There are three things
that Dr. Briony Theale loves. Her job as a veterinarian, a good bar of
rich, dark chocolate, and Rico, the new ranger in charge of the Wildlife
Rescue center. When a casual dinner with the mysterious Rico turns
surprisingly intimate, Briony realizes that she might just have a chance
with him after all, if only she could lose a few pounds. It's the
ultimate sacrifice, but Briony goes cold turkey, and swears off
chocolate forever.
Rico Montgomery fell hard for Briony the first
time he set eyes on the curvy little doctor. Her brown hair and cocoa
skin trigger cravings that he can barely control, and her fragrance is
like the sweetest, richest chocolate he's ever scented in his life.
That's a bad thing for Rico, because to a werewolf like him, chocolate
is literally a toxin.
Rico can't live with it, and Briony can't
live without it. And when a certain wandering wolf finds a bag of
chocolate in the Dumpster near Briony's clinic, these two will find just
how toxic love can be.
This an excellent paranormal read with a
plot well balanced between action and romance. [Although this is listed as the
first of the Truckee Pack book they have appeared in two previous short
stories. They have a cameo in Educating
Evangeline from Doms of Dark Haven and Hunting Holly from Doms of Dark Haven 2
is centered on three members of the Truckee pack. Chronologically it appears that Toxic takes
place between the two short stories.] Some serious world building goes on as we
see the pack up close for the first time.
The hero is Rico, a ranger, wildlife
biologist, volunteer at the Wildlife Sanctuary, wolf shifter and a member of
the Truckee pack. Of course he has issues [who doesn’t?] partly due to being
raised by humans with no knowledge of shifters, and partly due to his intense
attraction to the heroine, Dr. BrionyA Theale, a vet who also volunteers at the
Wildlife Sanctuary. Biggest issue? He’s obsessed with the little human who
smells and tastes like chocolate, and chocolate is very, very bad for dogs…
The heroine is Briony the vet. She lusts after the hunky ranger but knows
he’ll never be interested in her. After all, she’s the poster child for ethnic
diversity and her chocolate addiction has given her some serious curves. And
that’s without including her dangerous family and their even more dangerous
secrets. And then he kisses her.
Deciding the first step in pursuing Rick
is losing the chocolate she tosses it.
Rick [in wolf form] ends up eating the chocolate, triggering a major
case of chocolate toxicosis. Briony takes in the obviously ill huge black dog
[who really looks like a wolf but everyone knows there aren’t any wolves in California]
and cares for him. Rick eventually shifts and takes her and marks her – then
runs off into the night still half-crazed and seriously ill. Briony eventually
wakes up from what she thinks was a really hot dream to find the marks, but no
Rick and no sick dog. Could the shifting thing be real?
Now things get even more complicated,
she’s kidnapped and threatened by the pack [they think she had something to do
with Rick’s disappearance] and her mother steps in to find her daughter. One
woman against an entire pack of wolves? Put your money on mom…
The mom is really what put this story
over the top for me. There’s nothing I
can say that wouldn’t be a spoiler so I’ll just leave it but I can’t wait to
hear more. There are depths to be
examined and future possibilities that have been hinted at. Blatant hint to
author: hope she gets her own story!
Rico and Briony resolve their story but
the author has laid down many threads for possible future stories.
According to the author’s site a related
story ‘Cry, Wolf’ is scheduled…
I will definitely continue to pursue
this series.
I received this ARC from NetGalley…
+copy.jpg)
