Favorite Lines: “I lay naked and filthy on the ground, panting, trembling like I’d been struck by lightning. A spider crawled across my foot and I shook it off.” (p. 70)
Jane Yellowrock is a shapeshifter and a vampire assassin who has been hired by Katherine Fonteneau to kill a rogue vampire killing his way through New Orleans. Lodged in a small house behind Katie’s Ladies, the oldest bordello in New Orleans, she is adamant about her privacy. Because she is the last of her kind…the last of the Cherokee skinwalkers.
With her usual flair for world building, Ms. Hunter introduces us to her vampire filled world in book one of the Jane Yellowrock novels, Skinwalker. She makes it clear that vampires are sneaky, cheap and deadly, while keeping an air of mystery around Jane. The reader is never given too much information at any one time. They watch Jane discover herself and the Beast.
A beast lives inside Jane and it is getting harder to control. Jane was born with the ability to shift into any animal she chooses, but Beast does not appreciate it when she transforms into anything other than a feline. Sometimes, in retaliation Beast takes over, refusing to let Jane surface as the dominate.
It’s during the shift from Jane’s character to that of the Beast, that the writing clearly changes. Ms. Hunter writes like an animal when Beast is in charge and tells the reader that, “she slipped away.”
Skinwalker is an urban fantasy novel that plays with romance and lust. Jane is hot to trot (though she never acts on it) and despite my initial dislike for a particular person I found myself warming up toward his multidimensional character. But with the paranormal, nothing is what it seems.
I enjoyed Skinwalker and am looking forward to book two, Blood Cross, which is due out in January 2010. Check out Preternatural Reviews, Darque Reviews and Romantic Times‘ thoughts about Skinwalker.
The summary on the back of Faith Hunter’s Skinwalker really pissed me off. It led me to believe certain things that just plain didn’t happen. This is not Ms. Hunter’s fault. I blame advertising.
Food and Skinwalker: Beef Kabobs With Grilled Pineapple Salsa
Scooper Speaks 
I have this book here on my nightstand. I’m thinking about reading it (I should have read it sooner) after I finish The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson. Enjoyed your review and curious of the book blurb misrepresentation.
Donna: After you read it tell me what you think about the whole relationship angle mentioned in the blurb. Thanks for popping by.