I love winter. The crispy air, the white snow, the holidays, the works. I love it. But not in the city. Winter in the city is bloody awful. Snow turns to sludge, rain turns to ice and your legs turn to jello. It is windy, cold, wet and crowded.
That is why every single year I debate between staying inside till spring comes over or moving my ass to the mountains where you can have a proper winter. The one where you can stay in a cabin in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate or tea, fresh cake, warm comfort food and watch the mountain peaks and the trees covered in snow. There winter is at its best.
You need a book or three on the side and this is where Mrs Molly Harper comes in. I read her first book, 'Nice girls don't have fangs' almost ten years ago. It was about a vampire librarian and since being a librarian was always sort of thing for me, I became slightly addicted to her books. Meaning I read each one of them.
The ones that I love reading during winter time are the 'Naked werewolf series'. It has three books, all about a werewolf clan who lives in a remote town in Alaska.
The first book is called 'How to flirt with a naked werewolf'. Here Mo, a young woman raised by hippie vegan parents moves out of her house in the middle of the night and drives all the way to Grundy, Alaska to try to live without her mother's constant chaperoning for once. Being close to one's mother is fine when you are teenager but when you are in your late twenties and she comes uninvited into your house and reorganize your fridge, calls your doctors or your boss, you need a break, even if that means moving to where the Hell freezes over. Mo is smart, bullshit resistant and knows how to cook. All these marvelous traits help her adjust quite rapidly into the tiny city of Grundy where spring comes in June and goes away in August. Almost from the start comes into the scene Cooper Graham, a snarky very attractive man who occasionally grows fur and howls at the moon. Romance, mystery and everything needed for a relaxing winter evening. Plus all that food that is being mentioned there makes me want to start baking or at least eating a lot of cake.
If you thought Mo is a woman with an attitude, in the second book called 'The art of seducing a naked werewolf' you get to know Maggie, Copper's sister, a little better.
Apparently werewolves mate for life and the mating claim is being done through a bite. However, biting one's chosen in the ass is not a normal or proper way to do it, but this does not stop Maggie, the new Alpha in the Valley. Her mouthy attitude is being put to test by researcher Nick Thatcher, an avid folklore collector who came to Grundy to see if the werewolves are real and now has no idea he is walking and living among them. Maggie gets the task to convince Nick that his ideas are ludicrous, werewolves are fairy tales characters and he'll be better be on his way out of there, but he is a rather tough guy to handle and a proper match to her stubborn character. With cute glasses, Nordic physique and lots of brains he cuts through her armor like knife through butter.
The last book, till now anyway, is called 'How to run with a naked werewolf'. Despite all the nakedness in the book titles, the characters wear clothes 90% of the time. In this book the main character is the clan's doctor, Anna Moder, who's real name is Tina, who is on the run from her psychotic husband. In her rush to get a new identity she stumbles upon Caleb Graham, a werewolf bounty hunter and cousin to Maggie and Cooper, whom she never met in her time in the Valley.
He gets shot during a rough discussion behind the supermarket where she works, and the same guy who shot him blows her car, leaving her stranded with no car and documents but with a bleeding Caleb. Once he recovers he insists to drive her to her destination while she helps him with his jobs on the road. They both keep their secrets close to heart while driving through whole Alaska and sharing way too many single bed motel rooms. Her traumatic past and his carefully hidden furry condition come to light in the most inappropriate moment but this is what makes the book so much fun.
An easy reading, something for the holidays.
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