Terry Spear

3.5 stars

You Had Me at Jaguar is the first book in the Heart of the Shifter series by Terry Spear. It felt like a spin-off series since some things and couples are already established, but there was no problem with understanding what was going on in this world. To be completely honest, the book wasn' able to capture my interest completely and I found my thoughts wandering off during some parts. Thankfully that didn't happen often and I was able to follow the story. It was interesting and it show more had a good pace which was almost fast, but not in a bad way. I liked the main characters and a few of the secondary seemed interesting enough for me to want to read their books if the author plans to write them. The main characters had enough chemistry and their romance was a slow burn. I would have liked just a little bit more character development and a little more time on getting to know them since most of the story is focused on the suspense part. For all the reasons above I am giving 3.5 stars to the book which I am round up to four which was the first rating that popped into my mind when I finished the book. show less

3-1/2 stars

A nice addition to the series. This series is on the lighter side without being intentionally humorous. But there is no end of the world, no evil magic etc. I enjoy the wolf culture in these books. It doesn't dominate the stories, but it's definitely there. Mostly this story is about two people meeting and falling in love. There are plenty of interesting secondary characters. The plot was nice except the ending mystery was a bit weak but I wasn't reading it for the mystery. There show more was a hot highland laird who was also a wolf and a wolf woman who writes werewolf romances for a living. A nice way to spend a couple of hours. show less

This is a pretty solid entry in the werewolf genre. I like TS's werewolf world. This is the second or third one I've read and the world building is staying pretty consistent. I few things happen quicker than they really might in real life but it's pretty minimal. For example in this one near the end, Leidolf tells a man who works for the zoo that he's been having problems with cougar killing his cattle and a couple of hours later the zoo guy tells him he's captured her and her cubs. That show more just seems highly improbable and really wasn't necessary to carry the story forward. The whole book feels a bit condensed like that as if things don't take as long physically as they really would but it only occasionally bothers my enjoyment of the story.

The writing is well done and I liked both the hero and the heroine. I do think if you've read others in the series you'll enjoy this one better. I've got to go back and read the one or two I've missed. If you like straight forward werewolf stories without a lot of other supernatural beings cluttering things up, as I do, then you'll like this series. show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

I had always meant to read this series since I have read and enjoyed Terry Spear's other shifter series Heart of the Wolf. Like usual I jumped into reading a series right in the middle with the fourth book and luckily like Heart of the Wolf, Heart of the Jaguar is a series you can just jump into with out any confusion. What I liked about JAGUAR PRIDE was the plot involving two people being thrown into a 'babysitting' job in the middle of a jungle. I show more assumed some hilarious hijinks would ensue with randomly shifting jaguar babies and I was not disappointed. While this isn't a laugh out loud story by any means I really loved seeing Melissa and Huntley try to figure out how to take care of babies with minimal supplies and no experience taking care of babies. Aside from the baby issues the plot involving poachers and kidnapping was pretty intense and felt like a thriller set in a hot sweaty jungle.

The type of romance with Melissa and Huntley is one of my favorite in the romance genre for its realism. These two knew eachother and had some attraction to the other person but never acted on it due to circumstances. Circumstances conveniently work in their favor and they find eachother in the middle of the jungle together. These two work so well together in the field and share so many commonalities in the way the think and what they want that if this were a series staring only them I'd be shaking my fist wondering why they haven't gotten together already. Luckily no fist shaking happens and the romance is passionate and fun.

JAGUAR PRIDE is an excellent example of a paranormal romance done right. It has a healthy dash of suspense and thrilling action with some humor and gentleness to balance out the darker plot surrounding poaching of jaguars. Terry Spear has always been on my list of authors whose books I will pick up and read without hesitation and I look forward to reading more of Heart of the Jaguar. show less