Book 1), Tempting Danger (The World of the Lupi

Rule Turner is the prince of the werewolf Molokai clan, and he's a suspect in a grisly murder. Lily Yu is the investigator on that murder case, and she soon learns that there is more going on than meets the eye. Rule discovers that Lily is his Chosen mate, but she doesn't know if she can trust him. However, since they can't be more than a few hundred feet away from each other without feeling dizzy, they must learn to work together to solve the mystery.

If you can get through the first third of the book, it's worth it! I found the beginning confusing because the story jumped into a world/situations that were unknown, and unexplained, to the reader. It felt very disjointed at first. However, we do learn more as the book goes on and everything starts coming together.

The romance takes a backseat to the murder mystery plot in this book, but I still loved the interactions between Rule and Lily. There were touching, funny and frustrating moments as they try to figure out how to deal with each other and their mate bond.

The action is fast-paced and kept me engaged to the end, trying to figure out who might be involved and what exactly they were chasing. Of course, not everything is resolved at the end, as the story line continues in book two, Mortal Danger.

This book occupied my shelf for a long time before I decided to read it. The problem is I've read so many werewolf books and I was very afraid of becoming burned out and judging this unfairly. I decided to give it a go anyway, and heres how I felt about it.

First of all, I did not realize that this book was going to be a murder mystery/cop drama. I realized that the main character Lily is a cop, but somehow I just didn't anticipate how much that would set the tone. This book, especially the first half, is very much a murder mystery (with a paranormal element). If you like that sort of thing, you'll enjoy this book. Myself, I am not a big murder mystery fan and I'm impatient. I was so bored through the first 100 pages I seriously considered giving up. It progresses very slowly. I powered through.

The plot is this: A man gets murdered and signs indicate that his killer is a werewolf. Homicide detective Lily investigates, which leads her to Rule, the heir apparent to the alpha of the local werewolf pack. Rule is suprisingly willing to cooperate, wanting to help Lily catch the real killer. Lily is a "sensitive"--able to sense and identify types of magic. She eliminates Rule as a suspect, and comes to believe that there is more to the murder then was initially obvious, but her fellow cops are eager to convict him anyway. She's forced to go to the higher authority of the FBI for further investigations to procede. Then to complicate matters, she and Rule are chosen for one another.

Now, chances are if you've read any other paranormal romance you've encountered the fated mate trope multiple times. Christine Feehan, Jacqueline Frank, Lora Leigh, Rebecca York, all use this theme. You're hero and heroine are biologically/spirtitually/psychically made for one another, and so fate is going to force them to be together. The same forces that bring them together will often make it impossible or detrimental for them to leave, cheat on one another, or try to ignore the connection. If you enjoy this kind of thing, read on and enjoy. I like the fated mates concept to a point, and when handled well by the author it's awesome. However, there are undeniable drawbacks. In our story, for example, Rule figures out that Lily is his Chosen and thus they have to be together, within a certain geographical distance of one another, all of the time. He explains this to Lily, she grumbles and is annoyed, but the bond is making her want/need him so they have sex. Up to that point, there had been no real connection, even so far as simple respect between them. The Chosen concept is used as a means of forcing two characters with nothing in common and no reason to like eachother to be together.

To be fair, the romance isn't all bad. Lily and Rule start to connect. Lily opens up about her past, Rule shares information about his werewolf world. They fight evil and decide to make a go of it together. Splendid.

This book had a number of elements that I really liked. As I said, the romance was decent. The characters were fairly likeable. I enjoyed the werewolf politics and culture. The mystery, without actually giving away the punch line, bored me the entire time. Bottom like, nothing about this book stands out. It's not horrible, just forgetable. I'm giving it 2.5 stars.

Okay, just finished "Tempting Danger" by Eileen Wilks -- I give it five stars as a very intense paranormal suspense novel. It's world is very reminiscent of the Anita Blake universe with the paranormal being known, and non-humans like the Lupi (werewolves) only recently gaining equal legal protections from murder... well unless they are in wolf form, because it's not illegal to kill a lupi who isn't in their human shape, not yet. The main character is a very strong and canny Chinese American police detective, Lily Yu.

A nicely original character that makes a very realistic homicide investigator, who is also a "sensitive". Since anything magical has been suspect for a long time, Lily is in a "don't ask, don't tell" situation and uses of her gift are under the radar and not mentioned in reports. Being officially "outed" would mean her badge, but when her gift tells her the latest murders she is investigating are the result of sorcery and not a rogue werewolf she has some hard choices to make. Rule Turner is the equivalent of a werewolf prince, and he's being framed by powerful forces that have hidden agents inside the police department itself. Lily who has always been the type to 'color inside the lines' is going to have to cross the lines to do the right thing. It doesn't help that there is an incredible attraction between Lily and Rule, one deeper than mere animal attraction.

The book maintains a high level of suspense all the way through. The story unfolds slowly, revealing not only secrets of Lily's past and the exotic culture of the lupi, but a dire threat of dark gods on the brink of finding a way from their own realm into our own.

309 pages, very jam packed. Excerpt at the end shows a sequel with the same main characters of Lily and Rule.

TEMPTING DANGER is apparently an expansion of the novella "Only Human" (LOVER BEWARE anthology), but I was not aware of this when I picked it up. I don't feel like I missed anything by not reading "Only Human" first, and I think other new readers will be able to start with TEMPTING DANGER as well.

Lily Yu is a homicide detective in San Diego-but this is a world in which werewolves are open about their existence and laws to control them are in contention. Lily's latest case appears to be a werewolf murder...and the victim's wife was known to be keeping company with werewolf prince, or Lu Nuncio, Rule Turner, at the werewolf bar right down the street from the crime scene. Once Rule is eliminated (mostly) as a suspect, he offers to be Lily's expert consultants on werewolves.

The case gets complicated by corrupt cops, FBI involvement, sorcery, and other werewolf factions, but the biggest complication is that the Lady, the werewolves' deity, chooses Lily to be Rule's mate. They barely know each other, aren't even sure they like each other, but they are pulled to one another by a psychic bond that won't let them put physical distance between themselves, and so they are forced to learn to deal with each other and the attraction they would like nothing better to do than deny.

We also meet a variety of fascinating secondary characters: Cullen Seaborne, who as a sorcerer and a werewolf is considered a dangerous anomaly, Rule's father and brothers, the FBI agents, Lily's grandmother (who has her own secrets), and Lily's cranky, dominant cat, Dirty Harry.

As a series, the world Ms. Wilks has created is compelling. Lily and Rule don't solve all their issues, or even the initial crime that drew them together, so as the series goes on, readers will delve deeper and deeper into both the mystery and the relationship. I'm looking forward to reading MORTAL DANGER, to see more of Lily and Rule and their fascinating world. I get the feeling MORTAL DANGER will also leave me wanting more. TEMPTING DANGER gets 4/5 stars-and I have an addicting new author on my auto-buy list.

"Tempting Danger" is an alternate present-day romance, where some people have variety of magical powers. The leaing lady, L--, can sense magic in anything she touches. A police detective, she is brought in to investigate a rather icky murder case. The obvious suspect is R--, a handsome werewolf to whom L-- is immediately drawn.

This is a fast paced, fun novel with surprises and passion. R-- is masculine enough to engage your sympathy; L-- is strong without slipping into radical feminism. Background details draw you in nicely, like L--'s chinese heritage. Other details (like the nearly missing "world description") are left extremely vague, which is slightly annoying yet typically can be overlooked. My biggest problem with this novel is that the opening scene has a really yucky and explicit description of the murder victim. This may offend sensitive readers.

Overall, a fun & fast read, a pleasant story for a lazy afternoon.

Lily Yu is a twenty-eight year old homicide detective, and she has a secret--she's a Sensitive. When she touches people, she can feel magic. In the beginning of the book, Lily is called to the scene of a murder, and she immediately realizes this is not your ordinary crime scene. The victim appears to have been attacked and killed--by a werewolf, or lupus.

During the course of her investigation, she is introduced to the handsome and charismatic lupi prince, Rule Turner. Despite her unwillingness to be drawn in by his charm, she finds she can't help herself. Rule is likewise drawn to Lily and quickly realizes there is much more between them than just passion. But Lily has secrets of her own which prevent her from opening up to just anyone (not to mention the fact that Rule is a lupus), and Rule, too, is not exactly an open book. Readers will quickly realize their relationship is going to be complicated.

Rule and Lily begin to investigate the murders together, and their blossoming relationship is put to the test when Rule becomes the prime suspect by one of Lily's fellow officers.

There is much more to the plot than just murder--there's the lupi world, Lily's own past, federal agents, sorcerers, Lily's wise grandmother, gnomes, and dark magic.

I enjoyed this book very much. I did become rather frustrated at times, because much was insinuated and hinted at about Lily's past, but nothing was truly revealed until much later in the book. This kept me from feeling as though I knew and understood her. I found it frustrating to be held at a distance from the main character I assumedly should like. Therefore, it was difficult for me to determine whether or not I actually LIKED Lily. However, her actions were enough to demonstrate she is an honest, complicated, tough, independent, and stubborn woman who will never be content to sit at home while the boyfriend goes out and takes care of the bad guys. I liked that about her, and I imagine a lot of readers will, too.

I will be looking forward to reading more about Lily and Rule. The next book, MORTAL DANGER, is out now. Eileen Wilks also has a third book, BLOODLINES, due out in January 2007. All in all, this was a good book, and I recommend it to fans of the paranormal genre.

San Diego Police Detective Lily Yu sees the mangled corpse of a big victim who seemed to know how to defend himself, but was ripped apart anyway. She realizes that this is no ordinary killer. Evidence points towards the Nokolai werewolf clan's Prince Rule Turner.

When someone viciously assaults his father, the clan leader, Rule concludes he can no longer let the officials investigate the murders that make him the prime suspect. He is fortunate that the lead police investigator is not only open-minded, but smells a frame. Lily and Rule team up to try to stop a Lupi serial killer from murdering more innocent people, but neither realized that their partner is their lifemate though both feel the attraction from the start.

Talk about living dangerously, Eileen Wilks takes her novella "Only Human" from the terrific paranormal romance anthology LOVER BEWARE and lengthens it into a fantastic full length novel. The story line contains all the excitement and more as readers gain a greater understanding of the werewolf species and insight into the lead couple. Lily and Rule are a fabulous pairing who must first weed out a rogue killer before they can explore their feelings. Ms. Wilks takes a chance and readers are the winners.

Harriet Klausner

If you are familiar with Christine Feehan's soulmates or Katie Macalister's Beloveds, you'll find this book's concept familiar. However, instead of vampire's mate, this heroine finds herself to be a werewolf's Chosen.

Mostly, this book tracks Laurell Hamilton's series: the modern-day world openly acknowledges the supernatural. The supernatural creatures' rights were given through a Supreme Court case. In this case, the petite dark-haired heroine is a homicide detective instead of a private detective; however, like Anita Blake, Lily Yu - originally working only with the local lawkeepers - quickly finds herself recruited by the federal government. Lily also has a special magical ability that gives her a certain amount of immunity when dealing with magic-wielding foes.

The heroine must solve preternatural serial murders that implicate a church wherein the congregants worship a demon. In doing so, she faces gender discrimination and combats the mind control imposed on fellow officers by the church's leaders. In the end, Lily solves the crime, killing at least one of the bad guys. Another bad guy gets away with a powerful magical weapon, setting up the villian for the next book. It was interesting to see this author's spin on the familiar plotline.

Ms. Wilks has penned a very entertaining book that combines suspense, romance, and the sub genre of the paranormal into a fast paced read that many fans of this genre will enjoy.

Lily Yu is a cop that has taken on the task of finding who is murdering local citizens in a most gruesome fashion, and why. This would not be such an unusual thing for a homicide detective except for the fact that it looks as though werewolves may be the problem. Especially when the killer looks as though he is the prince of the clan Nokolai, Rule Turner. If that is not enough, Lily now finds herself drawn to the dark good-looking Rule, this cannot be a good thing. Little does she know she has been the chosen mate for Rule and there is nothing she can do about it...unless she wants to turn her back on her heart.

Together Rule and Lily investigate the killings and through investigating, finds that the killer may just be a cop and one that Lily is working with. Why is the killer trying to make the murders look as if a werewolf committed them and why? Now it's a race against time and a killer who may just be magical in it's own way.

This was a fast paced read. There were at times moments when the read was not totally fluid and I felt as if I had missed something in a previous paragraph but for the most part this was few and far between. Ms. Wilks make believe world was highly entertaining and Rule and Lily are not your normal hero and heroine. As a result the reader of this book is in for a treat.

Official Reviewer for [...]

I really appreciated all the detail Ms. Wilks put in to the creation of a different werewolf world/legend. I was left very satisfied that no loose ends were hanging (aside from the fact that I knew there was a sequel, she still tied everything up nicely). The characters were relatable and there was depth to the secondary characters --- always a plus, in my opinion. I liked that our heroine, Lily, didn't just fall head over heels for the whole "chosen" deal. I know I would've had some serious issues with it and I imagine any thinking-with-her-head-not-the-rest-of-her-anatomy woman would. Ms. Wilks did a great job making the romance spicy but believeable. I enjoy paranormal fiction, romance especially, and this is an excellent example of the genre. Another very different example is Derik's Bane by MaryJanice Davidson. (It's a hoot without some of the snideness she seems to add so liberally in her latest books and stories.)

I thought it was a great story with very interesting characters. Lily is an Asian-American Detective and Rule is the "Prince" of the local werewolf tribe. They're brought together to solve a murder that seems to be caused by a group trying to frame Rule and ultimately destroy all werewolves. Rule and Lily are actually "Chosen." Apparently this is something that rarely happens in the werewolf community, where the "Lady" herself chooses mates for each other.

The story is a sweet romance with lots of action to boot. My only complant was that I found a few slow parts that were difficult to follow what they were talking about.

This is pretty much your run-of-the-mill paranormal romance. Lily is human, for the most part. She does have some psychic powers. Rule is not only a werewolf, he's the prince of the local dominant pack. Of course, sparks fly, and angst ensues.

There is one major flaw. I felt that you're thrown into the story a bit suddenly. The book opens with the murder scene, and there you are in the middle of everything with very little world-building. It took me several chapters to feel like I had a handle on the world and its various creatures and politics. I was so confused I actually checked to make sure this was indeed the first book in the series. This meant it took me that much longer to connect with the characters.

Overall, it wasn't a bad read, it just could have been better. I'm sure I'll read more in the series.

The book started out really, really slow. Until I got about 1/2 through the book. After that everything feel into place, and the plot took off like a racehorse.

I only slowed down enough to buy the other two books next day delivery. If your tired of your current favorite author give this lady a try. Theres more twists and turns than a rollercoaster.

The author knows how to string you along until you want to scream.

The only problem that I saw was a really slow beginning and when things really go going, it ended too soon..

I have been waiting for this book since her novella in Cravings and I have to say for the most part, I am happy about the results. That novella was my favorite of the originals in Cravings.

It is definitely a fast paced read. I think the story line, the romance, the soul mates aspect (which was a favorite of mine), the mixture of preternatural; all of it was a good mix. I do however think she could have spent more time flushing it all out. I felt she left some details that would have been nice to see out. It almost made it feel incomplete.

Will I continue the series? I can't wait, so yes. Rule and Lily you can't help but love not to mention the array of others involved. Are they rereadable to me? No. I will only read Tempting danger one time, maybe skim through it when Mortal Danger come out, but other than that, I am trough with it.

Very good. Minus 1/2 star because of the frustrating occurrences where scenes were abruptly stopped; I felt some key scenes were omitted all together and that the book could've benefited if they were added to the story and not just paraphrased or glossed-over. Overall I really enjoyed the book. I loved the interactions between Rule and Dirty Harry the cat! Too cute. I liked Ms. Wilks premise on the whole fated-to-be-mated theme, too. I highly recommend this to all PNR fans.

In most supernatural stories, the author clearly describes the universe. For example, it could be just like this one, except there are vampires. In this novel, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the world in general, and the characters in particular.

That said, the action is enjoyable, the characters are interesting, the writing alternates between descriptive and direct, and it makes you want to read more. Luckily, there are at least three other novels in the World of the Lupi, which will hopefully be as good as the first.

I have never cared much for novels that involve "alternate realities". By alternate reality, I mean that the book involves the paranormal/supernatural in everyday life. The characters are fully aware that creatures such as werewolves and magic exist; the world in the novel now excepts such oddities as being normal. However, once I began to read this book, I couldn't put it down. It drew me into a fantasy world, which the author has flawlessly created. The novel is filled with suspense and romance. I can not wait until the sequel.

I won't explain the plot of the novel, since others on here have. But, if you enjoy suspense, romance (especially the concept of "soulmates"), and the supernatural, then this book is for you. I promise that you will love it!

If you enjoy one of the alternate now books - the urban fantasy style, you will love this series. Has great characters and each book gives new surprises. The world just keeps getting more interesting. Oh and as someone who likes some romance in their books - this was a gorgeous one. LOVE!

i really liked this book. the people in it "came" alive for me.

it was all the important thing a book should have, danger, romance, family, suspense, and plot twists just to keep you guessing. in this book, expect the unexpected.

with three book in the series i found that it is necessary to read them in order (don't do as i do).

pick the up, read them and tell us what you think.

I loved the novella from which this novel developed. But I have mixed feelings about this. Like others have pointed out, there are several similarities to other series. But the most striking one for me was the resemblance to Nora Roberts's In Death series. We get a Lily Yu who feels a lot like Eve Dallas, Rule has similarities to Roarke's personalty, he pursues Lily rather than the other way, just like Roarke, and to cap it all, Lily has had a traumatic sexual abuse experience as a child that results in nightmares. The sequel even opens with Rule's annoyance with the fact that Lily refuses to move in with him despite the nightmares (again, Roarke and Eve's dynamic.)

I'm hoping Ms.Wilkes's series establishes its own ground soon.

Tempting Danger takes you into a world of supernatural mystery that has a good balance of both aspects. You don't get all the information all at once, you have to follow he story which allows you time to try to solve the puzzle yourself. All-in-all, a fun read.

I think reading the novella first in "Lover Beware" ruined this book for me b/c the Ms. Wilks changed the story in this book. Also, the book was slow and had too many twist. I didn't even finish the book. I was bored, and donated it to the library. The same was true for "Mortal Danger", the sequel. I can't explain it, but it was boring and just too slow for me.

Eileen Wilks has written a magical combination of elements (pun intended) in this book. She's combined a great cast of believable characters with a writing style that flows so smoothly that you don't see the Danger until it's too late - you've lost an entire day of your life because you couldn't put it down!