"Digging the Wolf" by Steffanie Holmes is a multiple point of view paranormal romance; the views are protagonist Anna and her love interest, Luke. Each point of view is clearly marked by the chapter headings as readers go back and forth, learning bits and pieces from both characters viewpoint. Anna seemed somewhat silly and a tad bit bitter from the beginning of the story; it takes some time before readers are given insight into the way her former boyfriend treated her, so much of Anna's moaning and grumbling comes across as repetitive - where this reader wanted to shake her and say, "Put your big girl panties on and get over it, already!" Luke was presented as a somewhat stereotypical alpha werewolf male, all for family honor and how dare his fated mate show up now...? This reader would have been far more pleased with more rounding out of the characters than what was presented, but it was still a cute story. The settings were appealing and easily visualized, at times even drawing a shiver from this reader from the rain falling or wind blowing, as well as from the echo-y eeriness often associated with caves. Dialogue was believable and authentic to each character; secondary character Ruth earned some sneers from this reader for her overall cattiness towards Anna. The appearance of Luke's unknown cousin seemed convoluted within the plot, yet he was a likeable character as presented. This reader understands the next book, "Writing the Wolf" features cousin Caleb as the alpha wolf, and hopefully his character will be better detailed and less stereotypical than his cousin Luke's. This reader fully admits she is less than pleased with a tale when the characters are not developed enough to seem realistic, flaws and good points combined. This reader did not quite feel the exchanges between Luke and Anna were sensual, but were slightly spicy... perhaps it was their lack of true communication with one another or their total self-involvment with their own issues that felt like there was a bit of a barrier between the two. While there were a few minor grammar, spelling and punctuation errors, it was not enough to toss a reader out of Holmes' world of Crookshollow. This story was more sweet than steamy, to this reader, and overall a fairly enjoyable read - albeit somewhat predictable at times. However, this reader will recommend the story and plans to read more of Holmes' stories in the future. ** Review originally posted to Amazon reviews on DATE and Goodreads on the same date. **
