Gentleman Wolf

Gentleman Wolf (2019) Joanna Chambers (Capital Wolves Duet)

Set in Scotland & Europe in 1682 and 1788.

Lindsay Somerville spent years as the prisoner of a man who turned and then tortured him solely because Lindsay looked like the man who turned him–a man he cannot disobey any more than Lindsay can disobey him.

The Eunuch. Duncan’s name for Francis, the one man who could bend Duncan to his will. The man he desired above all others but who recoiled from his very touch. Who would always reject Duncan… but could not bring himself to harm him.

After his rescue Lindsay spent the next century working with his rescuers and become part of their pack, but when it is rumored his master and torturer is coming to Paris, Lindsay flees to his old home, Edinburgh, on business from the head of their small pack.

I absolutely tore through this book, unable to put it down. (In fact, husband got yelled out. “You’re IN THE WAY OF MY BOOK. GO AWAY.”)

Despite everything, Lindsay is a fairly happy and positive person. He hates fleeing Duncan, but far prefers to remain safe. So he goes to Edinburgh to search for papers that might be related to the disappearance of Alys–the maker of the current head of his pack.

The mythology here was very interesting. Wolves are created through a mortal bit–one that has a specific will behind it. Wolves must turn during the full moon but are able to change at other times. And their wolf half gives them healing and thus immortality.

But the story focuses on some of the downsides of that immortality.

The truth was, every time he made a friend of a mortal, he planted a seed of future grief.

Although the main story arc is Lindsay falling in love with Drew, and the repercussions from that, but the story is also very much about Francis and Margeurite. The horror and regret Francis feels for creating Duncan.

Francis had little notion of how truly horrific Lindsay’s years with Duncan had been. Lindsay could not— simply could not— speak of what had been done to him, and Francis was too gentle to imagine such senseless cruelty.

But it is also about Marguerite’s search for her maker, Alys.

This book does not end on a happy note, just to be clear, and I immediately started reading the next book.

Rating: 8/10

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