Wolf at the Door

Wyndham Werewolf #7

by MaryJanice Davidson

The howlingly good spin-off of the Undead series from the New York Times bestselling author. Rachel, a werewolf/accountant, is asked to keep one eye on Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor and the other peeled for a rogue werewolf who's itching to start a war. But her attention is mostly on a sexy, mysterious stranger she wishes she could trust.

Genres: Romance, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy, Werewolves, Vampires, Fiction

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 4, 2011

About the author

MaryJanice Davidson is an American author and motivational speaker who writes mostly paranormal romance, but also young adult and non-fiction. She is the creator of the popular UNDEAD series and the time-traveling historical fiction A CONTEMPORARY ASSHAT AT THE COURT OF HENRY VIII. MaryJanice is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author who writes a bi-weekly column for USA Today and lives in St. Paul with her family. You can reach her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

www.maryjanicedavidson.org
@MaryJaniceD

MaryJanice's Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/maryjanicedav...

http://us.macmillan.com/author/maryja...

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

MaryJanice Davidson is always a good bet when it comes to humor, romance and a great story!

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure this book knew what it wanted to be when it grew up and got printed.

[Alkalinemeow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have rated this 3.5 but I didn't have that option and my fondness for the author led me to round up. This book is a good example of what MaryJanice Davidson does best and also where she struggles the most. Those who are a fan of her other work will be happy to note that Queen Betsy and her gang are present in this book, and for those of you upset by the actions of one of the main characters in her book Undead and Undermined will be happy to note his appearance in this book. The male lead in this story, I would struggle to call him the hero, is funny, quirky and I found myself really enjoying the rambling of his thoughts. This is an example of what MaryJanice Davidson does really well, creating silly, quiky, and enduring character that we end up liking and caring for almost despite ourselves. I also found myself liking the heroine but felt she was not as three dementional as the male lead. Again, this book showcases some of the problems that have plagued the queen Betsy series and that is a strong begining and middle with a rushed ending that has the reader struggling to connect the dots in time for the book conclusion. But I have come to expect this and will assume that some of the things that were not answered or left unfinished in this book will be answered in the upcoming Queen Betsy book, as is custom with MaryJanice's style. Also, while this book is listed as being apart of the werewolf series, I think that readers who are unfamiliar with the Queen Betsy series will struggle with this one if they have only read the other werewolf books. I think this book would have been a lot less enjoyable for me as a reader if I was reading it as a stand alone novel and not as a part of both the Wyndom Werewold and Queen Betsy series.

[Saidah Gilbert · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I finished MaryJanice Davidson's Undead series, I told myself not to read another one. I didn't like how the dialogue was written and all the contemporary details tended to make the book dated if you're not reading it in the year it's written. Yet, somehow I got this book. It was quite funny to read. It was as if I was watching some random sitcom on TV and just jumped straight into the middle of the series. You can still laugh at the jokes but you don't understand where the characters come from. I had a slight leg-up because I'd read the whole Undead series but this was the first Wyndham Werewolves book that I've read. Since I had fun reading the book, I'll give it two stars.

[Elizabeth]

DNF immediately

This authors style is not for me. Writing is trying too hard to be funny and just comes off as ridiculous

[Carmel (Rabid Reads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

In spite of all of the negative reviews that Wolf at the Door has been receiving I opted to give it a go. It is about werewolves after all! I should have listened to those who took the plunge before me. I really struggled with this book. The characters are annoying, the story is so simple that it's dull and the leading man couldn't be further from being sexy than an earthworm is. I hate writing negative reviews. I really, really tried to look on the bright side but it was like grasping at straws. Wolf at the Door didn't have any redeeming qualities and in the future I'm definitely going to hesitate reading another one of MaryJanice Davidson's novels.

Edward a.k.a. the male protagonist was one of the most irritating personalities that I've ever encountered in fiction. I wanted to strangle him at every turn. He's extremely hyper, overly feminine and obviously has never heard the expression "silence is golden". Edward never lets anyone else get a word in edgewise. Often times he's expressing his frustration regarding a lack of information when his entourage is filing in the blanks and he doesn't even realize that they've just told him the answer. He just keeps babbling for another 15 minutes before the light bulb goes on and then instead of shutting up he just takes off on another rant about something completely unrelated. Thinking back on it, I'd compare him to an un-medicated child with severe A.D.D. Wolf at the Door is shelved as Paranormal Romance but there's not even a smoking hot hero in it. Instead we get Edward the Star Wars loving accountant. I don't have anything against geeks. In fact, often times I'm drawn to them more than their athletic peers so I'm not biased. I was actually rooting for him to meet an untimely demise and preferably sooner rather than later. He would have made a nice snack for the Vampire Queen. This small tweak could have potentially made the book half decent!

The first 50 pages or so are a mess. I contemplated giving up right there and then. However, the only thing that I hate more than writing a negative review is giving a book a DNF (did not finish). So I did a couple of shots of tequila (no, not really but I was tempted) and pushed on. It does get marginally better. The beginning was a little too schizo for my liking but eventually the story does level out and there's some semblance of a plot line. Although, as I mentioned earlier, the story line itself leaves something to be desired. I can sum up the whole book in two sentences: "An audit goes terribly wrong, two accounts bone and everyone's on crack. The end." There was very little werewolf action either. A character shifts once. That's it. Sure, a few references are made to the pack and scents but overall I didn't find that the wolfish aspect added anything to the novel. Same deal with the vampires. Other than being informed that certain characters are indeed undead they don't actually do anything that's vamp-like. They're up and about during the day, we don't witness them drinking anything other than fruit smoothies, etc. Davidson's preternaturals are the most unparanormal characters that I've ever encountered. Which kinda of defeats the purpose in my opinion.

On the flip side, I find that negative reviews are very easy to write. I end up so mad at the book and the author for wasting my time that I need to vent. Therefor, I'm going to stop here before I say something really nasty and regret it later. I've heard good things about MaryJanice Davidson's Queen Betsy series and I may yet give it a try. As for her Wyndham Werewolves: never again.

[Lynda Tatad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Wyndham Werewolves series!

In this novel, Pack Leader Michael sends his cousin Rachael to St. Paul, Minnesota to keep an eye on the vampire queen Betsy Taylor (from the Undead series). Things have been a little unsettled (though calm) since the last werewolf (Antonia) had lost her life in service to Besty.

What I love about Rachael is that she's not your typical werewolf. She also happens to be an accountant, and the Pack liason in Minnesota sets her up to meet some clients while she's in town.
She's also a Beta wolf and not very dominant, normally.

In the meantime, there's another accountant visiting from out of town: Edward Batley, who just happens to be a roommate to a vampire comedian and a the famous vampire hunter Ghost (affectionately known as Boo to her friends). Edward is human. A flyer sent out in circuation by Betsy and friends actually talking about vampires out in the open, is what sent Edward to go investigate this vampire Queen and her evil minions!

The 2 accountants bump into each other at a bookstore & hit it off right away, and this is when things get fun in the story! This is classic MaryJanice Davidson at her finest! The conversations between these 2 is priceless and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the the things they say and think! I really like Edward and Rachael together!

It is also always fun to read from the POV of other characters when they meet Betsy for the first time! There's a murder mystery mixed in the plot, and a possible rogue werewolf trying to mess up the alliance with the Wyndham pack and the Minnesota vampires. This was a fun, fast paced read and I enjoyed it thoroughly! I definitely reccomend this to fans of the author's books! Very refreshing, especially after some of the disturbing events in Undead and Unfinished, and Undead and Undermined took some of the fun out of that series. I still have hope, though, that the future world Betsy and her sister encountered can be changed!

BTW, if you haven't encountered the Wyndham Werewolves before: Michael's backstory is in the anthology 'Secrets, vol 6' called "Love's Prisoner" and 'Secrets, vol 8' called "Jared's Wolf". Derek's backstory is in the novel 'Derek's Bane'. Boo Miller and Eddie Batley's backstory is in the anthology 'Kick Ass' in the story "The Incredible Misadventures of Boo and the Boy Blunder". I definitely recommend you check them out, as they are all fun stories!

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. It wasn't as bad as I feared it would be, but it wasn't as good as I hoped either. I guess I should just give up hope that MJD will produce a book with the charm of the old days. This one was just, well, ok. Rachael was fine, but I never really connected with her. And there was no reason at all why this mature 30 year-old woman would fall for the juvenile 23 year-old guy who acts like he's 17. I like lovable geek as well as the next gal, but this kid was so immature, their supposedly passionate love story made no sense. It felt like an absurd Christopher Moore takeoff. Plus the mystery was dumb and obvious. It wasn't awful, but I'd never pay for it, if it wasn't for the library I'd have given up on this series long ago.

Edit: Well it's two days later and this book is still nagging at me for some reason. It's just such a lost opportunity. It has so many potentially great elements but none of them quite materialize. Like the newsletter - that part is very cute. Gotta give her that. But I felt like I'd read it before. Definitely the parts about the strangers coming into the house and viewing the crazy way that Betsy and her friends live and realizing that it's actually pretty great - not new. And I like the idea of having a guy lead who isn't typical tall, dark, suave, and handsome, but making him an idiot who keeps panting about how hot the woman is wasn't endearing either. And most of all, there's just so much potential for fun with these werewolves and these vampires, they're smart and funny, compassionate and tough, there could have been so much more story than the very minimal mystery investigation and limited interaction between the characters that we got. It was really a shallow waste. What used to be great about Betsy was that she was fluffy but not shallow. But this was hallow. It wasn't awful but there wasn't any substance to it either.

[Marian · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the non-spoilery news, I'll agree with whomever else said that Edward was more fleshed out and felt more real than Rachel. The fact that she's an introvert probably helped with that, as did the fact that in true MJD fashion, Edward's definitely the one in the pair with absolutely no filter to speak of. He thinks it, he probably said it five minutes ago. Thing is, I liked them as a couple and I liked their story. So that gets a definite thumbs up. Geek love!

It's the other areas of the book that keep it from hitting four stars or higher. The 'mystery' is never actually investigated on-screen and feels pretty tacked on. It's possible this is one of those plot points that seems like a wasted opportunity in the book it's introduced in but ties into things later, I suppose, but for now it didn't really accomplish much.

Betsy and company are familiar enough that if you read those books you'll be mostly okay in keeping up (with one glaring exception) and if you don't, well, you'll be in the same boat as Rachel and Edward, so it's not really a loss. You're given just enough to work with to either thoroughly confuse you or realize you don't mind the fact that everyone is quite possibly insane.

Now. Let's discuss... the zombie.
s
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Okay, when the hell did Marc come back from the dead? I swear that when I left him (and I was crying at the time and still re-read that scene more than a dozen times just to be sure) he was dead. Dead. Super dead. Gone.

So imagine my surprise when he crops up as... a zombie. THE HELL?! When did that happen? And didn't Betsy go back and save Antonia from hell? So... yeah. That warning at the beginning about not being sure where, exactly, this falls in the timeline? Totally needs to be in bold. With glitter. Maybe some neon? Flashing lights for sure, anyway.

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book.. I've been kind of down... I'm not entirely sure I like college. So I decided to buy the book and So I did. I read it in a couple houres it was a really good book.

We have Rachel, werewolf, Michael's cousin, she is an accountant.

We have Edward, human, Bo's and Greg's roommate, also an accountant.

They are the protas in this book, the story is interesting and the way the relationship develops is cool.

We have some scenes with Betsy and her people, which I thoroughly devoured [I'm an addict of MaryJanice books]

Totally worth reading and it helps bank the thirst for more books in this universe [betsy's and michael's] until the next one <3

[Darcy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really am questioning why I keep reading books with these same characters. The Betsy books have become over the top and not in a good way. This book was very much the same as Betsy figured heavily in it. Most of the book was like a Three Stooges film, with lots of geek jokes. If you are a fan of this series you will probably like it, however, if like me, the last few books have disappointed you, expect the same with this one.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's entertaining, but there's not much substance to it. A first read through is light and funny, on a second you're more likely to notice the lack of character development and abrupt ending.

[McKenzie Richardson · Rating 2 out of 5]

For more reviews, check out my blog Craft-Cycle

I read this book on a road trip. It was a perfect book to read in the car, because I could easily detach myself from it if a conversation started and I didn't have to pay too much attention to the text, which usually gives me a headache.

Knowing that it was a paranormal romance involving vampires and werewolves, my expectations weren't all that high.

I will note that this is the first MaryJanice Davidson book I have read, let alone the only Wyndham Werewolf book I have read. Therefore, I didn't really know anything about it going into it. I think I got by fine. It can be read as a standalone. Like most books, it's probably better if you've read the previous books, but I knew what was going on for the most part.

However, that doesn't mean I liked the book. This is Twilight for adults with more murder and less love triangles. The writing was pretty poor. The author used a lot of (parentheses), even within characters' speech. I don't even know how one talks in parentheses. It made reading it very awkward. Also the repetitiveness of the sentence "But!" was very irritating. How is that it's own sentence?

The plot was pretty dull too. While the back cover claims it's a book about "female werewolves playing private detective", Rachael seems to forget that people are being murdered while she's off in La La Land with Edward. The whole murder investigation plays very little into the story. The resolution of the crime spree was horribly lame and a huge let down. It was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read. The characters even note how ridiculous it is, then try to logic their way through it, which seemed to just be a lazy way to write a weak-plotted story strewn together with awkward sex scenes.

Not a fan. I did find the first Undead book in the Little Free Lending Library, so I'll probably give it a try at some point, but after reading this one, I have pretty low expectations for it.

[pecanpie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a detailed review, just thoughts I had while reading this:
- I'm used to reading MJD's style of writing coz I've been reading her Betsy series for years, but for some reason this book has portions of writing that totally threw me off. Some chapters were written in such a vague, confusing way that frustrated me a bit, like it made me had to put in so much unnecessary effort to understand what she was trying to say. It took me quite a few chapters in before I realised that ohhh Edward is human and not some sort of paranormal being. And also, I'm not sure i even understood the entire motivation of the villain and how it has to do with being audited. I read all the way to epilogue and still don't quite understand, but the plot point just isn't compelling enough for me to want to go back, re-read until I figure it out, nope.
- I like how Edward is so into Rachael in every way. He's very accepting and supportive, quite a sweet guy. I also like that he's not prideful, and is good at recognising his own mistakes (in his inner monologues). However, I did think that for a geek, he seemed a tad too over-dramatic.
- The many pop culture references dropped here and there in the book got me laughing, just coz they're very familiar to me, all of them in my time, like the Black Widow Joan Cusack from Addams Family Values, and SVU Detective Benson Mariska Hargitay etc lol. Amusing.
- I thought the ending could have fleshed out more with Boo and Greg's arrival to Summit Avenue. After all, they've already been summoned, so why not let them join the whole gang and meet Rachael at the end too? Would have been a nicer, neater wrap-up I think.

[Toby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Closer to a 1.5/5 stars.

I'm not entirely sure what I just read. It was entertaining, but I don't even know why. I never got a good sense of what Rachael, the protagonist, was really like, and her instalove partner, Edward, was so obnoxious that he was almost cute. (I can see why writing a character like Edward could be very cathartic... and to be fair, he was somewhat unique because usually I don't see such a stereotypical trope of a nerd in books. They're usually reserved for television/movies.)

But yeah. I'm not sure what the purpose of the book was... and as such, I didn't really find any lasting enjoyment in it. Thankfully it was a fast read so I didn't waste much time on this book.

The main redeeming things in this book were:
1) the unexpected humor involved in the "vampire queen" and
2) Edward's obnoxiousness and how I could simultaneously enjoy him and also want to punch him in the face.

Don't recommend, will probably not read any more of Davidson's books. Also? "Lusty romance" -- no. When you try to write sexy scenes and end up talking about "Edward's member" ... nope. Nope nope nope. Noping my way on out of this series, because that is not... just nope.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

MaryJanice Davidson- Wolf at the Door
272 pages

Oh how I love the Wyndham werewolves! It was really nice to get into this book when I feel like the Undead series is such a mess right now. I really liked Rachael. She was a bit different that the other characters I am used to seeing with the Wyndham’s, and it was a good change of pace. Edward was pretty awesome too. He reminded me of Marc actually, and Marc will always be one of my favorites in this whole thing.

The plot was good and occasionally frustrating (not in a bad way either). With all of the chaos that is the Undead series right now, somehow Davidson made this story fit in the timeline without compromising it. When I saw that Betsy was going to be a part of it, I was very concerned that it would drag the Wyndham’s down with it’s crazy. This book moved back toward the tone I have come to expect from these two entwined series. This one is definitely worth the read.

Rating:
♥♥♥♥♥

For more reviews, click here!

[Mae · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was okay. I will admit that it has been a bunch of years since I picked up any of MJD's books. I really wanted to read something light and mindless, so this was a good choice for that. I didn't really get into the story. I spent a good deal of time wondering how Edward came to know Boo and what that was all about. Again, my own fault since I haven't read that story and read this one out of order. The whole murder mystery thing was such a back seat to the story that I was a bit thrown off as well. Before the big reveal, there are only about 3 mentions of murders, so I didn't really understand the vague "who done it" at the end.

[Madi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the only book in the series I have, and I wanted to read something a little supernatural, so I picked it up. I was a little lost on some of the back stories, but I did appreciate the authors note in case i want to ever go back and read about them. This book can mostly stand on it's own though.
The characters were cute and quirky. Their relationship was fun yet intense.
At times the dialogue felt like rambling and was pretty confusing.
The "mystery" was talked about very little and solved in the last 20 pages of the book. It felt extremely rushed.
It was a great book to read if you wanted something light hearted and quick to read.

[Jamoz23 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the Wyndham Werewolf’s series but have only read a couple of the Queen Betsy series.
This is a real mix of both but I found it like slugging through mud.
The male main character Edward is quirky, daft and slightly weird. Just not leading man material even with being in the position he is.
The heroine Rachael is smart, snarky and too be truthful forgettable. Even with all she does it just doesn’t work for me.
I wish I hadn’t pushed on to the end as it really was so unconvincing and just underwhelming.
The highlight for me was getting updated information about Michael Wyndham.

[Adriana · Rating 2 out of 5]

My problem with MJD is that I really enjoy how she crafts her characters (the idea of them) but I'm not a fan of how she writes and develops them. Rachel and Edward are mostly cool, but they have moments where they either have a personality disorder or the author forgot where she was going with them.
Also, the time that's passed between my last reading of a novel that featured Vampire Queen Betsy and now has resulted in a complete and total dislike of her that made every scene where she appears to make me want to quit reading this book.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read many books in the series, but its been a while. Whereas the characters were mostly familiar to me, I was lost about most of the situations. The book read very choppy to me, like I kept looking back to see if I skipped pages accidentally because I felt like a connection was made by the author that I missed. I really liked the story and the characters, but I felt lost many times throughout the book.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked this out without realizing it was #7 in the series but I still decided to read and was pleased it was a book I didn't need to have read the previous books to get into BUT if you haven't read the Betsy series you may be out of the loop, thankfully I read all those so it was easy for me to follow along on that front. Good book.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of snarky fun!

I’m going to have to start by saying that I never expected to find a werewolf with a Yiddish name! 😁
This story is a fun mashup of the Queen Betsy Undead meeting a Wyndham werewolf with a character from Boo & the Boy Blunder thrown in for both comic relief and lots of nerd lore.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loves this series, but it I was a little lost with this book. Rachel, a werewolf from The Wyndham Pack, is sent to keep an eye on Betsy Taylor, Vampire Queen and a rogue werewolf who's itching to start a war.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many inconsistencies with the other book. Also if your trying to read these in some semblance of order don't trust the authors ridiculous FYI notes they are never right. Idk why I keep.reading these I'm almost 90% sure it's a ghost writer, or several, writing these.

[Wendy Bocock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the characters, but was a little confused about the reason the people were getting killed. And when & where did the audit occur? I thought when Rachael met with Mrs. Cain that she had just arrived in Minneapolis, as Ms. Cain had arranged for her apartment and was trying to find her business.

[Marian Tustison O'Connor · Rating 1 out of 5]

yuck yuck yuck. not funny and both characters thoughts bounced around like bunnies on crack. not easy to follow at all

[Oxilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

it got better towards the end

[Caroline · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished it but it was a struggle.

[Jen Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her writing is so ridiculously funny.
I need to go back to the first of this series and read them in order.