Paranormal romances include stories about witches, vampires, were—did you think I was going to say werewolves? If you think the only animal form to take is that of a wolf, then you haven’t been keeping up with those sexy shapehifters.
Sara Humphreys brings us a vast collection of animal shifters in her Amoveo series, including lions, tigers, panthers, coyotes, foxes, bears, eagles, and gyrfalcon. In fact, wolf shifters are nearly extinct. In Untouched, sexy bodyguard Dante Coltare is a fox! No, really—he turns into a fox. He has just met his mate, model Kerry Smithson, who is as beautiful and graceful as her inner black panther. Humphreys's latest short story, Undenied, introduces Boris, a Bengal tiger. Rrrowrr!
In some stories, werewolves are insane and dangerous creatures. In Rebecca Zanetti’s Dark Protector series, Consumed gives us an indepth look at mountain lion shifters Jordan Pride and Katie Smith. They have spent decades dancing delicately around the feelings they have for each other. But now both of them have been infected by with a man-made virus that will turn them into mindless werewolf slaves—unless they find a cure by the next full moon.
One of Thea Harrison’s Elder Races is the Wyr. Harrison’s Wyrs consists of various dogs, wolves, lions, tigers, birds, but truly the Wyr encompasses any being who can change into another species. Some of these Wyr explain those creatures we once believed were only mythical. Many of these Wyr are as old as time and they have been worshiped as gods over the centuries.
There is no question that the oldest and most powerful is the Lord of Wyr, Dragos Cuelebre. Dragos is a very powerful dragon who lives in Cuelebre Towers in the heart of NYC, and is so old he was “born” in the creation of the earth. His new mate Pia is a Wyr so rare she is thought of as a myth even to the Wyr themselves. Dragos and his Wyr Sentinels, including his gryphons, gargoyles, even a harpie, protect the Wyr in his demesne. As her upcoming novel Lord’s Fall begins, NYC is gearing up for the Sentinel Games and all the Wyr are coming to fight, gladiator-style, for the honor to be among Drago’s new guardian Sentinels.
One of the hottest black panthers around has to be Kerrelyn Sparks’s Carlos Panterra. Carlos might all be sleek and sexy, but the man you really want to cuddle up to is Wild About You’s Howard Barr. He’s a were-bear that you just want a wrap your arms around. But if you want Howard as your own honey-bear, you better hurry before he gets his claws into TV’s Goddess of Home Improvement, Elsa Bjornberg.
More were-bears include the Peltiers at Sanctuary in New Orleans, part of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series. They are all gorgeous and cuddly, but big brother Dev Peltier shows No Mercy to anyone who tries to make a move on little sister, Aimee.
Paranormals romances have come a long way and while Werewolves might not have stopped howling at the moon, they are not the only Weres out there.
Which were-what?s have you liked lately?
Lucy Dosch writes book reviews for her blog http://ebookobsessed.com. Her e-reader has turned her love of reading into an obsession. When she is not reading, she likes to spend time with her husband and two daughters.
