Gemma Cates, $0.99, ISBN 978-1393619277
Fantasy, 2021

Gemma Cates’s A Touch of Wild is part of a series called the Van Helsing Sisters Adventures, and a quick look at the series suggests that each entry is about a different sister. That’s nice, as this means I’d be getting stories that are hopefully on point and won’t eventually be bogged down by love triangles or how the heroine becomes an overpowered special snowflake in charge of a pack, a coven, a triad, and more.

So, this one is about hard-boiled, no-nonsense Mariah Van Helsing getting annoyed that her guild leader Rafe sent a werewolf dude, Barrett Miller, to work with her on her latest assignment: to put the villainous werewolf Mark Jared out of commission. Mark happened to be BFFs with Barrett, although the latter claims that they are now no longer bros, more like foes.

Sure, he’s hot like every action hero of his kind tends to be, but she works alone. Besides, can she really trust this guy?

Then… the author has Barrett confront and kill Jared off-screen, leaving Mariah to basically just being the prop that diddled herself twice because the guy is so, so hot—Barett, that is, not Jared—only to then basically do nothing else of use.

What is this?

Wait, let me rephrase that: whom is this story for? There is no exciting urban fantasy action, no payoff to any sexual tension built up here, nothing aside from Mariah touching herself and then realizing that the party has taken place without her–and hence the reader—realizing it.

Maybe this one is for people that want to read about a woman playing with herself down there?

The whole thing starts out pretty well, too, so it’s a jab in the eye when the author acts like she got bored shortly into the story and dropped a dumb and abrupt ending, only to decide to sell it anyway because why not.

Really though, if the author needed $0.99 that bad, I’d happily send her the money via PayPal or something. There’s no need to be this insulting!