Review: Lions and Tigers and Sexy Bears Oh My! Review
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 31, 2013
**Provided via publisher for review and blog tour on my blog (see profile). No remuneration was exchanged and all opinion presented herein is my own unless noted.**For me, even a short form erotic fantasy novella has to have an underlying theme. It can't just be fur and pillow fights. That just doesn't do anything for me.I like the feeling of hometown and belonging in small town Montana this book brings up. The perfect place to go when you are running for your life. The worst place to wear Louboutin!In this day and age, it's hard to believe there could be a place so remote that you could hide a whole town of shifters but, in the world created by Candace Havens in this book, Clarksville, Montana is such a place. It's not backward at all; they have the latest technology and a fully equipped hospital for shifters. And, it doesn't really matter what your shifter type is, everyone cares for each other. One family's pain is every one's pain. So when they adopt Ainsley, she's in the best place. When she gets bad news she gets help from the other folks in the town, even though she is not a shifter, and when some of their own does her wrong they also protect her.The other thing I like is that while Havens' alphas do have leadership qualities, Ainsley doesn't let her mere humanity get in the way of teaching a few jerks lessons. It doesn't matter what your species is, if the Louboutin fits she'll kick you in the metaphoric, or possibly the real, tush and you will respect her for it. She is an alpha human.I also likes how Havens builds relationships between Ainsley and Luc's friends. You know someone will slap some sense into the guy eventually. And, there's a central theme of healing from loss, and betrayal.Issues: Short form erotica is, unfortunately, short. That means in the space you would normally devote to background, world building and relationship development gets spent between the sheets (or up against a wall, in the kitchen, in the,....). So here when Luc goes from no-nope-not-gonnahappen, to oh-yah-baby, there's a little disconnect. And when they have their epic fight it's a little stupid.But, hey it's not Shakespeare like this isn't an a review in the New York Times (Thank Goddess!). So if you can deal with the form conventions that make LIONS AND TIGERS AND SEXY BEARS OH MY! a little rough around the edges Haven's latest comic release will amuse you. And, the guy on the cover is nothing to groan about!