Book Review: Wilder’s Mate by Moira Rogers

Title: Wilder’s Mate
Series: Bloodhounds, Book 1
Author: Moira Rogers
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Steampunk, Western
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: personal shelf
Published: March 8, 2011 by Samhain Publishing

Wilder Harding is a bloodhound, created by the Guild to hunt down and kill vampires on America’s frontier. His enhanced abilities come with a high price: on the full moon, he becomes capable of savagery beyond telling, while the new moon brings a sexual hunger that borders on madness.

Rescuing a weapons inventor from undead kidnappers is just another assignment, though one with an added complication—keeping his hands off the man’s pretty young apprentice, who insists on tagging along.

At odds with polite society, Satira’s only constant has been the aging weapons inventor who treats her like a daughter. She isn’t going to trust Wilder with Nathaniel’s life, not when the Guild might decide the old man isn’t worth saving. Besides, if there’s one thing she’s learned, it’s that brains are more important than brawn.

As the search stretches far longer than Wilder planned, he finds himself fighting against time. If Satira is still at his side when the new moon comes, nothing will stop him from claiming her. Worse, she seems all too willing. If their passion unlocks the beast inside, no one will be safe. Not even the man they’re fighting to save.

Warning: This book contains a crude, gun-slinging, vampire-hunting hero who howls at the full moon and a smart, stubborn heroine who invents mad-scientist weapons. Also included: wild frontier adventures, brothels, danger, betrayal and a good dose of wicked loving in an alternate Wild West.

Reviewed By: Babs

In a Nutshell: Great story and writing like Southern Arcana and Beyond series. I enjoyed this book a lot and look forward to the rest of the series.

Why I Read This Book: I’ve read the Southern Arcana series and the Beyond series by these authors and really liked them. When Wilder’s Mate was offered for free, I jumped on the chance to read and downloaded it right away. I was intrigued by the combination of sub-genres—Western, steampunk, paranormal.

What I Liked: Circumstances force Wilder and Satira together. He arrived at Satira’s home to help with a search and she refuses to be left behind. I like that Satira was spunky and didn’t shy away from Wilder’s nature. Wilder and Satira definitely had incredible chemistry. The sexy times were intense and hot.

I like that Satira wasn’t a “stereotypical” historical heroine, insisting on accompanying Wilder out of sheer stubbornness rather than any ability to help with the search. She genuinely had skills she thought would help on the search/rescue and knew she would be useful.

The world-building for this series stands-out to me. I'm just dipping my toes into steampunk and haven’t encountered this combination of characters and settings. Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series may be close with steampunk and paranormal but it doesn’t have the Western setting. I think the authors successfully combine these different elements.

I also liked the secondary characters—Ophelia and Nathaniel. Along with the introduction of Archer and Hunter. I’m a fan of series and there’s definitely a good setup for more books.

Overall Impression: I enjoyed this story, the world, and the characters a lot. I think it’s a nice start to a new series. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Bab’s Rating:

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