maandag 21 april 2014

Shelly Laurenston – Bite Me

The ninth book in the Pride series, published April 7, 2014.
Genre: paranormal romance
Cover: nice

Bite Me photo BITE-ME-200x300_zps48726c8e.jpg

Livy Kowalski has no time for idiots. When you shapeshift into a honey badger, getting through life’s irritants is a finely honed skill. Until she gets stuck housing her nutso cousin and dealing with her dad’s untimely and unexplained demise.
That’s where Vic Barinov comes in—or his house does. Vic can’t step outside without coming back to find Livy devouring his honey stash and getting the TV remote sticky. It gets his animal instincts all riled up. But he’ll have to woo her at high speed: all hell is breaking loose, and Livy is leading the charge…


I was interested in Livy (Olivia) Kowalski from the first moment I met her in one of the previous books. So when I discovered this was her story, I was anticipating it with glee! Livy sure is a character like none other. She is a honey badger, really violent and honest, she does not play games and goes after what she wants. Unlike her criminal family, she is not a thief or con artist, although she loves sneaking into people’s houses when they are away and make herself at home. She is also a great artist in photography, but she is afraid she has lost her drive. So when Blaine asks her to be her wedding photographer, she thinks she cannot have sunk lower.


I love this series, and I am kind of sad that Shelly Laurenston is going to focus on new things for a while, but she sure ended with a good book. The main story arc is solved, the bad guys are caught and punished and there are still plenty of characters who could use their own story in the future.

I loved Livy and of course bear-tiger Vic Barinov. They are so great together, especially as they both have no clue they are really much more than friends. Vic stands up for her, and when she is helping him with his investigation into the whereabouts of the man who is organizing hunts on shifters, she finds the stuffed body of her father.

Why did her mother lie to her, and who is in his coffin for real? Livy is determined to get to the truth and find the man who killed her father. She might not have liked him, but he was still her father, and honey badgers are all about revenge. She takes charge of her large family, and they all work together to help them. Who ever is protecting this man, and influencing the big agencies in quitting the case, has no chance against them.
I really disliked Livy’s mother and her female relatives, but I really liked her father’s male family. They are all thieves and con artists, and they don’t understand Livy and her dislike of that life at all, but at least they respect her choices as she is still their niece.

I had so much fun reading this story, some of the Jackal prodigies play a part in this book as well, like the creepy Kyle, as Livy and his big sister are best of friends. Of course many of the secondary characters in this book have featured in the previous books, and as always I love seeing them again.

Livy is especially vicious playing the roller derby, and I totally understand why she only gets to play the major games and not all of them. And it was refreshing that Vic had no interest in sports at all, compared to all the other male heroes so far.

Great series, highly recommend it. It is fun, is fast paced, lots of humor, violence and some hot love scenes and many types of shifters, and as far as I remember, the only one with hybrids. I have read other books where the cubs/pups will be one of the species their parents are, but these are mixed.

9 stars.



Autobuy authorLove this book

buy the book from The Book Depository, free delivery

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian

18 opmerkingen:

  1. I just started reading The Mane Event a couple of days ago. So far, so good! I'm glad the series is still awesome 9 books in ;)

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    1. If you like the first book Jessica, they only get better. I have fun reading those.

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  2. I'm so sorry to read that S. L. is going to concentrate on other things - if it were for me that series could go indefinitely!

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  3. You are one of the bloggers that keeps me drooling over this series. I have them all on my wishlist and I swear I'm going to read them all one day. You have made me push this one up the list! :D

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    1. Lol now is your chance to catch up Melissa. But yes, I think you will love these.

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  4. oh it's so nice! I saw the book on NG but when I saw it wasn't book 1 and passed. I think I really should try book 1.

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    1. Yes, it is a great series Melliane. But I don't recommend starting with this one.

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  5. A honey badger? Seriously? But it is carnivorous and native to Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent! Ok, no problem. Honey badger who eats honey. *snort*

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    1. Lol I recently saw a BBC film about this animal on Facebook and it so fits the characters in this book.

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  6. Woot! I really enjoyed this one too. Kyle totally cracks me up with his creepy self. lol I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next :)

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    1. Hi Anna, it is such a great series, I just want more.

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  7. I loved the little letter SL wrote about the cover. I'm also sad that this is the last book in this series. Luckely she also writes as G.A. Aiken and those books are also awsome!

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    1. Hi Maia, unfortunately, the GA Aiken books are just not my thing, but I am glad you love them.

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  8. I've wanted to read this one since I first saw this cover, it's so eye catching. Anna convinced me I had to start from the beginning, so I guess that's what I'll do. I hope to pick up the first book soon.

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