Wanton is the second book in Noelle Mack's series about the Pack of St. James, a group of Russian werewolves living in Regency London and whose males are cutting a streak through society. The previous book, Wild, I found rather uneven; unfortunately, the same has to be said of this book.
When Marko Taruskin meets the beautiful Severin, he is instantly attracted to her.
Their romance is short-lived when the Pack discover that young women with links to the Pack are being murdered. The Pack agree that men should leave women alone for the time being while they investigate, so Marko has to leave Severin. However, Severin's sister, Jehane, may know more about the murders
- and she and Severin, in investigating them, may find themselves in danger.
The overall plot is reasonable with various hints about who might be responsible for the murders. The story is told from several different viewpoints, and it's
not always easy to remember who knows what - Marko and Severin keep a lot to themselves. What
disappoints is the disjointed way in which the story moves, the fact that the romance seems a minor part of the overall plot and
is more based on lust than anything further, and that none of the characters really grow or change through the story. It feels like reading a series of events, some of which are built up
only to be dropped again. The wolf aspect of the story is vanishingly small - it seems almost a pointless inclusion in the overall plot as so little is made of it, and the various other supernatural moments, including the ghost of a wolf who died in the previous book, don't really add anything to it.
This isn't a boring book but is, unfortunately, unsatisfying. This reader would have appreciated more characterization to give it a rounded feel and less general waffle.