REVIEWED BY CINDY

TITLE: The Pack or the Panther

AUTHOR: Tara Lain

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 202 Pages 

BLURB: Cole Harker, son of an alpha werewolf, is bigger and more powerful than most wolves, tongue-tied in groups, and gay. For twenty-four years, he’s lived to please his family and pack—even letting them promise him in marriage to female werewolf Analiese to secure a pack alliance and help save them from a powerful gangster who wants their land. Then Cole meets Analiese’s half-brother, panther shifter Paris Marketo, and for the first time, Cole wants something for himself.

When Analiese runs off to marry a human, Cole finally has a chance with Paris, but the solitary cat rejects him, the pack, and everything it represents. Then Cole discovers the gangster wants Paris too and won’t rest until he has him. What started as a land dispute turns into World War Wolf! But the bigger fight is the battle between cats and dogs.

REVIEW:

I’m a big lover of shifter stories and so I was really looking forward to this story. The premise is interesting, what with mixing wolves and panthers and crazy mobsters. Pack dynamics are always interesting especially when you add them to people’s love-lives and so I had high hopes.

It had a lot of potential, but unfortunately this story fell a little short of my expectations. I had a few issues, the first being how rushed it all was. This story needed a little more time to develop some anticipation and let you fall a little more for the characters. Everyone was so busy rushing in and rushing out that it was hard to get involved in the story.

Cole is a wolf you want to love. Sweet, loyal and loving, he’s ready to give up his future to do the right thing for his family and his pack.

Paris isn’t very likable at the beginning but he grew on me. When you come to understand why he is the way he is, you can forgive his attitude.

Cole’s best friend Lindsey is a sweet surprise and a continuous source of entertainment.

These characters should have added up to an all-star cast but it just kind of fizzled out. The dialogue is a little cheesy and the whole “puppy and kitty” thing kind of got old about half-way through the book.

There were things that I liked a lot. Cole took some time to come into his own and didn’t go from shy puppy to big bad wolf immediately. I wanted to love him so bad and I did come to like him a lot. His pain at being rejected while trying to do the right thing is easy to see and I kind of wanted to slap someone for hurting him.

I loved seeing Cole rushing to the rescue and I loved the description of Paris awakening to find out he was free, but the whole incident was over far too quickly and kind of anticlimactic as was the ending.

All in all, the story was okay and if you like something sweet with the angst and violence kept to a minimum, then this story is for you.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner Press  ::  Amazon