Reviews
“Pamela Palmer never disappoints as once again she has crafted an incredibly good dark fantasy tale! The world building in Desire Untamed is phenomenal… the first in a series and wow, what a fantastic start it is!”
Debbie Wiley, Book Illuminations ~ posted June 2009
“Everything about Desire Untamed makes it a book destined for the keeper shelf.”
You Gotta Read Reviews ~ posted June 2009
“All I can say is WOW! I was literally unable to put this book down. Ms. Palmer captured my attention from page one and didn’t let go until the very last word. I love discovering new paranormal series and this one is definitely one to watch.”
The Romance Reader's Connection
~ posted June 2009
“Gritty, raw, passionate, and full of desire and unexpected twists and turns, Desire Untamed is definitely a keeper to be read over and over again! It was magnificent!”
Wild on Books ~ posted June 2009
“With Desire Untamed, Pamela Palmer has started a brand new dark fantasy series that explodes with action immediately and keeps going full speed ahead until we reach the conclusion. …an intense book full of danger, passion, and magic.”
Kelley, CK2S Kwips and Kritiques ~ posted June 2009
“…violent, sexy, dark paranormal fantasy of the first order and creates a compelling world that fans will find hard to resist.”
Kristin Ramsdell, Library Journal ~ posted June 2009
“…a powerfully unique novel with suspense and intrigue to keep you eagerly turning the steamy pages.”
Fresh Fiction ~ posted June 2009
“Magic and passion run wild in this steamy paranormal series debut. Palmer… sets up an intriguing world. The fast-paced action keeps readers guessing.”
Publishers Weekly ~ posted June 2009
“A sexy, suspenseful, and hot book…another must-read series for paranormal fans everywhere.”
Coffee Time Romance ~ posted June 2009
“Desire Untamed is one of the most unique, inventive shapeshifter novels I’ve ever come across. Fans of out-of-the-ordinary paranormal romances are going to add Pamela Palmer’s Feral Warriors Series to their keeper list!”
New York Times Bestselling Author Maggie Shayne ~ posted June 2009
“Full of fast-paced action, heart-breaking angst, and bitter betrayal, Pamela Palmer’s Desire Untamed delivers what the title promises–and much more. The Feral Warriors are hot.”
NYT Bestselling author, Rachel Vincent ~ posted June 2009
“What is going to be the next big, hot dark paranormal series? Pamela Palmer’s Feral Warriors.”
Night Owl Romance Reviews ~ posted June 2009
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Bonus Scenes
Deleted Scene – Kara meets her family
Note: In the published version of Desire Untamed, about three quarters of the way through the book, Kara is about to join Tighe and Jag for breakfast in the Georgetown Therian enclave when the Shaman returns and all hell breaks loose. In my original version of that scene, below, something quite different took place first.
“So what was it like, thinking you were human?” Marina asked. The Therian woman, in jeans, flip flops and a cotton sweater, beat a bowlful of eggs while Kara sat at the kitchen table enjoying French toast and reveling in her freedom.
Kara laughed at the question. “It felt normal. Until a few days ago, I didn’t know I could be anything but human.”
Tighe smiled at her, his eyes warm and protective. He and Jag sat on either side of her at the round table, their plates piled high with bacon and eggs.
“So what’s it like being immortal?”
Jag grunted. “Boring.”
“It can be,” Tighe agreed. “As Ferals, we hunt draden at night and sleep during the day.” He threw Marina a knowing smile. “But I usually manage to get to the enclaves on the weekends to enjoy the parties.”
The sparkle in Marina’s eye made it clear their acquaintance went way back. And that they knew one another quite well.
“What kind of parties?” Kara grimaced, suddenly wondering if she wanted the answer. “Is the explanation fit for human-raised ears?”
Marina laughed. “Things tend to get more interesting when the shape-shifters show, but otherwise, we party pretty much like the humans. In fact, we live like humans. We hold jobs in the city, go out to lunch, and shop at the malls. The only real difference is the need to stay home after dark.”
“Because of the draden?”
Marina nodded. “It would be fun to be able to go out among the humans at night, but we’ve built our own clubs. We have a bar, disco, and small movie theater in the basement of this enclave and the one in Alexandria. We take turns hosting the Saturday night parties.”
“What about the children?” Kara asked. “Where do they live?”
“Children are rare,” Tighe replied. “If immortals reproduced like humans do, we’d overpopulate the planet in a few hundred years.”
“But you do have children. Sometimes,” Kara said.
Marina nodded. “Of course. And that’s a we, Kara. You’re one of us. You grew up like a normal human kid, right? But once grown, Therians never deteriorate as humans will. We’ll always look like we’re about thirty.”
“Don’t the humans catch on?”
“They would if we didn’t move every twenty years.”
Kara’s gaze took in the interior of a house that looked like it had been lived in for well over a century. Though the house apparently looked like a row of townhouses from the outside, inside, it was open, passages running from one end of the block to the other.
“Will you have to put the walls back between the units when you get ready to leave?”
“No. There are four primary Therian enclaves around the area, one each in Bethesda, Alexandria, Arlington, and here in Georgetown. Every two decades, we move one enclave to the right, change our names and occupations, and pretend to be just another group of young people moving into the neighborhood.”
Kara looked up as Paenther strolled into the kitchen. He gave Kara a look that held a glimmer of a smile. “Are you up for some company?”
“Company?” She watched him, her confusion growing as a gleam appeared in his dark eyes. She didn’t know anyone in this part of the country except the Ferals, and if any of them had been freed, she’d certainly have heard about it. “What kind of company?” she asked warily.
“Your family.”
Kara stared at him. “I don’t have any family.”
Paenther took the seat across from her, Marina sliding a plate of food in front of him. As he dug his fork into the eggs, he smiled at her. “Apparently you do. A big one, as Therian families go. Father, grandfather, and a smattering of other grands and greats.”
Her brows lowered in a frown as she tried to make sense of his words. Her mom had had no family. Except, the woman who’d raised her wasn’t really her mother. Her real mother had been Therian.
She had a family.
Her pulse began to rise. What in the world would they think of her? She didn’t know anything about them. Or this world. Or any of the things a Therian should have learned as a child. And they were coming to see her.
“Are they coming now?” It was too much. Too soon. She’d barely escaped the clutches of a witch. Now she was supposed to face a family she didn’t even know she had?
“What’s the matter?” Lyon thundered into the kitchen in full warrior mode, his expression tight and worried, his gaze locked on her.
“What do you mean?” she asked him, her body flushing warm from his presence.
“Your heart rate just shot through the roof.”
She cringed. “Paenther just informed me my family’s about to descend.”
“Now?” His hard gaze swung to Paenther. “Who told them she was here?”
“One of the scholars is her grandfather.”
“Hell. How does he even know she’s his?”
“His pregnant daughter went missing twenty-seven years ago after having a premonition the baby would be the next Radiant. They tracked her to West Virginia, but the draden had already gotten to her. The baby was gone.”
The baby. Her. Kara’s mind spun as she tried to take in all he was saying, her attention splintered between Paenther’s revelations and Lyon.
Her birth mother had died from a draden attack. And she had a family.
“They won’t stay long,” Lyon promised, then turned away when one of the enclave leaders requested a word with him.
Kara’s gaze swung back to Paenther, her hands smoothing her skirt with quick, agitated strokes. “Do I need to change? I’ve never met family before. I don’t know what they’ll expect of me.”
Paenther smiled. “You look fine, Kara.”
“Perfect,” Tighe concurred.
Jag snarled. “They say one negative word and they’re out of here on their asses.”
Kara felt the sting of tears as affection flowed warmly through her. She grasped Tighe’s forearm on one side of her, Jag’s on the other, and smiled at Paenther.
“Thank you,” she said softly. She might be about to meet her blood family, but her true family was right here.
Tighe patted her hand and chuckled. “Trust me, Kara. This won’t be like any family gathering you’ve ever seen.”
Tighe’s words proved to be dead on. Kara stood in the middle of the living room, flanked on either side by Tighe and Jag while Paenther and Lyon escorted the eight twenty-somethings, five men and three women, to her.
How could this be her family? Families were old people and young people and children. This felt more like a ten-year class reunion — a reunion of a class she’d never been part of. These people looked exactly like humans her age.
And she didn’t know them. But if the looks on their faces as they spotted her were anything to go by, they certainly seemed to recognize her. All the women and several of the men had tears in their eyes as they rushed toward her.
Kara took an instinctive step back, her gaze flying to Lyon. Tighe and Jag both stepped in, setting up a protective barrier between her and her over-eager family.
“She doesn’t know you,” Lyon barked.
One of the men in the front of the pack, a dark-haired man with an intelligent face and warm mist-filled green eyes, stopped and threw out his arm against the onslaught of the others.
“Lyon’s right,” he said. “She looks like our Henrietta, but she’s not. We’re strangers to her.”
As the others held back, the man, dressed in jeans and a button-down, slowly came toward her. When he stopped several feet away, Kara touched Jag and Tighe’s shoulders and the two men stepped to the side, allowing her to resume her place between them.
The stranger’s gaze roamed over her face as if he was searching for something, or someone. Someone precious that he’d lost.
“Was Henrietta my mother?” she asked softly.
Sadness filled his eyes and his mouth turned wry. “Yes. But not the one who raised you. Where?”
“Spearsville, Missouri.”
The man nodded. “A seer told me Henrietta drove as far west as she could before the birth pains became too much. A woman found her and helped her birth you. Henrietta begged her to take you far, far to the west and raise you as her own. To let no one find you, including human doctors. And never tell anyone, including you, that you weren’t hers.”
Kara felt the chills race along her skin. That’s why her mom, her adoptive mom, always told her they had no family. “Why did Henrietta leave here?”
“She had a premonition that you would be the next Radiant. That someone else knew, and if she stayed, you’d be killed as a child. You needed to be raised by humans, far from the enclaves so you would be safe from the draden. Safe from the one who meant you harm.” Pain filled his eyes. “I tried to tell her I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. That I would protect you both. I thought she believed me. When she went missing days before she was due to give birth, I knew she’d flown. By the time I tracked her down, it was too late. She was dead and you were gone.”
Kara looked at him. “Who are you to me?”
His mouth softened into a sad smile. The mist grew thicker in his eyes. “I’m your father, Kara. And I would very much like to come closer.”
Kara felt tears bloom in her own eyes. She didn’t know this man, and yet in a strange way, she recognized him and felt his instant and unconditional love for her.
She nodded and stepped toward him as he enveloped her in a hug, in a scent, that was achingly familiar even though she couldn’t possibly have known it before.
He stroked her hair as she pressed her cheek to his shoulder. “I know you don’t know me, Kara, and I won’t push you for more than you’re able to give. But I want you to know I’ve loved you since the moment you were conceived. I’ve never stopped praying you’d someday find your way back to us.”
Though his words were a balm to her grieving heart, the ache was still only for the mother she’d known. The woman who’d raised her and loved her enough to give up everything for her.
Kara lifted her head and stepped back so she could meet her father’s gaze. She found a smile for him. “I always wanted a father.”
He flashed her a grin that revealed a crooked eyetooth similar to her own. And while he looked young, in his eyes she saw a depth and a wisdom that far exceeded her own or that of any other twenty-something human she’d ever known.
“Good enough,” he said. “Now can I introduce you to the rest of this pathetic excuse for a family?” he asked grinning.
Good-natured objections came from behind him and Kara nodded. He swept his arm around her shoulders and turned her, introducing a beautiful strawberry blond as her great-great grandmother on her mother’s side, and a cocky-grinned man who could have passed for a blond California surfer-dude, as her grandfather. The others were all ancestors of some sort, but she quickly lost track as they pressed around her, demanding hugs, exclaiming at how much she looked like Henrietta, and demanding to know if the humans had treated her well.
Throughout this strange reunion, her gaze kept tight track of Lyon. Even standing halfway across the room, he was her anchor. She’d always wished for a big family. Now, apparently, she had one.
And all she wanted was one taciturn lion.
Trading Cards
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Desire Untamed was awarded First Place in the Paranormal Category in the Favorite Books Reviewed by Romance Book Scene for 2009. (posted February 2010)
