The Better to Kiss You With

This short romance novel, which combines actual werewolves with online role-playing games, can’t quite figure out who its audience is supposed to be. The few realistically tender and passionate sex scenes are appealing, but there’s nothing supernatural in them, which may be a disappointment to werewolf fans, nor is there enough geekiness in the story to satisfy the gamers. Deanna Scott, moderator of the online game Wolf’s Run, is being stalked by someone using the handle crywolf, who insists that he is a real werewolf and that the game is an insult. He sends her photos that seem to have a connection to the blood that her golden retriever, Arthur, finds in the woods. Arthur and Deanna’s new upstairs neighbor, Jamie Martineau, has shape-shifting abilities and family connections that may be helpful when crywolf threatens violence at a Wolf’s Run gamer event. She’s also very attracted to Deanna, and vice versa. Osgood’s debut doesn’t communicate her themes well, and the plot feels like filler; her erotic writing would work better in a more focused and mundane environment. (Apr.)