Pack Challenge

Why hadn't I heard of Shelly Laurenston before? I loved Pack Challenge. Such a fun read. Awesome friends--we really don't see enough of that in romance--a heroine with a temper, a hero who likes his woman mean-tempered...that's my idea of romance heaven, right there. The world-building needed work and I sometimes felt I was being hit over the head with the fact that Sarah and her friends were such badasses, but all is forgiven. I spent most of this book with a grin on my face, a rare occurrence.

This review first appeared on A Weebish Book Blog.

Like most of Shelly Laurenston’s books, PACK CHALLENGE is a novel I’m always excited to re-read. It features one of my all-time favorite Laurenston couples, Zach and Sara, two characters that have fascinated me since their small but entertaining as hell part in THE BEAST IN HIM.

Sara Morrrighan has awesome friends, a nice place to live, and a secure job. So what if her life is a bit tedious and her injured leg has been hurting worse than usual? Her crazy bitch of a grandmother is finally dead, so her life is going a lot better than expect. That is, until Zach’s sexy ass rode into town and turned her world upside down.

Besides Livy from BITE ME, Sara is my favorite Laurenston heroine show more (even if she does spell her name wrong). She is one crazy, strong, bad-ass bitch that can and will take anything Zach dishes out. She’s just so much fun! Throughout most of PACK CHALLENGE she’s in near constant pain but hides it from her friends because she doesn’t want to worry them. She’s very protective of her friends. In fact, no matter how I feel about each woman of the Magnus Pack series individually, I really appreciate how far these ladies willingly stick their neck out for each other, no matter what ridiculous plan they’ve hatched. And boy do they hatch some wild ones.

Zach was one yummy hero. He’s reluctant to start anything with Sara because he knows how hard he’d fall. She’s perfect to him—if a bit crazy—but he’s not interested in finding a mate. He doesn’t want to settle down and, god forbid, raise pups. All he wants is to be Alpha of the Magnus Pack and undo the damage his alpha’s mate has caused. Except his plans for living a bachelor lifestyle fly out the door anytime he catches Sara’s scent.

PACK CHALLENGE is a wickedly sexy, funny as hell ride. If you haven’t given yourself the opportunity to experience this couple, YOU ARE MISSING OUT! show less

2.5 stars

*This is a #TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion.

Sara took a large, dramatic breath. “I am a werewolf then?”
Zach looked at her as if she were insane. “There’s no such thing as werewolves.”
Sara stood up, her aggression coming off her in waves. She could feel it. “Then what the hell are you?”
“A shapeshifter!” He snapped back. He seemed truly insulted

This month's #TBRChallenge prompt was Furry Friends and I know you all yawned and said Whiskey's reading about doggos. HA! What could be more Furry Friends than two werewolves shapeshifter wolves banging it out.

I wish it was 2008 because then I could just say, show more “Samhain supernatural published romance” and everyone would instantly have a fairly good idea what I mean by tone, story, and characters. This is quintessential Samhain published romance to me. It's wild, fun, side-eyeing, sexy, and two wheels off the rails.

Readers come into the story as Zach enters a bar in nowhere Texas. There he eavesdrops on two women behind the bar who are discussing their drunk friend Sara. Zach finds Sara on the dance floor and seeing her scarred face and limp, identifies her as who he's looking for. When he rescues her outside from some dudes up to no good and Sara rewards him with pushing him up against the wall and trying to go to town but her friends intervene and drag her away. The beginning is fast, wild, 2006 in the way only 2006 can be with female relationships “You bitch” this and “You bitch” that, and mystery intriguing with Zach having elongating canines and talking on the phone to someone saying “I found her but the others have to.”

The story develops with readers eventually learning that Sara's parents were shapeshifter wolves but her mom attacked and killed a shapeshifter lion and that lead to her mom and dad being killed, and Sara severely injured in the attack. Sara was taken by her grandmother to raise as a baby and because her grandmother hated shapeshifters, Sara never learned of her heritage and ability. However, Sara works for a shapeshifter wolf and has been watched over. Zach's pack has decided to search for Sara after all these years because the current alpha female senses Zach is going to make a play for alpha and she likes her power and doesn't want to be pushed aside, so she decides to busy Zach with this assignment.

Zach and Sara have fated mates going on and Sara gets horny as hell whenever he's in the vicinity. This is tagged as erotic and with the story being short and the sex scenes and focus on Sara's aggressive horniness, yeah. Sara and her friends get invited to a rave the visiting shapeshifters are having (did I say two wheels off, excuse me, three) and even though Zach isn't supposed to clue Sara in yet, they end up in a tool shed and he heals her decades long extremely painful leg injury by scratching her (something about bleeding the poison out lol). This also triggers her shifting abilities and suddenly Sara's communication with true blood wolves (I laughed so hard at the snooty true blood wolves making a distinction) makes sense and Sara, for the most part, shrugs and is like, “cool, I'm a shapeshifting wolf.” It's really not mean that I was laughing at parts in this book, the story tone recognizes how crazy this all is and had some really funny parts:
“Whatever. But he’s one of several. Like the guy’s at the club that first night I was here. He’s Pride.”
“You mean proud.”
There was that sigh again. “I mean he’s Pride.” That stated through gritted teeth.
“Pride? Lions have prides.”
“Yup.”
Sara spun around. “There are lions too?”
Patient Zach made an entrance. “Yes. And tigers. And mountain lions. There’s an array of shifters.”
“Bunnies?” Sara watched him swallow.
“No bunnies.” That through clenched teeth. “Think predators. Our ancestors became one with the predators. Bunnies are low on the food chain.”
“Sharks?”
“What?!”
“Don’t get huffy. They’re the ultimate killing machine.”
“I can’t have this conversation.” He leaned against the bathroom wall.

I know there has to be shapeshifting shark romances out there in the year 2024.

The story ends with some dog and cat fighting, Sara and Zach marking each other to lustily HEA, and moving to CA to alpha the Magnus Pack. Sara's friends are obviously set-up to continue the story (apparently I read the third book of this series in 2010???) and series.

The romance was lusting, if not deeply loving, the story was supernatural clinging to rails, some of the dialogue was 2006 cringe, but it all came in a short, wild, lively, and pretty good funny moments package. show less

Eh. There are reasons I'm not a huge PNR fan, and this book contains more than a couple of those reasons. Some PNR kicks it up a notch and actually gives us a bit of plot and character development along with the sexy times. And some doesn't. This book falls into the latter.I find it to be a major cop out when characters are so crazy sexually attracted to each other because of their shifter half, even thought they don't know each other and/or can't stand each other. So they don't know squat about the other person, and the little bit they do know they hate, but...Hey! I need to jump your bones! NOW! Because I am wolf! Hooooooooowl!So basically, the author doesn't have to try to create a believable relationship becauseHey! I am wolf! I show more must mount you!Ok, so we have these 2 characters who can't stand each other, but really want to rub on each other for no reason other than the wolf bit. So they finally succumb to their hormones, and have a wild night of crazy, rough, animal sex. Guess what? Now they love each other! How romantic is that? And when I say crazy, rough, animal sex, I'm being literal--there was no kindness, no tenderness, no gentleness. Not even a teensy bit. But did I mention that they're in wuv? Soooooo believable.And throw in the fact that the chick talks about her own sexual organs using the word "pussy" repeatedly. I guess I'm a prude, but it grossed my shit out. Honestly, male would walk into the room, and female would think to herself, "Holy shit. My pussy is so wet." :vomit:And...male repeatedly called female wonderful terms of endearment like "crazy bitch", "insane bitch", "psycho bitch", etc. while he was screwing her. I think it was supposed to be funny, but I just thought it was stupid.Oh, and don't let me forget the chick's two best girlfriends. Holy shit--what a bunch of psychos. Was this supposed to be an example of healthy female relationships? Because all they did was fight and insult each other. Little friendship tip: Telling your friend she has a fat ass is not being "honest", it's being a cruel bitch. show less

I really enjoyed this book. It seems as if Shelly Laurenston writes effortlessly. She doesn't try too hard to be cool or hip (is it cool to say hip?), she just is. Her charecters don't try too hard to be smart asses (in the best of way), they just are.
It's a fun, funny very sexy kinda book. With great H/H, great secondary characters, and great writing.
I couldn't have asked for more.

Sara is the sane one, but recently she's getting more aggressive and what's with the growling. I liked this. I liked that the heroine had a sexual history, which was just treated as normal. I liked the hero, who hated all these maternal wolves and kept fighting how perfect Sara was for him. I liked that everyone was slightly crazy. This is not a realistic world, but it is a high energy fun world. I enjoyed it, and will keep my eye out for this author.
Reread 6/6/08 and enjoyed it even more. I'm buying more of this author.

Read for Book Club (Kindle/DFWTea)
Overall Rating: 4.00
Story Rating: 3.75
Character Rating: 4.25

First Thoughts when Finished: Pack Challenge has been on my kindle since 2010 screaming to be read and now I am chomping at the bit to get the rest of them--in other words, I liked it!

Book Club Thoughts: Overall Pack Challenge was a hit. We all pretty much liked the setup of the series. The biggest hit was the ladies. They were spunky, fun, and showed true friendship. The guys were HOT but it was the gals that stole the show. Overall, many of us were going to continue the series or had already read the rest. There were a few that thought the book was a little over the top. They liked the framework but didn't connect with the characters.

My show more Thoughts: I really liked Sara, Miki, and Angelina. They were a great example of different personalities being friends. They gave each other a very hard time but are willing to stick with each other no matter what. I felt bad that Sara had a very important thing kept from her that was life changing. I understood why but felt she should have been given that information before she got stuck in a situation. On the romance front, I did love the chemistry between her and Zach! They set the sheets on fire. Again though it was her friends that stole the show more often than not. I loved Miki and Angelina. I can't wait to see how Miki & The Viking work it out. Also Angelina is going to have to land a very special guy because she just rocks! Overall this was just fun!

DFW TEA Book Club Read Feb 2014 show less