Reviewed by Danielle

Title: How to Howl at the Moon

Series: Howl at the Moon #1

Author : Eli Easton

Publisher: Pinkerton Road

Length : 196 pages

Blurb:

Sheriff Lance Beaufort is not going to let trouble into his town, no sir. Tucked away in the California mountains, Mad Creek has secrets to keep, like the fact that half the town consists of ‘quickened’—dogs who have gained the ability to become human. Descended on both sides from Border Collies, Lance is as alert a guardian as they come.

Tim Weston is looking for a safe haven. After learning that his boss patented all of Tim’s work on vegetable hybrids in his own name, Tim quit his old job. A client offers him use of her cabin in Mad Creek, and Tim sees a chance for a new start. But the shy gardener has a way of fumbling and sounding like a liar around strangers, particularly gorgeous alpha men like Sheriff Beaufort.

Lance’s hackles are definitely raised by the lanky young stranger. He’s concerned about marijuana growers moving into Mad Creek, and he’s not satisfied with the boy’s story. Lance decides a bit of undercover work is called for. When Tim hits a beautiful black collie with his car and adopts the dog, its love at first sight for both Tim and Lance’s inner dog. Pretending to be a pet is about to get Sheriff Beaufort in very hot water

REVIEW:

What a delightful, refreshing story. Eli Easton introduces us to a new series, this time about a dog shifters pack in the wonderful town of Mad Creek. This first part stars dog shifter Sherif Lance Beaufort

The other star in this wonderful novel is Tim, a man who came to Mad Creek after needing a place to live desperately after losing not only his job but also his home and supportive needs.

In coming to Mad Creek, Tim hopes to be able to breed some new seeds to make a living after losing his patents to his former boss. He made an exchange with the owner of a cabin to breed a special rose for living there and he is trying to make ends meet.

Because of a misunderstanding, Lance takes Tim for something he isn’t at first. He therefore makes quite a radical decision to stay close to him and shifts into his dog form. Tricking Tim in letting him think he hurt this beautiful dog, Chance, Lance  finds a way into Tim’s temporary home, but he couldn’t have imagined what it would do to him being so close.

As Chance, Lance gains Tim’s trust and offers him the much needed comfort. When time passes on it gets harder and harder for Lance to leave in the morning to get to his day job as a human without being able to tell Tim any of it.

Mix all this in with marijuana dealers threatening Mad Creek, a very dominant, interfering mother, Lily, a deputy named Roman who works alongside Lance  (when do we get his story this reader desperately wants to know) and a wonderful town full of friendly people, both shifters and humans. Gus, Jane, Daisy, just to name a few, and together they make this a lovely, funny, sweet and easy to read story.

The moments where Change gives Tim love and protectiveness are, for a dog lover, so real and so true and they made me feel warm inside. The loyalty and togetherness of the town and his pack made me want to go live there and be part of it and when Lance and Tim come together it is fireworks in all the right ways.

Author Eli Easton did a wonderful job on making this story very easy to read, the writing is very well done and flows wonderfully.

Miss Easton made sure the story didn’t go too smoothly, crafting some serious issues that needed to be dealt with and it sure as hell took some time to built trust, and rebuilt that trust when it’s lost and that for me made this book just that tad more intimate and more than a very good book that I really liked.

There for a well deserved 4.5 stars for this first part in this new series by this author. I for one hope to see the second part in not too long. (secretly hoping it will be Roman’s story, although there are more candidates possible).

RATING:

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