In the third Roaring Twenties novel, proper English werewolf Gillian Maitland Delvaux sails across the Atlantic to New York City in search of her runaway son. Toby, just eleven years old, is searching for the father he’s never known.
Ross Kavanaugh met Gillian during the Great War, and they fell in love. Then she left him without an explanation. As part werewolf, he can’t shift into a wolf, so he thought she didn’t consider him good enough. Now an ex-cop, he’s lost his reputation, his job, and most of his friends after he’s accused of murder. He never expected a little boy to track him down or to see Gillian again. Though he’s furious and hurt that Gillian never told him about their son, he understands why she didn’t. After all, he was right—she doesn’t believe he was good enough for her. But Toby and Gillian’s brother, Hugh, see the attraction still between Ross and Gillian, and they do everything possible to bring the unlikely lovers back together.
Ross is amazing! He’s been through such a horrible time and his self-esteem is about shattered. He quickly falls head over heels for his son, but he has nothing to offer the boy. He still loves Gillian, despite the way she’d treated him, but he often questions her ability to be a good parent (as he should).
I didn’t like Gillian at all, but I felt sorry for her. She acted like a strong woman and a good mother when she wasn’t around her cruel father, but her strength sometimes seemed like bullying. Even though she loves her son, she’s been brainwashed into believing werewolf bloodlines should be pure (no human blood) and that her only purpose in life was to give birth to full-blooded pups. It took her forever to realize her father was wrong and that marrying a Nazi werewolf who hates her son was a bad idea.
Despite my dislike of the heroine, I enjoyed the story for Ross, Toby, and Hugh. There were several villains in the book, but Ethan and his mother were the most tragic ones. There were more sex scenes in this book than in the previous two, but the romance between the H/h was often strained. Of the three books, this one is the most emotional and heart wrenching, with book two being a close second.
4 Stars
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This urban fantasy from 2009 hits a lot of the major romance tropes. First of all, it is a secret baby story. Gillian Maitland met Ross Kavanaugh while nursing during World War I. They had a brief affair, but she broke it off when she learned that he was only one-quarter werewolf and unable to shift. Gillian had been brainwashed by her father that only a full werewolf was an acceptable mate in order to keep the bloodlines pure.

The second trope is that this is a paranormal romance. Werewolves are the creatures featured. Gillian's father Sir Avery is planning to hold a Convocation of European werewolves. He wants to find an acceptable, purebred mate for Gillian. However, Gillian's son wants to find his father and hops an ocean liner to New York to meet him. Ross didn't know about Toby and Toby found him by snooping in his mother's diary.

Toby and Gillian's brother trick Ross into returning to England with them hoping that he can save Gillian from following the path her father has dictated for her life.

Of course, the third trope is the Big Misunderstanding which causes Gillian and Ross not to trust each other. The villain of the piece does all he can to continue the confusion since he wants Gillian for himself and Ross out of the picture or dead.

This was an interesting title that went on a bit longer than it would have needed to, in my opinion. I could have done with less of the werewolf politics though I didn't like the reference to Hitlet that made its way into the story. I also thought that the misunderstanding went on too long with Gillian waffling between following her heart or following her father's dictates.

Fans of werewolf paranormals would enjoy this one. ( )