Savage is the first book in the Daughters of the Jaguar series by Willow Rose. The first time I laid my eyes on the cover, I just knew I had to read it.
Savage was an interesting read. It explained a lot of things about the story and the background was laid out one after the other. We are reading the story in Christian’s first-person point-of-view as it revolves around him and his experience when he moved from Denmark to Florida for his medical studies in the 80s. He was taken in by a wealthy family who welcomed him to their home with open arms…widely open arms to the point that the head of the family, the doctor, bought him a new car, a windsurf board, and eventually paid offered to pay for the rest of his college tuition.
Christian’s future in Florida seemed to be heading in a promising direction until that incident that changed his life forever. Sulking in his thoughts and wallowing in self-pity, he wanted explanations with how he survived, if there is any rational explanation for what happened. He eventually became obsessed with life after death and jaguars, reading every book he could get his hands on regarding those subjects. He was aware of the change within himself, I guess near-death experiences really changes ones perspective. To top it off, he acquired supernatural abilities that made him think he was going crazy.
Like him, I was intrigued with the strange family next door. Although I had an idea who and what they were, I couldn’t wait to get to the part where that was revealed. He meets a lovely woman named Aiyana, who divulged things about her family like it was the most normal thing to do. She felt like she knew him personally even though they just met. I thought it was weird even after it was explained.
The writing was pretty good, you could tell it was researched well, although I think it was laid out too much. Like Christian, I wanted more of Aiyana. She is just so mysterious and I wish we could see her point-of-view as well. The sexual situations were mostly mild. A little bit of description but not much heat in it. Still would not recommend it to teens under 16. I wish there was more about the strange family of women, and I also found the ending quite sad because they chose a more “sensible” path. Maybe we would find out why in the next book, I am intrigued with how that would pan out.
I haven’t read much shape-shifter stories to compare this one with, but I enjoyed reading and am looking forward to the rest of the series.
AUTHOR BIO
Willow Rose writes Paranormal Romance, fantasy and mystery. Originally from Denmark she now lives on Florida’s Space Coast with her husband and two daughters. She is a huge fan of Anne Rice and Isabel Allende. When she is not writing or reading she enjoys to watch the dolphins play in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
Links
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
*UPDATE: The original version of this post was for a book tour. The giveaway has been removed from this post upon update.
Hi Karen! This is fairly new, started book blogging last June or July? Then bought the domain just this August. ^_^
hope i win! 🙂
If you suddenly found yourself with a supernatural gift, what would it be?
It would be Hermione’s bag. 🙂
Hello Nix! I didn’t know you have a book blog. 🙂
Anyway, I joined your contest!
To answer your question, it would be the power to Apparate and Disapparate (w/o a wand of course). He he.
Definitely a shape shifter of some sort
I would like Telepathy but only if I could direct it to whom I wanted and turn it on and off.
Hmm. That’s a tough one. Traveling in time so i could do all the housework then travel back to the start of the day and read all day long. Haha
Don’t they have a copy in local bookstores. Honestly, I don’t know how to buy online haha. My daughter does it for me if she is in the mood haha..I mean if she is not busy. she is also writer.. 😀