Read Fragment

Less formula and more content than your average werewolf romance, TARNISHED is a brand of urban fantasy that I treasure. Though still heavily steeped in character, the slow arc of action that Held weaves through this story and her series as a whole has a level of patience that is becoming rarer and rarer in the serialized genre. Patience to let injuries heal, patience to let obstacles stand, patience to let characters struggle without a magical panacea to sweep the slate clean every book. Though the first portion of TARNISHED focuses on the politics that have brought Dare and Silver to the west coast, that is just the framework for the character growth that fuels the heart of this book. I was surprised by how much I grew to love Susan, the outsider, the mother, the character struggling to find her way as a human among Weres. This world's mythology doesn't offer the chance of a quick fix, a bite that would make Susan magically part of the pack, but Held is not afraid to tackle the larger questions head on. Weres are still alien, still governed by rules and expectations that seem brutal to humans, but they're also fallible, capable of mistakes and change and understanding. To this author, the cultural laws of Weres are less an immutable plot device ("Oops, you did the thing, now you must *die*.") and more a living society with expectations, hopes, and flaws. As much as I started this series all about Silver, Held seduced me into falling in love with her whole world. With TARNISHED this series has ascended to a step above the usual fare. Intricate, interesting, and fundamentally human, this is a series not to miss.

Full review to follow.

Sexual Content: References to sex, kissing.