The Mane Event by Shelly Laurenston

"One of the hottest new voices in paranormal romance, Shelly Laurenston knows how to do it all, delivering tales that are wickedly funny, action-packed, and scorch-your-fingers sexy. With The Mane Event, she proves just how delicious love can be once you unleash your inner beast...

 
Christmas Pride
How come all the good-looking ones are insane?
That's what runs through NYPD cop Desiree "Dez" MacDermot's mind the minute she hooks up again with her childhood buddy, Mace Llewellyn. It isn't just the way he stares at her with those too-sexy gold eyes―as if he could devour her on the spot. Or the six-four, built-like-a-Navy Seal bod-o-death. It isn't even that he sniffs her neck and purrs, making her entire body tingle. It's more about that disconcerting, shifting-from-man-to-lion thing that unhinges her...and makes her want more.

Mace likes making Dez crazy. In fact, he likes her any way he can get her―in bed, on the desk, here, now, again. Together, they'd always been trouble, but Dez has no idea just how good trouble can feel...

Shaw's Tail
Brendon Shaw, hotel owner and lion shifter, has seen better days. He's been beaten, had a gun to the back of his head, and had to be rescued by a Pack of shape-shifting wolves. He didn't think he'd survive the night, much less find the woman of his dreams. And he never thought the woman of his dreams would have a Tennessee accent and wear cowboy boots. Once he sets his sights on her, the predator in him is ready to pounce and never let go.

Ronnie Lee Reed is ready to change her life, and New York City is the place where any girl―even one who runs with a Pack―can redefine herself. First order of business: find a mate, settle down, and stop using men for sex. Even big, gorgeous, lion-shifting, oh-my-what-big-um-paws-you-have men. Then again..." (Description from Goodreads.com)

I first heard about Shelly Laurenston by seeing her book Big Bad Beast go out at the library. And by go out, I mean this book was in and out of the library more than any other Fiction book I was seeing during the summer. So, I wanted to know what the big deal was. Clearly it was popular and good. Once I learned it had a supernatural angle to hit, it sold me. Once I got my copy to read, I found the book to be laugh out funny at times but I had a feeling that I was missing a lot of the story. After finishing the book, I went to Goodreads.com to discover that this was book six in the series. So, off to the library I went again to find book one.

The Mane Event is actually two stories in one...Christmas Pride and Shaw's Tail. I'm going to post about Christmas Pride because both are great stories and if you're a fan of supernatural fiction with sexy thrown into the mix, you'll love these books. Once I started reading Christmas Pride, it was like everything fell into place after reading Big Bad Beast. The series has that rare quality to it, where laugh out loud funny also meets sexy with a splash of mystery. There were times while reading the stories that I was laughing so hard my husband would stop what he was doing to ask what was so funny. The sexy times were also equally entertaining.

Dez is one of those strong female characters that you love from the start. She know who she is and isn't and she doesn't put up with anyone's crap. Especially Mace Llewellyn who thinks he's king of the pride, literally. Dez, naturally a dog lover meets up with an old friend, naturally, a cat. This alone had me laughing and the other supporting characters making fun of Mace to no end when they found out. Can you imagine king of the pride walking dogs or being ordered around?! We're lucky in the fact that we get both POVs in the story so we read his reactions to Dez's ordering.

We meet a lot of supporting characters in the book and they're so good it makes sense that they got their own books later in the series. I know in some books the supporting characters can be too much or take over the book. Not so in this series. There was never a moment where I felt I needed a flow chart, sticky notes or family reference guide (which happens more than one would expect in books). Each and every one of these books in the series was a great read. You love catching up with past characters as well as seeing old jokes continue along the way. I would highly recommend reading this series in order. You can skip around if you like but they seem to make more sense going in order. Plus, you'll get all of the inside jokes from previous books. Also, if you're a fan of the supernatural, this book be for you too!