Customer Reviews

The Beast in Him (Pride, Book 2)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Beast in Him is a great follow-on to Laurenston's The Mane Event (Pride, Book 1), it's fun combination of humor and spicy romance with an abundance of sexy Alpha shifters both male and female.

We met 'Smitty' Bobby Ray Smith, werewolf and former Navy SEAL, who was both buddy and business partner to Lionshifter Mace the lead in the last book. Smitty is sexy confident and cocky about his skills with women, he hasn't had to do much more than smile and crook his finger to keep his bed filled. But its just not going to be that easy when he runs into Jess former geek and now millionaire owner of a tech company and alpha to her wild-dog shifter pack. Smitty and Jess have a history, they both escaped from the same backwoods Smith-Pack run town where they spent their childhoods -- Jess trying to avoid being beaten up by the bigger she-wolf teens and Smitty running interference for Jess until the day he abandoned her for the navy. Now when their paths cross 15 years later, Jess has payback in mind, she's going to show Smitty just what he missed out on by leaving her behind -- she's gonna get him panting and leave him drooling while she grinds him beneath her stillettos as she makes him eat her dust. But a Smith is nothing less than doggedly determined and Smitty will coerce, cajole and generally run roughshod over Jess until she succumbs to the sparks that sizzle between them.

The first couple of chapters were tough for me since it's been a little bit since I read Mane Event and Laurenston jumps right in with characters from the first book so I was a little confused until those brain cells kicked in. But after that it was a fun read chock full of alpha personalities, and even though the men were strong and sometimes scary, in the packs it is the women who have the real power. One scene where Smitty's momma steps in to 'set things right' was a lot of fun and watching Jess getting a bit of payback from Smitty's sister who was one of Jess' main tormentors as a child will win a cheer from former geeks and square pegs everywhere. But while all of that adds depth to the Pride/Pack world, the real meat of the book is the relationship between Jess and Smitty. Laurenston does a great job of building the tension and setting enough obstacles between them that is really satisfying to watch Jess and Smitty work for their happily ever after.

Jessica Ward has wanted Bobby Ray Smith since they were kids. Then he left town to join the military. Not long after that, Jess left and many years later, is now not only the alpha of her own pack, but the CEO of a company. Jess is no longer the gangly geek girl who hid most of the time in high school. Now the timing is just right to show Bobby Ray that she is all grown up.

Bobby Ray is settling in with the part of the Smith Pack that followed him to Manhattan. He also has his new security business that is growing slowly as the word gets out. On the night he discovers that not only has Jess grown up but she has also become a beautiful woman, it's an eye-opening and lust-inducing event.

That night is the beginning of the unique romance of Bobby Ray and Jessica. Besides the day-to-day worries of their businesses, now they both also have the welfare of their respective packs to worry about and keep safe. Just their luck that when the packs seem to be accepting them, something happens that could not only risk the peace between the packs, but also any chance that Bobby Ray and Jess have to finally mate. Now it is up to Jess, Bobby Ray, and their packs and family to overcome the potential threat.

What is a girl to do when she has decided it's time to be claimed by her mate? In The Beast in Him, and if you are Jess, you arrange to meet up with your long-time mate of choice and proceed to show him how good you could be together. Bobby Ray was not ready to settle down, or so he thought, until he came up against Jessica during a security job. Now there is nothing he won't do to have her as his mate. So why is she giving him so much stress? Once again, I have found that nobody does subtle humor and mean in a loving way like Ms. Laurenston. Jess knows what she wants and how she wants it. Bobby Ray knows what he needs and just can't figure out how to get it. With fun antics, hot nights, a pack of crazy wild dogs, and the semi-insane Smith pack, there is no way to miss...right?

I found myself laughing so many times while following the circle route that Jess and Bobby Ray took into love. When you throw in the zany secondary characters and how they "helped" the situations - I just could not resist laughing, sighing, and yes, even snorting. My only warning is to be careful when drinking while reading. There are more reasons to love The Beast in Him than I could list here, but I will tell you that it is Joyfully Recommended and not to be missed.

Jo
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

'The Mane Event' introduced the group of characters who appear in this book - shapeshifting Wolves, Hyenas and Lions. In 'The Beast In Him' Smitty (Bobby Ray Smith), business partner of Mace Llewellyn in the previous book, meets up with a childhood friend, wild dog Jessie Ann Ward. He last saw Jessie Ann when he went to join the Navy at 18 years old, trying to once again protect her from bullying from the young female wolves of the Smith Pack. However the Jessica that he meets now, fourteen years later, isn't that shrinking and scared young wild dog but is instead the Alpha of her Pack.

And thus follows a chase - Smitty trying to catch Jessie, Jessie holding herself aloof from him at times, at others giving in. Jessie wants him to prove that she is important to him by the standards of his Pack, a rather rough mating, but Smitty wants to treat Jessie right and not hurt her. Thus the 'misunderstanding' of the plotting which was really rather a damp squib. There's a plot line of a potential kidnap and of family disharmony over Smitth and Jessie's relationship but the vast majority of the story is about Smitty and Jessie's discovery of each other - mostly in a horizontal fashion.

As with the previous book, this one wasn't entirely satisfying. The world of the Wolves, Wild Dogs, Cats etc was interesting but rather subordinate to the main story. There was little romance in the relationship between Smitty and Jessie, they seemed to spend a lot of the time misunderstanding each other. They had little in common and in some ways that part of the relationship worked well but overall it was a disappointing read. The roll-call of characters from the previous book became confusing occasionally and at times the story seemed to meander around in a rather directionless manner. It's a reasonable read but nothing particularly special.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book[...]. © Helen Hancox 2008

I just love all of Ms. Laurenston's works - I've read them all and have all her e-books. This one is a definite re-read and keeper. I've never laughed this much with a book before. It has it all....drama, intrigue, toe curling sex scenes and good plot life. Loved it!!! I love the fact that she keeps all the characters from other books in the ongoing storyline and at the same time doesn't allow all of the interaction of them to overshadow the two main characters. If you haven't read the first book in this series "The Mane Event" - run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore and get it then read this one. I swear you won't be disappointed!!!

The Beast in Him is probably my least favorite book that I've read by S. Laurenston. The first 100 pages were just not interesting to me. It started to pick up towards the middle, but the last third of the book was the best part. The Beast in Him is about a wolf shifter, Smitty or Bobby Ray Smith, and a wild dog shifter, Jesse Ann or Jessica Ward. Smitty meets up again with Jesse Ann sixteen years later at a party that she is hosting because she is now the CEO of a security systems company. Smitty has been hired to make sure that the party goes off without any problems (security detail). Growing up, Smitty always came to Jesse Ann's aide because she got picked on and beat up a lot. Now years later, Smitty wants to be friends again with Jesse Ann, but she doesn't want anything to do with him. There are some humorous scenes involving her brushing him off. She doesn't want to get involve with him because when he left town, and didn't so much as kiss Jesse Ann goodbye, that hurt her bad. Plus, she is a forever type of girl which is something that Smitty doesn't want. Smitty though relentlessly pursues Jesse Ann until she caves in. Things start to really heat up by this point because Smitty starts want more from Jesse Ann. It takes a while, but he finally realizes how good things could be with Jesse Ann as his mate. Jesse Ann just has to be convinced that he can do forever because Jesse Ann wants all of him, beast included.
Shelly Laurenston sure knows how to write some interesting characters. All of her females are aggressive, kick-butt types, think Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. She injects plenty of humor into her dialogue, mostly preferring the sarcastic type. She uses lots of pop culture references (which I like to an extent) and urban slang. She tends though to hold one stereotype for the southern characters in her stories, which as a true Deep South Southerner myself, find somewhat offensive. I try to overlook it though because she is not the only author that employs the technique of making all Southerners look like Dukes of Hazzard characters. I feel like she needs to change things up with her novels because they all seem too similar with the characters being alike, especially the females. The only difference with this female character is that she is black and the hero is white. 3 stars for The Beast in Him.

I am now becoming an avid fan of Shelly Laurenston. I absolutely loved THE MANE EVENT and really liked her writing style.

You really need to read THE MANE EVENT to familiarize yourself with all the characters, as THE BEAST IN HIM takes off right off where the first book started with all the characters that were introduced there - so it would be difficult for a new reader to immerse and understand in the novel and the changeling world.

Smitty (Bobby Rae Smith) with his partner Mace Llewellyn owns a very thriving security company. He is hired by Jessica Ward, who in turn owns one of the most successful computer companies in the world.

Unbeknownst to Smitty, he has already met Jessica Ward - back in the south Jessie Ann was the orphaned young teenager, whom he took under his wing to protect her from the vicious she-wolves of his pack - one of them being his sister Sissy Mae.

No longer the scared and beaten up teenager he remembers, Jessica (his Jessie Ann) is now a very wealthy and independent beauty and the Alpha of her pack of wild dogs. Jessie Ann can't help but remember those years of being scared, chased and mauled by the females of Smitty's pack and will not have anything to do with Smitty.

I must admit that I was disappointed with this story. For the most part is Smitty chasing Jessie Ann, and Jessie Ann refuting his advances - no matter how attracted she is to Smitty, (she has been in love with Smitty since their early years) but refuses to give into the attraction, because of old resentments.

Thus the chase is on. There are constant misunderstandings - where Jessie Ann gives into Smitty and then storms off - for whatever her reason. I found it difficult to follow some of those moments, as her anger was not explained well and the explanation was slow in coming, thus I was rather frustrated with Jessie Ann - her aloof and sometimes down right mean demeanor to a confused Smitty and with all "the we are on we are off" moments in the relationship - which were mostly horizontal.

The mental roadblocks were plenty for these two - who eventually become mated but with little romance between them with the story sometimes floundering with no direction in sight.

I will admit, though that I really enjoyed all the other characters in the story and the book was good overall. There are plenty of hilarious LOL moments in the dialogue and the sex is hot and often in the Laurenston manner. By and large a decent read - but not one that was exceptionally memorable for me.

I really couldn't wait to read this book. I really really couldn't. Then I actually started reading it. Wow, did it fall flat.

First off, Jessica, was supposed to be this Alpha female - the leader of her pack. What she really was, was a wuss, a TSTL protagonist. I mean really! She had no- for the lack of a better word- cajones. AT. ALL.

Second, Bobby Ray irritated me. Alot. He was egotistical and almost narcissistic. I just wanted to smack him. Hard. Really. Really. Hard. He kept repeating how he thought of Jessica as his friend, but if they were really friends, then he would have kept in touch with her and not let his sister and her friends beat up on her. When Jessica was indifferent to her he couldn't take it. He kept at her and blackmailed her. Not only that, but he kept ignoring what she said. It was horrible!

Going back to Jessica, she couldn't even stand up to him. At all. I wanted to punch her. She's supposedly this Alpha, a leader of a pack, why is she acting like a sissy?

Don't bother reading the book. It's not worth it. You're better off reading her Magnus Pack series, at least the women are smart and amazing there.

The Beast in Him is my first Shelly Laurenston book and unfortunately not my last since I bought this book with Beast Behaving Badly. I should have tested her out in the library first because I could barely get through this.

First off I wasn't sure if this was erotica or YA. The majority of the characters came off as simple and juvenile and took up the first four chapters making fun of the hero and heroine's crush/attraction on each other. Seems like Ms. Laurenston likes this plot point because she continues it in BBB.

Like another reviewer I didn't care for the heroine. She was miscast. She was supposed to be the alpha of the pack but she was obviously born into the role instead of having earned it because she was weaker than five-day old coffee.

I would seriously have to think about reading another Laurenston book even if its from the library because I value my time.

SPOILER ALERT: I think the trouble is that I wasn't prepared properly for this book. I read a ton of shapeshifter novels and I wasnt ready for how animalistic these shifters got or how much like their animal counterparts they actually are. I don't like how the conflict between Sissy Mae and Jessie Ann is solved. I didnt like how Jessie Ann and Smitty actually fought eachother enough to draw blood and there was no remorse felt on either side. I understand how the fight was used to proved that Jessie Ann is a true Alpha in her own right but I think we were already ready for, and had that proof in the way she created her pack's business and ran it. I think continuing in that same vain, rather than having her beat up her mate and mate's sister was the better way to go. Furthermore, Sissy Mae still never felt any real remorse about how she treated Jessie Ann as a child and it seems rather unrealistic that jessie ann would have gotte over it on her own and that isn't gone into much. I just think if you're going to start a story in someone's childhood- and skip to their adulthood and they've changed a lot, there needs to be a good amount of explanation and character development there. This story was fun like many of the others- especially Jessie Ann's revenge in the beginning of the book- but there were some elements missing for me to truly enjoy the book.

A wonderful read by Laurenston, this book was full of zany humor, crazy antics, romance, action and suspense. I couldn't put it down--read it almost in one sitting!

The story really pulled me in. Geeky, smart girl makes good when she grows up; her former crush from high school shows up and is smitten; and then she leads him on a merry chase. The wild dog pack and their antics are hilarious. And I loved the Smith pack from the earlier books, of which Smitty the lead male character is part of. We see them again in this book. I liked the lead characters and great supporting cast.

All of her Pride Stories are terrific, with my favorites being this book, The Mane Attraction and The Mane Squeeze. I liked her Magnus Pack books to a lesser extent--still good but not great like the Pride Stories. I really enjoyed her Dragonkin series (written under GA Aiken). Check those out if you haven't already. My favorite in that series was What a Draqon Should Know. It was hysterical! Loved the characters. Laurenston has now surpassed Lynsay Sands as my new favorite for funny paranormal romance.

If you are on the hunt for more great shapeshifter romance, check out my list of favorites....
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/R3RRBZ0PV9G1AI
(copy and paste into your browser window)