I’m not a big fan of romance novels, so when a friend of mine with Nordskog Publishing asked me to read and review In The Aerie Of The Wolf, I was skeptical. This is simply a genre I do not like, nor am I very interested in even trying to like it.

But I hesitantly agreed to read it, thinking it may be something my daughter would like to read.

I have to admit, it wasn’t exactly what I expected. Taking place in Victorian England, the story is about a young woman, anxious to be a godly woman like the one described in Proverbs 31, who is taken away from her family and the man she loves to be married to Lord Wolverton. Being torn from one she loves, can she learn to love another?

There were several positive elements to Pruner’s story:

In The Aerie Of The Wolf does a great job portraying what love is. The main character, Anne Crofton, leaves her childhood home, and her childhood, behind as she travels to be wed to a man she does not know, leaving behind the one she has loved since childhood. But, as she discovers what love is, her perspective is changed.

As a parallel, as you read In The Aerie Of The Wolf, you can easily see Christ’s love for his Bride, and how that is reflected within human marriage. Pruner even quotes extensively from the Song of Solomon, reinforcing the idea that human love and marriage is only but a reflection of God’s love for mankind and for the Church.

The story is well thought out. There are several plot twists that I didn’t expect. But since I don’t normally read this type of novel, maybe I’m just clueless in that regard. Whatever the case, the story line was intriguing.

Pruner also did an excellent job of defining and describing the allure of temptation and sin. Flirting with the forbidden is very dangerous, and Pruner’s description hits the nail on the head, uncomfortably well.

But there were a few things in the book that I didn’t like:

While never being inappropriate, I feel that Pruner’s description of the physical expression of Anne’s love for her husband was too descriptive. Just because this is a romance novel does not mean that you have to include every steamy stereotype in it. Again, Pruner never wrote anything explicit, but instead left too much unsaid, and imagined. I will not be letting my twelve year old daughter read this any time soon. Maybe when she turns 30…

Another aspect I found annoying was Pruner’s use of difficult to read dialog. She described it early in the novel as a country brogue, and you’d expect peasants to speak more roughly. Here’s an example: “Mebbee your child’s t’ lass wi’ ‘air from o’ t’ moon.” It’s one thing to describe the rough way the commoners in her story speak, and to utilize such contractions here and there. But to use this in every conversation that occurs with these characters makes the dialog extremely hard to read. There are so many apostrophes, abbreviations, and contractions that a few paragraphs severely challenge your ability to maintain the flow of the story. Pruner would have better served her readers by describing this in detail early, setting the stage, and then writing normally.

One other thing disappointed me about In The Aerie Of The Wolf. Early in the story, there is some vague speculation about the possibility of werewolves. Maybe it’s due to the fact that I don’t understand this genre too well, but I would have like to see that thread developed more. I am not saying that this needed to be a horror or thriller story. According to the story, Lord Wolverton’s ancestors cultivated the peasant’s belief that they were werewolves. Digging into these legends would have added to the story greatly, in my opinion. This was a detail that was left unresolved in my mind, and as it is, it could have been left out of the story entirely, because it played no significant role at all. Since Pruner introduced it early in the book, I think she should have developed it more.

All in all, In The Aerie Of The Wolf was pretty captivating. In her examination of sin, love and marriage, Pruner did an excellent job, especially considering that this is a fictional romance novel. I don’t see myself reading another book in the genre anytime soon. But if romance novels are your thing, pick up a copy of In The Aerie Of The Wolf. You might enjoy it.

Who is your favorite fiction author, whatever the genre? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

If you are interested in reading In The Aerie Of The Wolf, you can purchase it at Amazon.com.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Nordskog Publishing in order to read and review on my blog. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“