R.E. Butler

“It’s not you, it’s me,” is a classic breakup line that’s often a cop-out. I am confessing that this review is a variation of that classic. The story is adequately written and edited, but my mental editor ruined the story for me. I was distracted by my constant comparisons to Laurell Hamilton’s 2 major series and, for me, this story failed to rise above those distractions. In just the first part of the book there is: Petite and curvy heroine doing 1st person narration. Power/political/protection alliances, multiple bed partners, unusually-strong powers, pressure to act for the good of the group. Bodyguards everywhere. Detailed descriptions of gorgeous bedmates. A vamp who sends her event-specific clothing and loves to watch her eat food.

Then, I consciously started searching for ways that the narratives were different—even more distracting.

This brings us back to my cop-out—it’s not the book, it’s me. The book is a quick read that spends too much time on some details and rushes through others, but was well-written enough that I finished reading it, even though I struggled with myself to get there, primarily because I had included it on my list for a Goodreads group challenge.
… (mer)

Decent shifter ménage. One of the biggest problems I had with the book was that the heroes were not well differentiated. To further this problem, the author used too many pronouns. She did a lot of head jumping between the three guys and didn't always clarify that she had switched characters by restating the proper guy's name.

I liked that the heroine was not a perfect woman. I believe girls who have lived a little too far on the wild side can have a wake up moment and more power to them if they can turn their lives around. I liked the way that there was a rationale for the hyena shifters to have one mate to share. That was the way their society was structured. Even though I have not read other books by this author it was evident that thought had been put into each different shifter society.

The small suspense plot that ran through the book gave just enough background to carry the story along. The book was a bit too saccharine in places with all the insta love going on but that's generally par for the course and I held my cringes down and just kept reading. Sometimes you just need to read some man and man and man on girl fun.… (mer)