Sherrilyn Kenyon's books are so popular -and pre-release info about them at such a premium - that we media types were sworn to double-secret secrecy about sharing deets until today about "Bad Moon Rising (Dark-Hunter Series) " (BMR). It's Kenyon's kickin' new paranormal that tells the tale of passion and betrayal, ambition and intrigue -- and the timeless love story of sweet-yet-conflicted attraction between a, uh, wolf and, um, a bear.
Wolfs are about as virile alpha as shape-shifting heroes come, and Kenyon's lycan pack of hotties have moved in and out of her Dark Hunter series for years. The hero of BMR, Fang Kattalakis is more than just lycan, his two bros are members of a powerful council that rules his kind.
Sorta makes him royalty, with the attendant responsibilities and condescension. Until he saves the life of cajones-bustin'-and-beautiful Aimee Peltier in a brawl at her folks' famous New Orleans gin joint, Sanctuary, a kind of neutral haven for shape-shifting folks looking for a nice piece of meat - and a raw patch of rough ‘n tumble.
Problem with Fang's whole knight in furry armor deal is that Aimee and her peeps are bears, enemies of wolves. Yet Fang and Aimee find each other pretty attractive, rather than stinking piles of repulsive fur - the usual reaction of the wolf and bear groups to one another. So you can imagine the kinds of plot confict their relationship'll bring up for all the characters in the tome
- and how it may affect their ability to fight off daimons, those soulless bad dudes who wreck havoc through Kenyon's Dark Hunter series.
"Bad Moon Rising" marks a bit of a change in direction for the Dark Hunter novels which usually feature alpha vampire heroes as attractive in bod as in character. But Kenyon says the were/bear plot arc's been around the books for awhile. "It's one we've been working up to and it continues what was set up in ‘One Silent Night,' ‘Dream Warrior' and ‘Shadow of the Moon.' As for Fang and Aimee's story, it's what I knew would happen from the moment they first met."
And I, like the rest of her fans, have been dying for their hook up, because not only do Kenyon's heroes rock, but her heroines also are totally admirable. Kenyon thinks it's because readers can identify with them. "They're real women with real problems and concerns," says Kenyon. "They aren't perfect and like all the rest of us, they have lives that aren't easy. Most of all, they're not cookie-cutter or one dimensional."
And boy, oh, wolfboy, do we chicks dig Kenyon's quasi-human men. Her novels are known for them, her websites are populated by them and her fans worldwide can't get enough of them, especially the ones that aren't entirely human - the heroes, I mean, not the readers. Says Kenyon, "I've been told that all of my male leads and most of the secondaries are hot, regardless of their origins. But I think people are drawn to shapeshifters because of the power and the intrinsic sexuality of the characters."
Shapeshifters certainly are popular in general, but Kenyon's characters have something I think makes them resonate with readers worldwide: Character. The paranormal and human folk who populate her novels and walk in the light are class acts, regardless of how they dress, talk or carry themselves.
And that's Kenyon in a nutshell: Accessible, fascinating, empathetic and always, always a class act.
What do you love about Kenyon's novels? Which are your faves? Why areshapeshifters such appealing characters?
Visit Sherrilyn at BN Center Stage next week! Click here to check out more on untamed, wild-at-heart heroes in Eloisa James' BN Review column, "Alpha Allure!"
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