Eat Prey Love

Eat Prey Love by Kerrelyn Sparks
Paranormal Romance- Sept. 28th, 2010
4 1/2 stars

Light, humorous and fun. Eat Prey Love will delight Kerrelyn Sparks fans and any reader looking for an entertaining ‘pick me up’ read. This paranormal romance is bursting with charming new characters and delightful returning characters that make it feel like one happy, if wild family to return to.

In Eat Prey Love, Caitlyn Whelan is a human who has just discovered that her sister Shanna is still alive. (Her father has kept them apart and isolated Caitlyn.) Apprehensive, Caitlyn is unsure of her welcome when her sister invites her to her home. All she knows is she wants to be reunited with Shanna and have a sister to love again. But Shanna has already show more started a new family of her own and is now married to a handsome vampire! As unbelievable as it seems Caitlyn soon finds herself also in the company of shifters, too. She tries to keep an open mind. But soon hormones flare out of control as she is instantly attracted to a sexy panther shifter named Carlos.

Although Carlos has a deep attraction to Caitlyn, he quickly distances himself. He must mate with his own species. This is because the panther weres are almost extinct. His village was attacked by vengeful humans and Carlos was only able to save a handful of the panther children. Now he feels it is his duty and responsibility to find a panther mate to continuing their species. But Caitlyn is determined to fight for him...

I liked Caitlyn’s spunky attitude. Unlike many heroines who give up under seemingly impossible odds, she is confident enough in herself to recognize that she and Carlos deserve a future. It was fun to read her pursue him and Carlos trying to keep his hands off of her! The characters are very engaging although I was a little frustrated with Carlos for not giving in sooner!! The author doesn't stint on the plot which includes: a super villain cult, out of control hormones and some mischievous matchmakers. Poor Carlos doesn't stand a chance!

Kerrelyn Sparks does it again! Her characters sparkle off the page and put a huge smile on my face. But lighthearted doesn’t mean light weight. Eat Prey Love has a couple of plot twists that I didn't see coming. I liked how the author really delves into the vampire and shifter culture. And how she flawlessly introduces new vampire characters from around the world, more please!

Reviewed by Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club show less

I think this is exactly how Ms. Sparks got her groove back. I feel the same energy and love in this story as I did the first story and that is rare once you are so far in a series. I also apparently missed a book here (need to check my shelf) and I didn't feel out of the loop at all. Thank goodness. This book says "Hey, you should have been paying more attention so sexy--so not gay--Carlos all this time.

I adored Carlos and I adored Caitlyn in this story. They are almost opposites yet they are perfect together. I love how Caitlyn is a women, with a gentle, yet strong nature. They juxtapose very well and give her the motherly, loving, vibe which is what I think Ms. Sparks may have been going for. I felt a ton of genuine humor in this show more story and I am so happy that Carlos and Caitlyn found a happy ending together.

Plot...so this book takes us from the normal townhouse and compound to the jungles of Thialand. It is neat to experience a new place from some of your favorite characters' perspectives. I enjoyed how Ms. Sparks wrote the jungle scenes. I am also very happy we have a new big bad and fugly because Casimir (as horrible as he is) was getting old pretty fast. Can't wait to see where Ms. Sparks takes this new villain.

I will still keep reading, can't stop, next up is Connor's book. FINALLY! show less

Eat Prey Love is the ninth full-length novel in Kerrelyn Sparks’s Love at Stake series. This one pairs panther shifter Carlos with Shanna’s younger sister, Caitlyn. Carlos has become an adoptive father to five panther shifter orphans and feels it’s his duty to find a female of his kind to carry on their line. Caitlyn has just lost her job with the State Department, and after many years apart, she finally reconnects with Shanna during little Constantine’s fourth birthday party. Shanna offers Caitlyn a job working for MacKay Security & Investigations, which places her in close proximity with Carlos. There’s an instant spark between the pair, but Carlos is resistant to getting involved with her, because she’s not a shifter. show more Even though Carlos is eager to leave on a trip to Thailand to follow a lead on finding a panther mate, Angus insists that he personally train Caitlyn first, which proves to be an exercise in sexual frustration. Then knowing her psychic talents could be of help to him, Caitlyn insinuates herself into accompanying him on his trip. Carlos continues to fight his attraction to her, but as they face down all sorts of dangers in the Asian jungle, including a powerful new vampire cult, he comes to realize that, cat or not, she’s the only woman for him.

Carlos was introduced in the fifth book of the series, All I Want for Christmas Is a Vampire, as one of Toni’s best friends. Ever since then, he’s allowed her and pretty much everyone he’s met to believe that he’s gay, because it’s a convenient way to keep women from pursuing him. After losing his entire family in Brazil when their village was massacred, he’s felt a strong pull toward the duty of propagating his race, since he believes that panther shifters are now an endangered species. To do that, though, he needs a panther mate, but there are no females of age that he knows about. He also wants a mother for the five, orphaned panther children he adopted following the massacre. Carlos had just gotten a lead on a possible panther pack in Thailand and is planning a trip there, when he meets Caitlyn at the birthday party. Sparks immediately fly between them, but he knows he can’t allow himself to get close to her until Angus forces the issue by insisting that he train MacKay S & I’s newest employee and later by assigning her to accompany Carlos on his trip. Still, Carlos fights the attraction. Although he knows that it’s possible to turn a human into a shifter, many don’t survive the transition, and once Carlos realizes just how much he’s come to care about Caitlyn, he can’t allow her to take the risk. As they trek through the Thai jungle, making some surprising new discoveries, he struggles between his head and his heart over what to do about the future. I’ve loved Carlos since he first appeared in the series and was very happy to finally get a chance to read his book. He’s a wonderful hero who has a strong sense of honor and duty. I admire him for taking on the role of fatherhood to five orphans. Like most of the heroes in this series, he’s protective and possessive toward Caitlyn without being an alpha jerk. In fact, he has a sweet side that I really enjoyed.

Caitlyn hasn’t seen or heard from Shanna since she left home years ago. Caitlyn is excited by the prospect of finally reconnecting with the older sister she adored, so she eagerly accepts the birthday party invitation, only to discover that creatures she thought existed just in myths are in fact real. After getting over her initial shock, Caitlyn must decide between two job offers, one working for her dad on his CIA Stake-Out team, and the other working for MacKay S & I. After seeing how much her dad hates vampires and worrying that he may someday try to harm his own half-vampire grandchildren, her decision isn’t a difficult one. Not to mention, she’ll get the extra perk of working with the hot panther shifter who just gave her the most memorable kiss of her life. After Carlos keeps rejecting her, though, Caitlyn’s old insecurity about not being good enough rears its ugly head, but after meeting his kids and realizing how important his mission is, she can’t let him go it alone. She possesses a psychic power for being able to instantly understand any language and learn to speak it within hours, so she believes that her gift, along with her State Department connections, could be valuable assets to him. Although initially reluctant, Carlos gradually starts to open up to her, and together, they share the adventure of a lifetime that only solidifies the love that’s been building since the moment they met. Caitlyn may be a powerful psychic, but physically she’s a bit of a marshmallow, making their training scenes pretty humorous. Her misaimed shots and knife throws were a hoot. In spite of her lack of physicality and fighting skills, she proves herself an adventurous soul who’s brave in the face of danger. She’s also sweet with a good heart, great with kids, and has a very loving and forgiving side toward Carlos.

Like all the other books in the series, Eat Prey Love is chock full of supporting characters, many of whom have their own books. As always, Roman and Shanna (How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire) are the cornerstone couple and I adore their kids, Constantine and Sophia. Angus and Emma (Be Still My Vampire Heart) head up MacKay S & I and take good care of their employees. Ian and Toni (All I Want for Christmas Is a Vampire) put in a couple of appearances. Robby (The Vampire and the Virgin) helps out a few times. Connor, who’ll become the hero of the next book, Vampire Mine, is still acting as Roman and Shanna’s main bodyguard. Gregori (Sexiest Vampire Alive) takes Caitlyn on a date in an attempt to make Carlos jealous. Phineas (Wanted: Undead or Alive) holds down the fort at Romatech and gets a job promotion. Howard (Wild About You), another of the shifter guards, escorts Caitlyn into the birthday party. Zoltan (How to Seduce a Vampire (Without Really Trying)), the head of the European coven, comes with a few others to aid Carlos and Caitlyn when they make a surprising discovery in the jungle. And last but not least, we’re introduced to Russell (Crouching Tiger, Forbidden Vampire), a new vampire who I can’t say much about without giving away spoilers, but suffice it to say that he’s part of the jungle discovery. I think most of the other heroes and heroines of the series also put in appearances, but they didn’t have much if any lines. Still, just seeing them all was a nice little treat for a long-time fan like myself.

Overall, Eat Prey Love was another great addition to the series. I loved Carlos and Caitlyn together and thought they complimented each other well. Carlos is a yummy hero with just the right balance of alpha possessiveness and beta sweetness. Caitlyn is a sweetheart, and I particularly enjoyed her psychic ability, which is one I’d love to have. Their relationship is pretty much an insta-love one, which I wasn’t too sure about at first, but as the story progressed, I was more on board with it and thought they proved their love several times. The sexual tension is high throughout with a few steamy good times to sweeten the deal. Their adventure in the Thai jungle was full of danger but a nice touch of humor as well. I have a feeling their discoveries will lead to more interesting story developments down the line, as well as providing a new foe for our intrepid heroes to fight. All in all, I had a really great time reading Eat Prey Love and very much look forward to seeing what comes next. I highly recommend the book and the entire series to fans of paranormal romance with a lighter side. show less

Eat Prey Love by Kerrelyn Sparks
Love at Stake series book 9. Paranormal romance with shifters and vampires. Can be read as a stand-alone but better if at least a couple of the preceding series books are read. The “family” of vampires and relatives grow from the first book, How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire.
Carlos is a panther shifter. His goal is to find a female of his race and prevent the extinction of his race. Falling in love with a human is against all his dreams.
Caitlyn falls for Carlos at first glance. Why does he keep kissing and then rejecting her?

A touch of romantic suspense while the couple works to advance his goals. A bit angsty as Carlos waffles between his lust and his goals. I think Caitlyn should have walked away show more once or twice but she is dedicated to her job of interpreter.
Overall entertaining, steamy and witty. show less

Carlos Panterra is a were-panther, a human who can shift into panther form, who needs to find more of his kind because were-panthers are at risk for extinction. He needs to find a were-panther mate so he can have were-panther babies to repopulate his kind. He is lucky to work for MacKay Security and Investigations because his employer allows him time off to go on his expeditions to find were-panthers and even funds his trips. He has recently received information that there may be were-panthers in the jungles of Thailand. He wants to leave immediately to investigate.

Caitlyn Whelan hasn’t seen her sister, Shanna Whelan, since she was young. When she gets an invitation to a birthday party for the nephew she never knew she had, she show more couldn’t resist even though her father, Sean Whelan, the leader of a secret team of vampire hunters, has ordered her not to go anywhere near her sister. She learns that there is a whole other world out there where vampires and shifters exist when she meets her sister. She also learns that her father wants to kill all vampires, has the power of mind control and has been not only mind controlling her mother but has interfered with her and Shanna’s relationship. She thought Shanna had never returned her letters but her father made sure that she never received the letters.

Caitlyn has the unique ability to understand animals and she can learn any language within minutes after hearing it. Shanna introduces Caitlyn to Angus MacKay who offers her a job with his company.
Caitlyn sees Carlos playing basketball with the vampires and her nephew and is instantly drawn to him. Carlos also sees Caitlyn and feels the same way but since she is human, he knows he has to stay away from her because he has to find a were-panther as a mate. A human can turn into a were-panther if the were-panther bites the human but often times the human does not live through the transformation so he doesn’t even consider it. Caitlyn and Carlos end up sharing a sizzling hot kiss the night of the birthday party which convinces Caitlyn that she and Carlos belong together but the kiss makes Carlos doubly sure that he needs to stay away from her.

He finds out that he is going to have a hard time staying away from her since Angus put him in charge of training her to fight. He also will have to postpone his trip until he trains Caitlyn to fight, use a gun and other weapons and since she really bad at all of them, it could take a while. Caitlyn uses the opportunity to try to shamelessly seduce Carlos whenever possible. When Caitlyn finds out about Carlos’ trip, she convinces Angus that she should go on the trip with Carlos because she has connections from her time at the State Department and she knows the language. Carlos is not happy with the decision but knows he has no other choice.
They find lots of adventure along the way and they discover a new threat to vampires, shifters and humans. A lot of characters from the series make appearances and a few new ones are introduced. It was an interesting storyline so I breezed through the book but I seem to be breezing through all of the books in this series quickly. I am so enamored with all the characters that I just can’t get enough of them.

www.paranormalromanceslut.com show less

I have not read all of the books in the Love at Stakes series. Which is fine as each one can really be read as stand alone novels. Although, I have to say that this book is probably one of my favorites. Instantly I fell for Caitlyn and Carlos. The best part was that Carlos is not a vampire but a were-panter. For a change in a vampire series, it was nice to have a different character type like Carlos. Plus, in a way it made more sense and it was more believable that Caitlyn would fall for Carlos. Caitlyn was just getting over her shock that her sister married a vampire and she was not so warm to the idea, so for her to have a love interest in a vampire would have been too predicable. The raw animal attraction was evident between Caitlyn show more and Carlos. Besides the storyline was a good one. Liked the ending. show less

4.75 Stars

Although all the elements that I love in this series was there, humor & hot romance, this one had a more serious tone to it.
There was more cloak-and-dagger with Caitlyn and Carlos who are on an assignment that takes them to dangerous and mysterious places filled with myths and legends that can get them killed.
Caitlyn is Shanna's baby sister and has a secret ability of her own.
From the first second she and Carlos meet they are catapulted into their attraction to each other. The chemistry burns hot and fast.
Both characters are well developed and the story is fast paced.
A fun, sexy and entertaining story!