Review - Tempting the Enemy by Dee Tenorio

Publisher: Carina Press
Publish Date: 5/26/10
Where I got this book: NetGalley


Detective Pale Rysen, an Alpha, is determined to secretly rebuild the Wolf packs from the ashes of genocide. When a killer starts picking off young females looking for sanctuary, it's his job to protect them. Forced to work with a hated enemy, he fears his cover will be blown. Jade-Scarlet's membership in the powerful Order of the Sibile has always been controversial. A half-wolf, Jade's unstable psychic powers are a disappointment to her mercenary handlers. So when the Oracle commands her to work with Pale, Jade must prove herself...even if it means challenging the enigmatic shifter. Yet Pale triggers more than her curiosity. He sends her into Heat, and the intense sexual attraction could mean losing control of her gifts-something she can't allow. As the number of victims rises, so does the danger. A murderous darkness wants them both dead. But even if they stop the killer, how long can they fight each other?


Carina Press has a real winner with Tenorio’s Tempting the Enemy. Pale is a homicide detective working on a series killer case that has taken a turn for the worse. The city fears that the problem cannot be solved by their finest, so they bring in a Sibile, a kind of witch, to help bring the murder to justice. As Pale has been working on both the human killings, and the un-reported wolf killings, as the Alpha, he has double the interest in solving the case quickly. When he meets his Sibile Jade, events take another unexpected turn when he realized she is part wolf, and full in heat.

Jade and Pale do their best to work together, each keeping secrets from the other, to track down the killer. While Jade refuses to reveal Sibile secrets, she does let pale into her world more and more as they find out additional information regarding the elusive killer. While she is reluctant to give up general Sibile information, she finds herself revealing more and more about herself, her past, and her attraction to him grows and festers with each waking moment.

Pale also has secrets, the biggest being his super secret Alpha status, and his struggle to create a safe haven for wolf shifters across the country that are still being persecuted by the humans. The second biggest secret is the fact that his serial killer is also hunting young wolves who are making their way to his sanctuary. Pale keeps this information to himself, refusing to share the additional information with the human police.

I really enjoyed this book. I feel like I must create a new genre for it: Paranormal Romance Suspect Awesomesauce! Tenorio kept me guessing at every turn, and as someone who usually can tell by the middle of a book who the bad guy was, I was surprised at how well she was able to twist and turn the plot to constantly keep me guessing. Those of you who are big JD Robb fans, this book is defiantly one that you should check out!

The complicated world of the Sibile was confusing at times, and I personally would have liked a little more back story and information, but I was still able to grasp everything. Jade was a great tortured female lead, her back story broke my heart a little, while you can’t help but admire everything she has become. The revelation about her powers towards the end surprised me a little, but in a good way.

Pale (an odd name that had me continuing to envision him as an albino) lived up to all my alpha male expectations. He was pushy, protective, arrogant, and all around awesome! While we didn’t learn his exact reasons for dreaming of building a wolf sanctuary, they became somewhat implied throughout.

I hope that Tenorio has additional books planned to continue on with this story, because I felt as if a lot was left open. What will happen with the Sibile’s now that they have learned the human are tracking them like they used to track the wolves? Will Pale and Jade be able to build up the wolf sanctuary and continue to do great things for the shifters? I can only hope there will be additional books to continue on with these characters.

All in all, I give Tempting the Enemy 4 out of 5 wolf sanctuaries!