Poppy Mercury - Berpisah

Legend of the White Wolf
Terry Spear
Sourcebooks
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When Detective Cameron MacPherson goes in search of his missing friends and partners, Owen Nottingham and David Davis, he never dreams he will find a life and death mystery…or the woman of his dreams, Faith O’Malley.

Faith O’Malley is on a mission – retrieve her father’s stolen research and tear a piece of hide off the thief, her, now-ex, boyfriend, Hilson Snowdon. But things aren’t that simple, she discovers. First, she has a tire blow out and a close encounter with a white wolf before she can even get to the little town of Milinocket where Snowdon has taken refuge. Then she’s given the keys to the wrong room at the hotel but she meets the room’s occupant, a naked Cameron MacPherson fresh from his shower. Heroically, in my opinion, she goes back to Registration and gets the correct key. But all is not lost, through a series of semi-comic adventures they spend most of the night together.

The next morning, it’s back to searching for her thieving ex-boyfriend which leads her to Back Country Tours. She wants to talk to the guide who took her father into the woods when he was there doing his research on people who believed in Bigfoot. When she gets there, however, she finds a dead body. And Cameron finds her backing out of the office as he arrives to get information on the tour his friends had taken. One thing leads to another and Cameron and Faith find themselves working together and heading out into the back woods where there’s no electricity and no cell phone coverage.

As they settle into their cottage, deep in the snow-covered heart of nowhere, Cameron continues flirting with Faith. They eventually end up in the community spa. But the arrival of a group of strange men and a woman ends Cameron’s plan for a little seduction. While they get dressed for the frigid hike back to Faith’s cottage, she hears their snowmobiles but that isn’t what startles her. The sight of a huge white wolf bearing down on her. Cameron leaps between them taking a painful bite but Faith is no swooning flower. She grabs a shovel and wallops the wolf.

And therein begins the story of the 'magical' wolves as one of the characters calls it. Cameron becomes a werewolf and Ms Spear shows us how this affects him in a most realistic and intriguing fashion. Not only that, but she continues the mystery of why Faith's father was on this excursion, what he saw and why her ex-boyfriend stole it. Cameron's partners were also 'infected' by the white werewolves but interestingly, they don't seem as adaptable as Cameron who really seems to take on the role of a werewolf quite readily.

The romance between Cameron and Faith is absolutely adorable. Cameron is sweet, gentlemanly but enough of a rogue to catch any woman's eye. But just because he's 'gentlemanly' doesn't mean he's passive. The passion between him and Faith sizzles off the page and would make us all head up to the wilds of Maine to find our own 'magical' wolf.

All in all, Ms Spear shows a fine talent for creating believable and fascinating characters. She handles the mystery portion of the plot with a great deal of finesse which made reading the book a joy. You definitely don't want to miss this one.