'Here Kitty, Kitty' Magnus Pack #3 by Shelly LAURENSTON

From the BLURB:

What do you do when you've got a hillbilly tiger by the tail? Or maybe the question should be: what wouldn't you do…

Nikolai Vorislav likes his single life just as it is. Simple, relaxing, and quiet. What he doesn't need is some foul-mouthed Texas hellcat living in his house, eating his food, flirting with his idiot brothers, and shooting holes in his home with his granddaddy's gun. But those long legs, dark eyes, and lethal tongue are making Nik insane and he fears he may be caught in the sexiest animal trap ever.

Angelina Santiago doesn't know how she got from Texas to North Carolina in a night or how she ended up in some hillbilly tiger's house wearing only a sheet. What she does know is that she doesn't like good ol' boys with slow, sexy drawls who can't seem to stop rubbing up against her. Yet in order to protect her friends, Angie has to stay with a cat who seems hellbent on finding all sorts of delicious ways to make her purr.

‘Here Kitty, Kitty’ is the third and final book in Shelly Laurenston’s uproariously erotic ‘Magnus Pack’ paranormal series.

In this final instalment Angelina Santiago, best friend to the werewolf Magnus Pack Alpha bitch, is kidnapped and finds herself in the middle of Cat Nation peace negotiations.

There has been bad blood between the werewolves and the lion shapeshifters, and when Angelina finds herself about to become kitty litter, some very kind southern shapeshifter gentlemen intervene.

The Varislov brothers are tiger shapeshifters, and they can’t stop themselves from helping out a pretty lady. . . even if it means kidnapping her across state-lines and possibly incurring the wrath of the Magnus Pack’s bitch Alpha.

It’s up to the eldest Varislov brother, Nik, to smack some sense into his younger brothers. But by the time he learns of their stupid kidnapping scheme, he’s already laid his eyes on the beautiful and leggy Angelina Santiago. . .

I have loved reading Shelly Laurenston’s ‘Magnus Pack’ trilogy. It’s as funny as it is smutty and Laurenston delivers a perfect send-off in ‘Here Kitty, Kitty.’

Laurenston moves away from the wolf dynamic, and introduces tiger shapeshifters. This is a whole different breed of supernatural with entirely different rules. For one thing tiger males don’t mate for life; they procreate as much as possible. Except that the Varislov family had a very unusual tiger upbringing. Their father, Boris, insisted that he only have tiger cubs to one female – his one true love, Natalia. While Natalia was never thrilled with Boris’s territorial and abnormally romantic ways, Nik was even less so. . . considered outcasts by the cat community for their father’s odd attachment to their mother, Nik has always felt ‘defective’ and freakish. He’s never understood his father’s desire to mate with only one female for life. . . until Angelina Santiago saunters into Nik’s mansion.

Nik walked toward her, water dripping down every long, wonderful inch of him. With his long legs, it took him no time to reach her chair. He crouched down next to her and gently, with one of those big hands, closed her mouth.

“Catchin’ flies, sugar?”

Nik can suddenly sympathize with his father’s keen attachment for one woman, because Angelina ignites similarly territorial instincts in Nik (despite his previously womanizing ways).

These two are hilariously adorable together. Never mind that Angelina is a ballsy female who doesn’t enjoy being kidnapped (really, toilet appliances become deadly weapons in her hands!), but Nik is just the man to match her tit for tat.

Angie stretched like a big lazy cat, her hands grasping the headboard. “Do you like my shoes, hillbilly? The salesman said I looked fabulous in them.”

“Oh, yeah. They’re nice. Now let’s see if they look any better on my shoulders. . .”

Nik and Angelina have some of the steamiest scenes of the entire ‘Magnus Pack’ trilogy, and they are deliciously smutty, to say the least.

But my favourite aspect of this series has been, hands down, the friendship between Sara, Miki and Angelina. These are some funny bitches, right here. And in ‘Here Kitty, Kitty’ the bonds of their friendship is tested and tightened like never before;

Sara again crouches in front of her, both her hands buried in the woman’s hair. She pulled her head back, their faces so close they could have been lovers.

“Listen to me carefully. If anything else happens to my friends, there is no place in this universe where you’ll be able to hide. . .” Sara’s voice dropped impossibly lower, “. . . from me.”

With that, Sara stood, dragging the woman with her.

I have laughed, I have blushed and I have loved Shelly Laurenston’s paranormal romance trilogy. She offers up just the right amount of over-the-top hilarity to be simmered with mouth-watering erotica. Fantastic!

5/5

'Go Fetch!' Magnus Pack #2 by Shelly LAURENSTON

From the BLURB:

How much trouble can one small female be to a modern-day shapeshifting Viking? Well…it really depends on local gun laws.

Conall Víga-Feilan, direct descendent of Viking shifters, never thought he'd meet a female strong enough to be his mate. He especially didn't think a short, viper-tongued human would ever fit the bill. But Miki Kendrick isn't some average human. With an IQ off the charts and a special skill with weapons of all kinds, Miki brings the big blond pooch to his knees-and keeps him there.

Miki's way too smart to ever believe in love and she knows a guy like Conall could only want one thing from her. But with the Pack's enemies on her tail and a few days stuck alone with the one man who makes her absolutely wild, Miki is about to discover how persistent one Viking wolf can be.

‘Go Fetch’ is the second book in the hilariously filthy ‘Magnus Pack’ paranormal romance, by Shelly Laurenston.

Conall Víga-Feilan knew he was in trouble the moment he laid eyes on his Alpha’s best friend, the pint-sized Miki Kendrick. But no matter how much he panted, chased and rolled over. . . Miki just wasn’t interested. But now she’s leaving Texas and venturing to California to visit Sara, maybe this is Conall’s chance to nab the delectable pixie?

Miki doesn’t understand why everyone thinks Conall is a big teddy bear – clearly he’s a ruthless, pillaging Viking! And the last thing Miki needs is that blonde behemoth tempting her to the dark side. Miki has walked that line, but now she’s a retired hacker with a clean record and her sights set on a PhD. If only that big, blonde boy-toy wasn’t so darn sexy. . .

I loved first book ‘Pack Challenge’, and Laurenston’s follow-up doesn’t disappoint.

This time the story is about Miki Kendrick, one member of the trio of females which the ‘Magnus Pack’ series focuses on. Miki and Conall were steaming up the page in ‘Pack Challenge’, no matter how badly Miki tried to avoid the blonde Viking shapeshifter.

Conall is big – nine foot, in Miki’s exaggerated terms. But like most big men, he tries to hide and not intimidate the fairer sex with his size. But Miki ain’t buying it;

“I see it in your eyes,” she continued. “You’re all wolf. But there’s something more. Something...” She stared up at him and it felt like she was walking around his backyard, examining his chained wolf, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Actually, he thought he’d locked that gate.

She nodded. “You’re more like your name. A Viking. But you know what, Viking? I’m not some British Isle for you to conquer. So go find yourself some nice, wafer-thin girl who’ll happily buy your bullshit. Whose heart you can break without a second thought. I’m off limits.”

Conall is intrigued by Miki’s accurate description of him. And Miki, against her better judgement, is flattered by his attention and charmed by his sense of humour. But Miki came from a single-parent household, after her absentee dad abandoned her in the womb. Miki does not trust men, especially not perceived ‘players’ like Conall.

She backed up once again and slammed into a dresser. She held her arm up as if to ward him off. “Stay!”

And he did.

“Look, you’re an unnaturally large, good-looking guy. I’m sure there are a plethora of women out there who would be perfect for you.”

“Personally, I like women who can successfully use ‘plethora’ in a sentence.”

These two are hilarious! Honestly, I thought Sara and Zach were a bellyful of laughs, but Miki and Conall take the cake.

Miki has an off-the-charts IQ, and I loved the fact that Conall took that in stride. He’s not intimidated by Miki’s brilliance; in fact, he’s well and truly turned on. Upon hearing that Miki has an IQ of one hundred and seventy-eight, Conall replies with this gem;

“Well, so you don’t get too cocky, I myself often complete the TV Guide crossword puzzle.” He puffed his chest out. “In pen.”

Conall was absolutely gorgeous. Big, blonde and beautiful and infectiously laid-back. Miki was perfect for him – with her pint-sized viper personality. These two clash and it’s as sweet as it is hilarious!

The smut is, once again, sublime. And the romance is adorable. But I’m finding that my favourite thing about Shelly Laurenston’s addictive series is the laughs – her wonderful weaving of romance, erotica and comedy is impressive and unique for a genre that’s normally one or the other, but rarely both.

5/5

'Pack Challenge' Magnus Pack #1 by Shelly LAURENSTON

From the BLURB:

All Zach Sheridan ever wanted was to become Alpha Male of his Pack and to be left alone. What he definitely didn't need in his life was some needy female demanding his attention. What he never saw coming was the vicious, scarred female who not only demanded his attention but knew exactly how to get it.

Sara Morrighan knew this was the best she could expect from her life. Good friends. A nice place to live. And a safe job. But when Zach rode into her small Texas town with his motorcycle club, Sara knew she wanted more. She knew she wanted him. But after one sexy encounter with her dream biker, everything is starting to change. Her body. Her strength. That new thing she's doing with the snarling. Even her best friends are starting to wonder what's going on with her.

But this is only the beginning. Sara's about to find out her life was meant for so much more. And Zach's about to find true love with the one woman who makes him absolutely insane.

‘Pack Challenge’ is the first book in Shelly Laurenston’s paranormal romance trilogy, ‘Magnus Pack’.

Sara Morrighan hasn’t ever expected much out of life. Her parents died when she was young, and the animal attack that killed her father left Sara with a permanent limp and scarred face. . . and in her evil grandmother’s care. Now in her late twenties, and her god-awful Gran buried for one year, Sara still doesn’t expect a whole lot out of life. She has her two best friends, Miki and Angelina, and together they raise hell in their small Texas town. . . much to the chagrin of her employer and surrogate father, Marrec. But Sara has no illusions about a gimp like her finding love, happiness yadda, yadda, yadda. Until one day a biker gang breeze into town. . . with Zach Sheridan amongst them.

Zach awakens something primal and urgent in Sara. . . and she can’t quite put her finger on it. He feels like home and when she’s with him, it’s as if she’s waking up from a long sleep. But those feelings will get a cripple like her into trouble, hopes up and dashed. So Sara does what any self-respecting woman would do to the man she’s attracted to. . . she’s mean to him.

Do you know why clichés are so annoying? Because they’re often true. Take the oldie (but a goodie) ‘Never judge a book by its cover’. That old chestnut is a pain in the ass because it’s actually a damn good piece of advice. . . and should be taken in conjunction with Shelly Laurenston’s book, ‘Pack Challenge’.

Judging by the shonky front cover, I thought this would be a throw-away erotica read. A pretty reasonably priced Kindle e-book (roughly $4 on Amazon) that would fulfil all smutty expectations, if no literary ones.

Oh, how wrong I was.

Yes, the smut content is high and gloriously carnal. But Shelly Laurenston totally surprised me... delightfully so.

First of all, the book is funny. I mean laugh-out-loud and embarrassingly-cackle-on-the-train kinda funny. Most of the laughs come from the dynamic between the three female friends, Sara, Angelina and Miki. These gal pals have been tight since they were eight-years-old, and they’ve been raising hell ever since. They know each other’s quirks and foibles (like an unwise penchant for rodeo clowns) and they call each other out all the time. There’s clear love between this trio of friends – that unabashed and unconditional love that comes for the family of our making. But more than that, these three share a wicked sense of humour. They’re uncouth, to be sure. Or as Zach and his pack come to call them, ‘crazy, loud-mouthed bitches’. But they’re damn endearing. From their swearing fisticuffs to barroom brawls, this trio will have you in stitches.

Miki cut in. “I’m not picking your fat ass off the floor yet again.”

Sara’s eyes narrowed. “My ass is not fat.”

“Are you happy in your fantasy world, sweetie?” Angie asked, her arm around Sara’s shoulders. “Are your tits small there, too?” Angie ducked when Sara jokingly raised her fist.

Angelina, Sara and Miki are the focal point of this series (the next two books focus on HEA’s for Miki and Angelina, respectively). And really, it’s clear that the love these girls have for one another is just one of the romances of the ‘Magnus Pack’ series.

The first romance is between Sara and Zach. . . and it’s H-O-T. Here, Laurenston delivers on all the smutted-up promise of that B-grade front cover. But there’s more to Zach and Sara than just kinky sex. There’s a lot of emotional tension between them because Sara doesn’t believe her self-worth, and Zach can’t believe he’s falling for a foul-mouthed Alpha bitch.

But the best thing about Sara and Zach is that they play – they have an easy camaraderie and chemistry that endeared them to me instantly. And their exchanges are often hilarious;

“You’re trying to make me crazy, aren’t you?”

“Not at all.” Sara put her bowl down. “I’m just saying there could be bunny shifters.”

“There are no bunny shifters!”

Shaking her head she accused, “You’re a bunny bigot.”

Zach threw his spoon back in the near-empty bowl. “And there is no such thing as bunny bigots.”

“Bunny bigot,” she accused again.

Shelly Laurenston effortlessly swings between erotica and comedy – fusing them together to make ‘Pack Challenge’ as equally laugh-out-loud as it is blush-worthy. Impressive. . . and I would have never guessed the hidden depths from that front cover.

I am definitely tucking into the next two books in this series, and checking out Shelly Laurenston’s back-list of books.

5/5