.  The end was wonderfully sweet, hopeful, healing and did a lot to make up for the angst-ridden pages that preceded it.

Jarett hasn't had it easy.  His life has been one tragedy after another and the only bright spot was the beautiful, chatty, likable Gigi.  She stirred something in him he was sure was dead after all the years of anger and pain.  She also stirred something on him but he'd be damned if he'd give in to that temptation.  Years later and he's still got a soft spot for her but he has promises to keep and none of them include letting Gigi back in.

Gigi has been in love with Jarett since she began using his presence as a bully deterrent.  She just didn't know how deep that love ran.  After losing touch with him when her family moved away from Destiny she didn't expect to ever see him again.  Especially not in a dark club, and definitely not in a dirty alley when she's looking for her friend.  Each encounter confuses, frustrates, and arouses her.  When it seems he's determined to show her he's changed, and not for the better, she's ready to write him off but she needs him.

With his help she gets to keep her friend protected from dangerous situations she seems to seek out, but that's not all she gets.  There's a darker part to their deal.  A far more seductive part.  She has always wondered how he would taste, would feel.  As they sink farther into one another, as secrets cloud judgment and threaten to widen the gap between their hearts, they begin to learn just how far they'll go to keep the tenuous hold they have on one another's souls.  Jarett doesn't know how to keep her, though, and he's beginning to drown under all the obligations he's piled on himself.  Gigi won't give up, though, and with the help of her family she shows Jarett what could be.

The premise was exciting and alluring.  The reality, however, fell short for me.  I wanted to be drawn in to characters and in the beginning I was.  As the story progressed, however, I realized that there was nothing truly active about either Jarett or Gigi.  Everything happens to them.  Neither one of them go out to make things happen and they lament the lack of information, power, circumstances, choices, and hope they have for the entire book.  Jarett is a martyr from beginning to end.

They find one another by coincidence 90% of the time and while that could speak to their fates or destinies being aligned and there's nowhere they could go where the other wouldn't unknowingly follow, it instead comes off as an accident each time.  Their meetings do move the plot along, but without those accidents they'd never see one another and probably wouldn't seek one another out.  Well, maybe Gigi would, she's just smitten and frustrated enough to not let his absence go after their first accidental meeting.

I will say this for the end scenes, though, they were sweet, tender, and honest.  Jarett finally asks for something he doesn't feel he deserves but doesn't want to live without.  His courage and heart laid bare was perfect.  And then the welcome Gigi's family gave him was awesome.  It was natural with just enough fanfare to mark the occasion but nothing too overwhelming or awkward-making.  They loved him, accepted him, and encouraged him from the first moment.  It was the perfect place for him to finally find a home.

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