Reviewed by Sadonna
SERIES: Jacqui the Cat Mysteries Series, Books #1-4
AUTHOR: Alexis Duran
PUBLISHER: ShadowSpinners Press
SERIES RATING: 
TITLE: Prowl, Book #1
RELEASE DATE: May 29, 2018
BLURB:
Jacqui Corleone is a fashion designer, a yoga-instructor and a concerned citizen who selflessly helps the police solve crimes. Oh, and he occasionally turns into a small wild cat. Probably due to a wizard’s curse or an evil government plot to create super warriors.
Or, he’s a cat cursed to turn into a human and only the bite of a sexy alpha lion will allow him to remain in his superior form of Cat.
Jacqui does not have a split personality, but sometimes his cat personality can get rather loud.
Jacqui Corleone is a cat shifter who doesn’t know why or how he turns into a cat. He lives a solitary life in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. He’s not afraid of intimacy (yes, he is) but sensibly refrains from potentially awkward entanglements. Unfortunately, the sexy new deputy sheriff just moved in across the street and Jacqui’s vow not to get mixed up with island dudes is sorely challenged.
When the mysterious disappearance of three blue pots draws Jacqui to investigate, he prowls ever deeper into danger–and into the arms of Deputy Wyatt West (he wishes).
REVIEW:
Jacqui is a lone cat shifter who has a habit of finding trouble. When his new neighbor moves in, and it’s the new hot deputy sheriff, they got off on the wrong foot when Jacqui is in his cat shape 🙂 Wyatt is not to please about the cat who has tried to slice through his throat while escaping a pack of wild Pomeranians, but Jacqui manages to make a slightly better impression as a human. There is however, a mystery afoot – planters have gone missing and Jacqui just knows that something is wrong with the explanation he’s been given. When he discovers the truth, he decides he has to help solve the crime. Wyatt is suspicious, but he’s also drawn to Jacqui.
This was a great start to this series. Yes, it ends with a To Be Continue – but since books 2-4 are already published I wasn’t bothered. I was intrigued by the snarky and smart Jacqui – he has a lot of personality. He’s a duality living in one body and he has constant conversations between his human half and his cat half. They are illuminating and highly entertaining. Recommended.
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TITLE: Pounce, Book #2
LENGTH: 127 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 29, 2018
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Half-cat, half-human, all-awesome, Jacqui has spent his life avoiding getting too close to anyone. But despite his best intentions, he just can’t stay away from the sexy deputy sheriff, Wyatt West, especially after Jacqui is the victim of a local band of thieves and turns to the police for help. When the call of curiosity grows too insistent, Jacqui does a little prying around on his own, an activity that quickly leads him into danger. Is this the end for our Furry Fashionista, or will the heroic and altogether too handsome Wyatt save the day? And more importantly, will they finally have sex?? Read Pounce, Book 2 in the Jacqui the Mysteries, to find out.
REVIEW:
Jacqui the cat is slowly making friends with Wyatt. He also is friendly with Wyatt’s friend Sam who comes to his yoga classes. But when Jacqui’s debit card is hacked, he goes to Wyatt – who tells him to file a police report. Which he does. But he also decides to do a little sleuthing himself. In cat form. And when he sees something suspicious, he follows the trail of a dumpster diver. When he follow him again in human form, he’s surprised and gives the info to the police. But they don’t seem to be terribly interested, and when he goes back to investigate in cat form again, things get a little dicey. And he runs into the most surprising people at just the wrong time 🙂
Oh my. Jacqui is the epitome of the curious cat. And he just doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone. This time it nearly costs him and he’s got a lot of ‘splaining to do. Thankfully Wyatt seems to embrace his sort of weirdness and he wants to protect Jacqui and also he wants more 😉 As Wyatt and Jacqui get closer, Jacqui’s cat gets more worried. Intimacy can be a real problem when Jacqui can’t reveal himself. He so wants to but he can’t break Wyatt’s brain 🙂 They are cute together and I couldn’t wait to see where things are going with these two.
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TITLE: Roam, Book #3
LENGTH: 127 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 29, 2018
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Being half-cat isn’t easy in a human world, and Jacqui’s life has just gotten a lot more complicated now that he’s dating the hot deputy sheriff who lives across the street. Wyatt’s brain might explode if he finds out his lover turns into a cat sometimes. And even more unthinkable, Wyatt might REJECT Jacqui if he discovers that his boyfriend and Satan the feral wild cat are one and the same! As if Jacqui doesn’t have enough to worry about, he becomes the unwilling foster parent of a drooling dog, and soon discovers a nefarious plot involving marauding Rottweilers with a taste for Cat. Follow Jacqui into trouble in his most exciting misadventure yet!
REVIEW:
Jacqui and Wyatt are now together. They sleep over and Jacqui’s cat is nervous. As he’s out for a ride and a hopeful romp as a cat, he finds a dog who has been injured and chased by a Rottweiler. Somehow Jacqui is able to scare off the Rott and he does a good deed and saves the dog. This brings him into contact with the new vet in town. He’s also somehow stumbled onto what might be dogfighting ring? He’s not sure but he needs to investigate.
Of course he tries to go the “normal” route and get the police involved, but they once again, don’t seem to interested. With a huge sigh, Jacquie has to figure out what is going on. But this time, he gets a little too close to the danger. And he’s not sure even his being a cat/human will save him!
I would say Jacqui used up several of his nine lives in this one! He’s gotten a little too close to the fire and things do not go his way. He makes some stunning discovers which I will not spoil here, but let’s just say he’s seeing the world through new eyes. He’s still got Wyatt in his corner and Wyatt has softened a little towards “Satan” the cat, a.k.a. Jacqui, but there are a lot of unknowns and Jacqui may not be out of danger yet. I’m really enjoying these stories and this world. One to the next book!
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TITLE: Wild, Book #4 
LENGTH: 315
RELEASE DATE: August 27, 2020
BLURB:
Cat Shifter Jacqui Corleone has finally met his fated mate, but unlike in a romance novel, reality has other plans. For one thing, Wyatt doesn’t know Jacqui is a shifter. For another thing, the dog men are back, and along with their slobber and their bad breath they bring a new level of danger to Jacqui’s life, and to Wyatt’s. When Jacqui meets other cat shifters for the first time, he’s tantalized by a glimpse into their strange new world, but cats aren’t much nicer than dogs, and soon Jacqui must choose if he’s going to run again, or stand and fight against an enemy more powerful than he ever imagined.
REVIEW:
I don’t to spoil the plot of this book at all, because it’s full of great suprises! Wow! This was quite the book. As this story is a great deal longer than they others, I should have expected more and boy did it deliver. The bad guys from Book 3 are back, but there is just so much that Jacqui doesn’t know. This book provides a lot more insight into the shifter world – so new to Jscqui and he’s not sure what to make of it. Add to that the tough decision of who to trust and how much are people playing him, makes Jacqui’s path so much more difficult. And of course he wants to protect Wyatt. I loved how fierce Jacqui is and how protective he is of Wyatt, His bravado is his best and maybe last possible way to go if he’s going to get out of this alive and also save Wyatt from a possible dire fate. This is a really interesting shifter world and I couldn’t get enough of this book. I was a wild roller coaster ride with plenty of twists and turns that kept me reading faster and faster. I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next and who the next shifter would turn out to be and try to figure out what they wanted from Jacqui. It was suspenseful and exciting and surprising. Highly recommended!
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