Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Behind The Eight Ball
SERIES: Fur, Fangs, and Felines #2
AUTHOR: M.A. Church
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 214 Pages
BLURB:
A cool morning, a yard full of birds, and a kitty on a mission. What more could a werecat want? Beta Heller Wirth has it all, except a mate—a shifter mate, that is. The last thing he wants is one of those dangerous humans who kill without remorse. Heller knows about that firsthand. So what does the goddess Bast do? She gives Heller exactly what he does not want—a human: business owner Lawson Dupre.
Lawson hasn’t a clue what just happened in his car detail shop. One minute a cute client is about to pass out, and then he perks up and starts flirting. Next thing, he runs out the door like the hounds of hell are after him. Learning that Heller is a werecat doesn’t freak out Lawson. He happens to be one of those rare humans who knows paranormals exists. He even lives with one. Watch the fur fly as Heller and Lawson battle hurt feelings, misguided beliefs, and a power shift in Heller’s clowder.
REVIEW:
Cat shifter Heller Wirth hates humans. He’s kind of making an effort to tolerate them, since his future alpha went and mated one, but he knows that despite what others are saying, humans are a violent and dangerous species. As far as Heller is concerned, the very worst thing that could happen would be to discover his fated mate is a human (okay, actually, when he thought his mate was a teenage girl, that was pretty bad too) but that’s exactly what happens when he meets Lawson Dupre.
Lawson knows all about paranormals, he dated one, and now he lives with them. As far as he’s concerned, the only problem with finding out that he’s mated to a cat shifter is the fact that the shifter in question is apparently rejecting him. Luckily for Heller, Lawson is a pretty forgiving guy.
This is the second book in the Fur, Fangs and Felines series, the first one being a ménage between two cat shifters and their human mate. You could read this story as a standalone but the main characters from the previous book make quite a few appearances here. I think that if you didn’t already know these characters their large presence in this story might end up a bit annoying. Personally, I loved hearing how the three of them were fairing in their relationship, but I know from experience with other series, too much time spent on characters who aren’t the MCs can get irritating if you have no idea of who they are.
Some of the things I loved most about this book are the same things I enjoyed in the first book, so I’m guessing they will be characteristic of the continuing series. Firstly, we don’t get the usual stereotypes of the dominant alpha shifter and the cute twinkish human who always seems to require saving from something or other. Not that I have anything against stereotypes, but I think authors who buck the trends successfully, as M.A. Church does with these books, create more memorable, interesting characters.
I also love the fact that these hot, sexy, “manly” men shift into domestic cats (albeit large ones) instead of the more commonly used lions, tigers or other big cats. This book begins with Heller hunting birds in his cat form and although I can’t claim to understand how a cat’s brain works, I think the author absolutely nailed her own interpretation of it. The scenes in this series where the bell balls and squeaky toys come out are an absolute joy to read and might just be my favourite aspect of these books.
As for Heller’s human-phobia, well we finally get to hear his story and thankfully it’s good enough that it allows you to forgive his douchery. I was worried that the whole book might end up a backwards and forwards of Heller wanting his human mate only to push him away again, but thankfully the author didn’t do that. The two men were hot together, their first time was particularly explosive, yet another thing that I also noted about the first story. This author can undoubtedly write a scorcher of a sex scene.
Although Heller and Lawson’s romance is all sorted by the end of this book, there are still some parts of this story that are left incomplete. It appears that the third book in the series will lead straight on from this but with two different main characters. All I can say is I’m more than eager to get my hands on that next installment.
RATING: 
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