#TBRChallenge Review: Pack Challenge

Pack Challenge by Shelly Laurenston
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

*This is a #TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion. 

 Sara took a large, dramatic breath. “I am a werewolf then?” 

Zach looked at her as if she were insane. “There’s no such thing as werewolves.” 

Sara stood up, her aggression coming off her in waves. She could feel it. “Then what the hell are you?” 

“A shapeshifter!” He snapped back. He seemed truly insulted 

This month's #TBRChallenge prompt was Furry Friends and I know you all yawned and said Whiskey's reading about doggos. HA! What could be more Furry Friends than two werewolves shapeshifter wolves banging it out. 

I wish it was 2008 because then I could just say, “Samhain supernatural published romance” and everyone would instantly have a fairly good idea what I mean by tone, story, and characters. This is quintessential Samhain published romance to me. It's wild, fun, side-eyeing, sexy, and two wheels off the rails. 

Readers come into the story as Zach enters a bar in nowhere Texas. There he eavesdrops on two women behind the bar who are discussing their drunk friend Sara. Zach finds Sara on the dance floor and seeing her scarred face and limp, identifies her as who he's looking for. When he rescues her outside from some dudes up to no good and Sara rewards him with pushing him up against the wall and trying to go to town but her friends intervene and drag her away. The beginning is fast, wild, 2006 in the way only 2006 can be with female relationships “You bitch” this and “You bitch” that, and mystery intriguing with Zach having elongating canines and talking on the phone to someone saying “I found her but the others have to.” 

The story develops with readers eventually learning that Sara's parents were shapeshifter wolves but her mom attacked and killed a shapeshifter lion and that lead to her mom and dad being killed, and Sara severely injured in the attack. Sara was taken by her grandmother to raise as a baby and because her grandmother hated shapeshifters, Sara never learned of her heritage and ability. However, Sara works for a shapeshifter wolf and has been watched over. Zach's pack has decided to search for Sara after all these years because the current alpha female senses Zach is going to make a play for alpha and she likes her power and doesn't want to be pushed aside, so she decides to busy Zach with this assignment. 

Zach and Sara have fated mates going on and Sara gets horny as hell whenever he's in the vicinity. This is tagged as erotic and with the story being short and the sex scenes and focus on Sara's aggressive horniness, yeah. Sara and her friends get invited to a rave the visiting shapeshifters are having (did I say two wheels off, excuse me, three) and even though Zach isn't supposed to clue Sara in yet, they end up in a tool shed and he heals her decades long extremely painful leg injury by scratching her (something about bleeding the poison out lol). This also triggers her shifting abilities and suddenly Sara's communication with true blood wolves (I laughed so hard at the snooty true blood wolves making a distinction) makes sense and Sara, for the most part, shrugs and is like, “cool, I'm a shapeshifting wolf.” It's really not mean that I was laughing at parts in this book, the story tone recognizes how crazy this all is and had some really funny parts: 

“Whatever. But he’s one of several. Like the guy’s at the club that first night I was here. He’s Pride.” 

“You mean proud.” 

There was that sigh again. “I mean he’s Pride.” That stated through gritted teeth. 

“Pride? Lions have prides.” 

“Yup.” Sara spun around. “There are lions too?” 

Patient Zach made an entrance. “Yes. And tigers. And mountain lions. There’s an array of shifters.” 

“Bunnies?” Sara watched him swallow. 

“No bunnies.” That through clenched teeth. “Think predators. Our ancestors became one with the predators. Bunnies are low on the food chain.” 

“Sharks?” 

“What?!” 

“Don’t get huffy. They’re the ultimate killing machine.” 

“I can’t have this conversation.” He leaned against the bathroom wall. 

I know there has to be shapeshifting shark romances out there in the year 2024. 

The story ends with some dog and cat fighting, Sara and Zach marking each other to lustily HEA, and moving to CA to alpha the Magnus Pack. Sara's friends are obviously set-up to continue the story (apparently I read the third book of this series in 2010???) and series. 

The romance was lusting, if not deeply loving, the story was supernatural clinging to rails, some of the dialogue was 2006 cringe, but it all came in a short, wild, lively, and pretty good funny moments package.

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