Tag Archives: shifters

Book Review of The Pack or the Panther, by Tara Lain

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The Pack or the PantherI bought a copy of the Pack or the Panther, by Tara Lain.

Description from Goodreads:
Cole Harker, son of an alpha werewolf, is bigger and more powerful than most wolves, tongue-tied in groups, and gay. For twenty-four years, he’s lived to please his family and pack—even letting them promise him in marriage to female werewolf Analiese to secure a pack alliance and help save them from a powerful gangster who wants their land. Then Cole meets Analiese’s half-brother, panther shifter Paris Marketo, and for the first time, Cole wants something for himself. 

When Analiese runs off to marry a human, Cole finally has a chance with Paris, but the solitary cat rejects him, the pack, and everything it represents. Then Cole discovers the gangster wants Paris too and won’t rest until he has him. What started as a land dispute turns into World War Wolf! But the bigger fight is the battle between cats and dogs.

Review:
Goodness, I’ve had rotten luck lately in the book department. I’m not one of those ‘find fault with everything’ readers. I promise I’m not. But this one ticked very few boxes in my ‘likely to love it’ listing.

The writing itself is fine. It seemed pretty well-edited, and Cole is to die for. He’s an endearing mix of big, tough alpha wolf and tongue-tied, flustered cutie. Oh, and there are some cool side characters. I liked Cole’s best friend, Lindsay, though it was pretty darned convenient that he had so many connections and could do all the save-the-day type things he could. But I liked him. And it was pretty awesome that Cole’s mom is so kickass on her own. But that’s where my praise ends. 

I hated Paris. He was like some amped-up caricature of a sassy, slutty (in the fun way, if you know what I mean) bottom. He was selfish, and a lot of his issues weren’t well explained. He seemed to be damaged in some way but claimed to have had a happy life. 

Then there was the sex. OMG, the sex. It was just wrong in so many ways. It was effortless, crude, rushed, and the things they said…cringe. I’m embarrassed for them, and that’s before I factor in the howling. No, it didn’t do it for me. I didn’t find it arousing AT ALL.

Then there was the sappy, ‘everyone apologises and tells them how great they are’ ending. I mean, it’s great that Cole’s parents finally came around, but that whole scene in the new house was hard to swallow—like trying to drink straight agave. Not happening. And the twist at the very end? It made no sense. Why keep that hidden throughout the whole book? I can think of a number of times that ability would have smoothed already difficult situations.

So, on the whole, this is a failure for me. There were things I appreciated, and, again, the writing ok. But on my ‘personal preferences’ list, it didn’t score well.

Savage Hunger

Book Review of Savage Hunger, by Shelli Stevens

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Savage HungerI grabbed a copy of Shelli Stevens’ novel Savage Hunger from the Amazon free list. At the time of posting, it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
Being the daughter of a world-renowned scientist, Sienna Peters has struggled to carve out her own career in the field. But her world is sent spinning when she discovers a secret species being held in the lab where she works, and the horrible things being done to them. Compelled to do more than hand off an information-packed jump drive to her father, she sets out to free the creatures.

The minute his team enters the compound, federal agent Warrick Donovan knows their mission will have more trouble than they bargained on. Unfortunately, trouble comes in the form of Sienna Peters, the younger sister of his close friend. Now not only does he need to save her pretty ass, he needs to discover just how involved she is with the imprisonment of the shifters.

Sienna knows she should trust no one–not even the man she might still love. But as the danger escalates and past passion ignites, her heart has other ideas. Even when the shroud of mystery is ripped off more than one stunning truth…The man who vows to protect her may be her biggest threat.

Review:
This book has a cool cover (that really doesn’t represent the book at all), but that’s about it. I suppose a lot of it comes down to personal preferences in the books we read, but this one made me grind my teeth. Everything from odd uses of male and feminine as descriptors. For example: “…but instead a surge of confidence at the feminine awareness in her eyes.” What the hell is “feminine awareness?” Or when the characters say, “I love the way you feel,” she murmured. “So hard. So…male.” Which was why they worked well together. Why, because he’s a man and she’s a woman? Is that really all it takes to fit together? Remind me to grab the next man that passes me on the street, then. To the fact that as soon as they had sexy-time for the first time, Warrick was all of a sudden “baby” this and “baby” that was annoying. 

But mostly, I didn’t like the fact that I was bored silly for most of the book. Seriously, it was a fairly consistent pattern of 5-6 pages (or some similarly long time) of angsty, “I want him/her, but can’t have her/him blah, blah, blah,” a paragraph or two of plot-related action, another series of pages about how sexy Sierra is or Warrick is or how they wished they could be together or not. All multiplied by about a million. 

Plus, there’s just no joy here. Every-time the characters engage in anything that should be a moment of bliss–sex or cuddles or basic kindness–it is immediately followed a fight, anger and mooooore angst (mostly because Warrick is a total jerk). This left no light moments. 

Also, the plot is really pretty weak in general. I mean, Sierra is hunted by the organization for having a jump drive that proves their nefarious deeds (and “jump drive” is used about a 1,000 times, BTW). Sure, OK. But then it turns out the whole thing is legal–contracts are signed, etc. So, why hunt her down at all? What’s more, the big bad guy is just some random person who plays no real role in the book, you never get to know, and whose motives are never disclosed. Meh. 

Plus, everyone acts like Sierra is soooo stubborn to not give up the information she has. But a highly trained, hardened para-military group pretty much just politely asked her to tell them and then backed off when she said, “No.” What? Really? So unbelievable. 

Lastly, and just as important as the boredom, is the basic predictability of it all. At 50% through, I posted a status update that said, “So, we all know how this is going to wrap up and end, right? Right.” And I did. Everything worked out just the way I expected it to. 

For those readers who love a story that is almost entirely based on two people working their angsty out, drooling over one another, and moving toward sex, this is a good book for you. For those who need a little more plot or who have a low BS tolerance, maybe not. The mechanical writing and editing were all fine, one way or the other, though.

Blood & Thunder

Book Review of Blood & Thunder (THIRDS #2), by Charlie Cochet

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Blood & ThunderAfter reading Charlie Cochet‘s Hell & High Water, I bought a copy of the sequel, Blood & Thunder.

Description from Goodreads:
When a series of bombs go off in a Therian youth center, injuring members of THIRDS Team Destructive Delta, and causing a rift between agents Dexter J. Daley and Sloane Brodie, peace seems unattainable. Especially when a new and frightening group, the Order of Adrasteia, appears to always be a step ahead. With panic and intolerance spreading and streets becoming littered with the Order’s propaganda, hostility between Humans and Therians grows daily. Dex and Sloane, along with the rest of the team, are determined to take down the Order and restore peace, not to mention settle a personal score. But the deeper the team investigates the bombings, the more they believe there’s a more sinister motive than a desire to shed blood and spread chaos.

Discovering the frightful truth behind the Order’s intent forces Sloane to confront secrets from a past he thought he’d left behind for good, a past that could not only destroy him and his career, but also the reputation of the organization that made him all he is today. Now more than ever, Dex and Sloane need each other, and, along with trust, the strength of their bond will mean the difference between justice and all-out war.

Review:
I liked this better than book one, probably because I was more prepared and knew what I was in for. It better fit my expectations, but it’s still not topping my favourites list.

It’s fairly well written. I kind of thoughts names were occasionally used a little too often to be natural, but didn’t think this was a pervasive issue. It just cropped up now and again. So, I basically have no real complaints about the writing. I don’t remember any big copy edit problems. So, I don’t really have any issue with that either.

It’s just that the whole thing brings out the ‘meh’ in me. Nothing strikes me as deplorable, but nothing makes me fall in love either. The closest the book comes to really piquing my ongoing interest is Ash and Cael’s possible relationship. Dex & Slone: I’m kinda done.

I feel as if the whole thing is like a high school class clown, who’s funny, but obviously trying so hard to be funny that you kinda laugh at him as much as with him and it’s just a little sad. Dex’s antics are over the top, everyone loves him (and really, who’s loved by everyone), he’s too good at his job, too loyal, too funny, too clever, etc. He’s too much.

Sloane, sexy as he is, grated on my nerves. He’s so in his head and so overly dramatic that I basically stopped caring about him. Plus, I thought poor Ash got ignored. I mean, going back to the facility was as bad for him as Sloane, but he gets no screen time for it.

Then there is the percentage of gays in the THIRDS. Now, don’t get me wrong, I read mm romance because I love them and I’m thrilled to know Calvin & Hobbs are working their thing out, Ash & Cael might finally get together, Letty is happy with her long-term girlfriend (or is it Rosa, those women are so secondary, cliché and interchangeable I can’t be sure at this point), Hudson is still pining over Hobb’s brother (and Vice versa), Taylor would love a go at Dex, etc. There appears to be one straight woman in the whole book…well and Maddox. And while individually each is hot in its own way, unless there is some reason for it, it starts to get redundant after a while.

<Don’t read this paragraph if you’re squeamish about sex talk.>If I am really honest, I also happened to think the sex in this one is redundant too. It is just all same-same. I know it seems to be a popular trend these days to cum in the mouth (at least in books, I don’t know about RL), I’m not really bothered by the act itself, but over and over to the exclusion of almost everything else? No thank you, especially when the tone trying to be set is making love as opposed to just fucking. More meh.

I also thought that the ending was anticlimactic. There was all this build-up and then just wham, we’re done. Yes, I get that this was supposed to be indicative of how much of a surprise it was to the leader of the Organisation too, but I felt cheated. Speaking of cheated, am I the only one who would have liked a little shifting in their shifter book? I wanted to see some big cat badass action, but it was not to be.

Anyhow, for a middle of the road, fun but not stellar read this one will do. I’d be happy to read more of Cochet’s reading, but she’s not on auto-buy yet.