Renee George

This was a fun beginning to a paranormal cozy mystery series. Lily Mason is a cougar shifter who has recently lost her family. When she learned that she has an uncle in Moonshine, Missouri, she decides to visit him and see what life is like in a human community.

She meets a number of people in the town including her uncle, Parker Knowles who runs a Pit Bull rescue business, and Katherine Kapersky, a woman no one likes. Lily is also adopted by a rescued Pit Bull that is named Smooshie and show more falls in love with the pit bull. Needing a place to stay while her truck is being repaired, Parker offers her an efficiency he has at his business.

She is settling in when she discovers Katherine's murdered body while taking Smooshie for her evening constitutional. Lily becomes involved in the case because the sheriff seems determined to arrest Parker for the crime. Sure, he had arguments with Katherine but there are very few people in the town who didn't.

As Lily investigates, she uncovers all sorts of reasons why someone would want Katherine dead. After all, she was a blackmailer who used her knowledge to get people to do things for her. It seems like there are quite a number of people who had a much better reason to want Katherine dead than Parker did.

I liked the interesting cast of characters. I liked Lily who is able to use her ability as a lie detector to uncover secrets that the townspeople would rather keep hidden. I liked her growing friendship with Parker and am wondering if it can go anywhere since he's human and she is secretly a shifter. show less

I started this book this morning while I was on a trip. I unloaded the students at ten to one and forty minutes later I was distracted by a noise, my students had returned. I had lost track of time because I was so engrossed in this book (that was embarrassing as I am usually ready with the motor running before the kids ever hit the bus doors, not today).

I absolutely love books that are so well written that you can almost feel what the characters are feeling and Renee delivered this for me show more in both of her books in this series. There were a couple of times I wished I was at home with my husband and a couple of times when I wished for a punching bag although Tom Ellis (I never saw that coming, by the way) to punch at would have been good to.

I also think it is really amazing how Renee can get so much into her short stories :)

I look forward to the next book :)

This Review was originally posted here http://lauralusbookreviews.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-cull-protected-by-alpha-by-r... show less

When a book from an estate sale activates Iris Everlee’s long-dormant magic, she has 4 days to learn how to use it, or she’ll turn into magic dust and blow away—if the rock trolls and rogue sorcerers drawn to her wild magic don’t take her down first. The vivid descriptions of the characters and their well-drawn quirks drew me into this book; but the surprising world of magic Iris enters and her unexpected and hilarious reactions to it all kept me flipping pages as fast as I could. show more I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series. show less

I liked this story a bit more than the previous book in the CockTails series. There was more character development between Todd and Tuck. Plus they came with more of a back story so I could relate to them and understand them a bit better.

The build up between Todd and Tuck was there. They were both secretly attracted to each other and were not sacred to let the other know how they were really feeling. However once they finally got together the sex took over the story and I was left wanting to show more read more about where the future would lead this new couple. show less