Some spins on shapeshifters just don't work for me, and this was the case. By pg. 3 I was already fed up with cats and dogs. There had been a hundred references to people smelling of cats and dogs, owning cats and dogs, people asking others if they loved cats and dogs, wondering if people had a lot of cats and dogs at home. Omg, enough already. So you're a shifter and you smell like a cat or dog, I got it. I don't need to be hit over the head with it.
I also hate sleazy clubs and for some reason so many authors do them. Vaughn was at a bar with a date, surrounded by women in leopard print bikinis and men in loincloths. He danced with several women but only wanted the heroine, wearing a skirt and low-cut top, who was dancing and kissing another man. Ugh.
But kudos for having the hero watch the heroine kiss another man. But then it was ruined as a platform fell and a dancer was hanging by a chain, and Vaughn climbed a ladder to rescue her and she wrapped herself around him and kissed him after, and other women did too.
I was relieved to learn that Jillian shooting at Vaughn wasn't as psycho as the summary made it out to be. She didn't go all half-cocked and shoot him on a whim. She came to meet her brother, where she found that his friend had been attacked and was dying. Her brother was running through the woods in wolf form, and Vaughn was pursuing him, believing that he had attacked Douglas. So Jillian shot at Vaughn to help her brother.
By pg. 15 I was fed the freak up with the writing. She wrote a million questions, paragraphs peppered with questions the characters had as they tried to figure things out. A crap-ton of inner dialogue and hypothesizing about every single possibility. Every single minute possibility of every single occurrence was broached and I was like SHUT UP ALREADY. We have brains, we can use them to wonder about what's going on without the author clubbing us upside the head with questions to make sure we're on the same track. I can't STAND authors who think they have to spoon-feed readers every little thing and over-explain to the point of exhaustion. Some people just can't write engagingly. This was boring as crap.
“Then somewhere in the deep forest ahead, the wolf suddenly howled. Calling for help? Out there?
That meant he’d stopped long enough to howl. Vaughn raced forward to close the gap, trying to reach the wolf before he ran off again. Or before reinforcements arrived.
Why else would the wolf howl? Other members of his pack must be out there. Maybe he thought he could scare Vaughn off, making him think a wolf shifter pack was out there and would back him up any minute. Vaughn had used that plot himself a time or two. He wasn’t giving up on his prey no matter what. He had to learn the truth. Had the wolf standing next to the bloody mess on the cabin floor been the same wolf who had torn into Douglas? If the blood on the wolf’s muzzle was any indication, and the way he had run off, Vaughn would have to say he certainly could be.
Yet how had a she-wolf, Jillian Matthews, found Douglas, called Leidolf for help, and not been injured by this same wolf?
The chance that this wolf would have left Douglas for dead, run off, then returned after Leidolf’s people had come for Douglas would be pretty slim. Unless the wolf had nearly killed Douglas in anger, then got his rage under control and came back to get rid of any evidence. Maybe he realized he hadn’t made sure Douglas was dead and went back to see. What if Jillian had actually witnessed the attack, and that’s how she knew a wolf had severely injured Douglas and needed Leidolf’s help?
Leidolf hadn’t said Jillian had seen the attack though. Not that Vaughn had given him a chance to respond much. Except for a quick mention that Leidolf would give him the cabin located closest to Douglas’s on the north side while he investigated the attempted murder, Vaughn hadn’t had time to do anything but agree. He was certain Leidolf had as many questions for him as Vaughn had for Jillian. Like how had Vaughn happened to be at the cabin so soon after the incident when he lived in Colorado?
And Vaughn wanted to know just who Jillian was. Douglas’s girlfriend? He didn’t remember Douglas dating anyone by that name.”
Why would you think people want to read the characters obsessing over hypotheticals, almost all of which turn out to not even be true? What a waste of time.
"She wondered how Vaughn had known to come there if he had sneaked out of the clinic and hadn't asked anyone where the guest house was. Unless he'd asked someone earlier."
So interesting! Please keep going on. No, really. When they're hot on the case of an unknown attacker, I was dying of curiosity on how Vaughn left the clinic and then how he managed to find the cabin. You're the only one thinking of that. Trying to cover every single possibility. It drove me insane.
I liked that Vaughn told Jillian that she could kiss him to say she's sorry for shooting him, and she could dance with him like he knew she wanted to at the club. He requested that she be the one to donate her blood to him.
It was a bit much that they both went into the service, and then became PIs. And they both eat ice cream in the winter and their favorite is toffee.
I was getting really annoyed at the repeated petty attempts at jealousy. First all the women at the club 6 months ago when they first saw each other. Then when she was going through Douglas's phone. It wasn't once, the author kept doing it. She would not give it up. She was like a dog with a bone.
She had seen a text where Douglas asked how things were with Cindy, a SEAL, who Jillian had seen him kissing like there wasn't anyone else in his life. It was from a month ago. Vaughn explained that she's focused on her job and just wanted into about being a SEAL and she likes another guy. So I thought we were done. Like don't do that again.
But then Jillian brought up Douglas's pictures and Vaughn worried they were of him up close and personal with women. And I sat there wondering what kind of creep would go around photographing their friends touching and kissing women. And what kind of author would have a side character who keeps photographic evidence of all of the hero's past women? Thanks for that.
She saw him with a woman in a bikini, who turned out to have been Douglas's date. Then saw a picture of him kissing another woman but it was really Vaughn's twin brother and not him. Give it up already! Stop using picture after picture to stir up jealousy.
But to my delight, she wasn't done! No, Jillian just had to bring up another picture she saw of him kissing another woman. You can stop any time now...I had no doubt that she'd do it again.
If you find yourself curious about what happens to the wrapper when the characters have eaten an ice cream bar, have no fear. Spear will take care of it. Because as Jillian and Vaughn were directly in the middle of investigating a treasure hunting lead on her brother and Douglas, she made sure to take time to share that Jillian threw her stick and wrapper in the trash, and then Vaughn was done with his, he threw his wrapper in the trash. Since she didn't mention his stick, I assumed he ate that too. See, if you don't say that he threw his stick away I'm going to assume he hate it. And if you don't say that the characters threw their wrappers away once they're done eating, I'm going to think they have raccoon tendencies and they eat their trash. Because I have to know what happens to the trash from their food. As they were trying to figure out a lead I was wondering where are the ice cream wrappers?!
She said that wolves heal quick and something along the lines of Vaughn would be okay, but then dragged it out for over 3 days. He kept complaining of pain in his shoulder, not being able to do anything, needing rest, etc. And the second day she had Jillian incapacitated too. A jaguar jumped on her and knocked her unconscious, gave her a concussion, which caused her to be in pain and needing rest.
She also managed to slip in an adult coloring book. Guess they were just coming out at this time and it was supposed to drum up popularity or something. I found two adults sitting down to color together to be extremely unrealistic and also so far from hot it wasn't even funny. I thought this was supposed to be a romance, not an old person hobby. It felt like a day in the life of an elderly person.
When Vaughn thought they couldn't even have sex unless they were mated, I was like what? You’re really having these two adults, who are in bed getting each other off, postponing sex because they have to be mated first? I couldn’t believe it!
She made use of the twin device, actually overuse of it. It felt like a soap opera. And this featured not one set of twins, but 3! Vaughn is a twin and Jillian mistook him for his twin in a picture where his twin brother was kissing another woman.
Vaughn told her of a case where he had served divorce papers to a man, except his twin brother came charging to the door with a gun, thinking that his wife was serving him.
They went to visit Douglas and saw that a jaguar had snuck into his room. They pursued him and a human shooter started firing at them. Jillian pursued him, where she identified him as Wayne, the quiet friend of the jaguar Kira and Brutus. He went to a vehicle, where another man who looked exactly like him started firing too. Because he had a twin brother! 3 sets of twins...As a twin, I was rolling my eyes.
Things really took a then then and got ultra-complicated. I could barely follow along as they sat down for another rousing game of 20 questions. Kira, who Jillian's brother Miles had been sleeping with, claimed to have a brother Brutus, who she was caught kissing in a picture because Douglas apparently photographs every moment of his life--convenient!--so he was obviously not her brother.
So many names were being thrown out.
The author, in typical fashion, started going on about every possibility under the sun, like we care. I didn't care about Kira's past and her 3 dead husbands of mysterious circumstances. They wondered if one was related to one of her deceased husbands, if Simon and Wayne were cousins and that would explain why Wayne had a different last name, or half brothers, or twins and both brothers or cousins to Kira's dead husband. Then they started hypothesizing on if Simon and Wayne were related to the man and were avenging his death at the hands of Kira. I DON'T CARE.
I did enjoy the phone call Jillian pretended to be on in front of Brutus at the jail, where she pretended to talk to Demetria, the female jaguar, about apprehending Kira and her turning on Brutus. She put on a good show about it with the info they had, and suggested that Brutus had been the one to murder Kira's husbands in hopes that Brutus would talk.
There seemed to be a bizarre ritual, and I couldn't believe the author actually used the word courting, where you just mate everyone you're going to sleep with. I couldn't pinpoint exactly what mating meant in here because it wasn't explained, but it was crazy. It made a mountain out of just dating someone. So there they were, not able to have sex because they weren't mated, only had one soft sex scene where they pleasured each other but didn't go all the way, and now they were "courting." She had a phone call with her parents where they were already planning to move in next to them for when they have kids, and they weren't even mated, whatever that meant. I was like slow down. I hate overbearing parents. And Vaughn was sure their courting would work out. This was the earliest one in the series that the library had, so I guess by this point the author had stopped explaining how mates worked. But I sure didn't get it, and I didn't like it. So antiquated and boring and proper.
They had their claiming in front of Douglas. Vaughn always talked to Douglas while he was in the coma to try to bring him back, so he was telling Douglas about being with Jillian. So Douglas spoke for the first time and asked if they were mates and they declared it right there, in front of a third party. And it was shared that they knew each other for 3 days! What kind of a messed-up timeframe is that to have two people fall in love? I can’t stand that.
I like how he said it better be Kira who was bleeding and not Jillian.
So then Kira and Brutus was cleared because their DNA didn't match what was on Douglas. So there went our bad guys. It felt like it was just done for the sake of surprising readers and throwing a twist in. Like you thought it was the obvious bad guys, it's not! It's only 2 of the bad guys...I really didn't care but I did want it to be them because I didn't like them. It was down to just Simon and Wayne, who were somehow related to her dead husband.
If you like reading extremely long-winded conversations of the characters going over what happened, why it could have happened, another reason why it could have happened, another reason why it could happened, and maybe yet another reason why it could have happened, and then telling everyone else about what they're going to be doing, and then listening to what everyone else is going to be doing, and then doing it, and then calling everyone to tell them what they learned, and then what they'll be doing now, this is the book for you. Talking ad nauseum.
The conversations were so stilted and unnatural. Every character just kept going on these tangents every time they opened their mouth. Like "Idk how they could have happened. I can't believe it. I wonder if that's because he's related to him, and he's getting back at her. Or if he's related to another guy, but that would mean this...Or what if that's not it at all, and it's really this? I would have told you but I didn't know. And then I just kept it to myself and JUST SHUT UP ALREADY. Gosh it was freaking killing me! My patience was being ripped through.
They went on and on about how they were going to cross the creek, which one would be a human and have the gun, and which one a wolf, who would carry what supplies, how they would carry them, when they would switch. I couldn’t believe what I was reading!
This was one bumpy ride. Brutus pretended to be sick so the guard would come in, and he escaped with Kira. He attacked Vaughn so Jillian had to shoot him dead. Brutus had killed all 3 of her husbands and she hadn't known about it. Wayne and Simon were avenging their brother's death but when they found out about the treasure they waited to see if they could cash in first. And the guy had been diving at the time and had managed to take a picture at the exact moment that Brutus was coming up behind him and again when Brutus grabbed him. I was snorting at the incredible evidence these photo-loving people provided. Oh so convenient and oh so unbelievable.
Brutus and Kira were after the treasure, wanted to be Douglas's only partners. Brutus tried to kill Wayne and tried to kill Miles to get them out of the picture. Wayne went to the cabin to confront her, where Douglas told him he knew what they were all up to and didn't want them diving with him. Wayne got mad and attacked him.
Kira's mom came to town, suddenly knowing something about her estranged daughter. All of a sudden she was sure Kira had killed all 3 of her husbands and that she'd set into Miles next. Miles was a desperate loser to believe Kira anyway. If he was stupid enough to fall for her act after everything they told him about her, he would deserve it.
But when she said she wanted to find evidence to prove Kira and Brutus were lovers, and she said she found a photograph, I felt like busting out laughing. You have got to be kidding me! The millionth photograph saved the day. Almost the only evidence this author can think of is pictures. How many cases can claim to have an incriminating photo, much less a million like in here?
It was so boring. I was reading so much because I had nothing else to do, not because I wanted to know what happened. When the treasure hunting thing came up I couldn't believe it because it was so random.
There wasn’t enough alone time between the MCs. They were always with other people. The case took priority and when they did manage to have like those 2 or 3 bedroom scenes, it was at bad timing. Like right after they were talking about the case, and then once they were done they’d go right back to trying to figure the case out. Terrible moments to have sex. They were all ruined.
She said “she-wolf” and “she-cat.” I really didn’t care for that, like females always have to be differentiated from males. They’re a wolf or a cat, the same as the men. Being a woman doesn’t mean you’re a separate being and these terms sounded ridiculous and sexist.
I can't even articulate how moronic it sounded to have these adults saying the "Kitty Cat Club."
It wasn't until pg. 221 that wolf dating was explained. Wolves know instantly if they meet their mate and if they'll suited, and dating is just for their human sides. But since Jillian and Vaughn weren’t virgins, how does that work?? They just mate every person they sleep with?? Explain!
The only reason they were together was because they "knew" they were meant to be together. They were mates and that's why, like it was predetermined. I didn't feel any real attraction on their part. It just wasn't believable or done well.
If you enjoy hearing about every meal the cast of characters has, and who's cooking what, and how good it is, and if you want to read about a group of adults sitting down and coloring together, then this is it. How Vaughn knew they were cooking chicken, how he got there to eat the chicken, how he’d smelled the chicken, how good the chicken was. Who made the potato salad, who helped with the potato salad, how good the potato salad is. I DON’T CARE WHAT THEY’RE EATING.
I couldn’t believe I was reading grown adults coloring. It wasn't just the adult coloring books, the term "selfie" and "photobombed" made appearances too. So cool! I hate when social media lingo and these stupid fads appear in books. Let's keep reading sacred.
Everyone kept frowning all the time and showing their displeasure in other ways. Namely Jillian, which made her come off as really abrasive and temperamental. She needs to use synonyms.
She kept having them bring up that Jillian shot him. They both brought it up over and over throughout the entire novel, milking it for all it was worth. It wasn’t funny.
The only good things about this were the cover and the new book smell. It still had that delicious smell and those were the only 2 things I really enjoyed. Too focused on side characters, heat factor was lukewarm, and a "mate bond" that seemed to eliminate a need for any semblance of a real relationship, chemistry or tension.