Book Minx

Wonderful start to a series! The tone of this book reminded me of a cross between the early Anita Blake series(the first book is: Guilty Pleasures) and Patricia Briggs' Alpha & Omega series (Cry Wolf).

Someone is trying to frame werewolf Rule Turner and homicide cop Lily Yu gets put as the lead detective on the case. However, things get complicated when Lily finds out she's Turner's chosen mate.

Wilks does an interesting take on the fate mate trope. Turner and Lily do not automatically fall in love, in fact Lily tends to feel trapped by the mate bond. Especially since there's a lot about it that she doesn't understand. So, like in Briggs' series, there's a lot of trust to be built and the romance is very slow burning, which I really enjoyed.

I also loved the grittiness of the Lupi world. Like in Hamilton's series, the supernatural community is integrated within the human world, but there's a lot of conflict and prejudice between the two. This book takes place at a crossroads where its no longer legal to brand shifters or shoot them on sight, but there's still not many laws that protect them and people still largely fear anything not human. Its an interesting set-up for the rest of the novels and I can't wait to continue reading about Lily and Rule.