Buy Link: Midnight in Berlin
Author: J.L. Merrow
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Length: Novel

Rating: 4.5

Leon Jacobson is living a relatively carefree life, ambling around Europe, living in hostels, and taking temporary jobs.  One night while living in Berlin he hitchhikes after a party, getting picked up by a hot guy in Porsche named Christoph.  They start to hit it off enough that Leon hopes there might be a hook up in his future, when Christoph starts acting strangely and making weird comments about the feathers that got stuck to Leon in the rain.  Soon Christoph is passing by Leon’s hostel and driving him out to an abandoned house in the country, trapping Leon in the car when he tries to escape.  Before he knows it, things go from bad to worse when Christoph changes into a werewolf and lunges at Leon’s neck.

The next thing Leon knows, he wakes up in a house filled with werewolves.  The bite didn’t kill him, but he has been changed.  Leon meets the pack and the viscous leader Peter Schreiber, soon learning that Christoph mistook him for a werewolf already (thinking the feathers were from Leon’s dinner) and is being punished for his mistake. Although Leon is furious at Christoph for turning him, he fears for him as well when no one will tell him where Christoph is being kept and what was done to him.  When Leon finds Christoph caged and badly mutilated, he knows he must free him, and the two men take off on the run.

The story follows Leon and Christoph as they try to escape Screiber while trying to uncover the truth about their pack.  They are not full werewolves who can shift completely; they are only able to turn into a half human/half wolf form.  Although Schreiber has assured them they are the true wolves of Germany, Christoph has uncovered that there is more going on than the pack has been told.  On the run and in constant danger, the two men work to uncover the truth and fight off the bad guys, all the while falling in love.

So this was such an exciting story.  We jump into the action almost right away as we feel Leon’s horror when he realizes Christoph is not what he seems and that he can not escape from the car.  The excitement really continues throughout the story as the dark secrets are uncovered and Leon and Christoph must fight for their lives against Schreiber and the members of the pack loyal to him.  I really thought the pacing of the story was great and it kept me engaged the whole time.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Leon and Christoph and how it changes from the start of the book.  When we first meet Christoph he is the bad guy who is taking Leon away and turning him into a werewolf.  But we quickly find out that it was all a mistake, that Christoph has had horrific abuse heaped on him as punishment, and that his life was destroyed when he was turned against his will.  Christoph slowly becomes the hero instead of the villain, fighting for justice for the pack. I also liked seeing Leon’s growth from a guy just drifting from place to place with no real sense of purpose to someone committed to helping Christoph and who willing to put his life on the line when needed.

Midnight in Berlin has a really nice twist on the traditional werewolf book with the partially transitioning wolves and the story behind them. It was exciting and suspenseful and kept me intrigued throughout the book.  Personally I would have liked a little more time with our heroes; I felt like every time they were about to get together someone walked in on them.  But I am always one for more mushy stuff.  However, I think the romance and the suspense are intertwined really nicely and I definitely enjoyed the story.

J.L. will also be here later on today to talk more about the book and her memories of Berlin, so be sure to stop back in!