Pack of Lies

Adhara (the Big Bad Wolf series) launches her Monster Hunt series with an uneven erotic paranormal romance centered on an endearingly fumbling relationship that gets unfortunately overshadowed by an uninspired mystery. Movie star Julien Doran hopes to get some closure around his monster-hunting brother’s death by following his secret notes to dilapidated Maudit Falls, N.C., where the local cryptid, Sweet Pea, has been making increasingly frequent appearances. Glamorous and sardonic werewolf Eli Smith hopes to establish a safe house for fellow wolf pack runaways, though he worries both about a powerful local alpha and the necessity of keeping his wolves secret from the town’s humans. Eli is suspicious—and attracted—when Julien starts poking around. When a dead body turns up, Julien and Eli’s mutual interest in investigating puts them in close quarters appealing enough for Julien to brave his inexperience with men and Eli to respond enthusiastically despite his fear of being discovered. Adhara grounds the romantic tension in the fraught dynamic of simultaneously pursuing intimacy while keeping secrets as both men express wary tenderness and bring their quirks to bear in wonderfully idiosyncratic sex scenes. The murder plot slogs in comparison, with unconvincing motivations all around. Still, there’s enough charm here that readers will be eager to see where the series goes. (Sept.)