While the Wolf's Away

While the Wolf’s Away by Terry Spear pens a paranormal romantic suspense novel with a sultry, steamy, and tension filled story in the White Wolf series mainly set in and around Ely, Minnesota.

Arctic wolf David Davis and his friends and private investigator partners are making a new life for themselves in northern Minnesota, away from the tyrannical pack leader who exploited them. Elizabeth Simpson, a member of that pack in the Northwest Territories, Canada, helped David escape. However, the pack leader won’t let her go despite shunning her. Can David and Elizabeth find a way to get together?

Elizabeth and David are relatable and likeable. Elizabeth is willing to help others even when it costs her position in the pack. She is caring, organized, supportive, and encouraging, and she wants to do more with her life. David’s vulnerability lies in controlling his shifting since he was not born a wolf shifter. Otherwise, he is a great private investigator, friendly, and thoughtful. The antagonist pack leader in Canada is Kintail. He’s controlling, demanding, greedy for power, and is a despot. There’s a great cast of secondary characters providing support or opposition. Readers of the series will have met some of them in earlier books in the series. This lends continuity and familiarity and pulls the reader more deeply into the lives of the various characters. However, several new characters play also play pivotal roles.

Terry Spear has a way of drawing readers into her novels quickly as she weaves another volume involving friends, family, romance, anxiety, suspense, and multiple types of danger. Relationships drive the narrative and the dynamics among the characters was one of the most compelling aspects of the story. The tale starts calmly, and then escalates into a tension-filled section followed by a chance for a breather that is filled with angst regarding Kintail and his plans. The stressful ending showdown didn’t pan out the way I expected, but I liked the ending epilogue.

While this one was somewhat light on action, Spear provides enough nuance, romance, suspense, and surprise developments to keep readers engaged and give the story depth. I also enjoyed learning more about the types of cases the private investigators accepted. The author’s usual exquisite world-building brought the northern Minnesota woods to life.

Overall, the plot was engrossing, clever, and full of romance and suspense. The prose was fluid, making this a quick read. If you enjoy contemporary paranormal romantic suspense novels, then this author may be one you will enjoy as much as I do. I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca and Terry Spear provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for May 24, 2022.