A Very Abbreviated Review of The Mane Event by Shelly Laurenston

My primary motivation for reading this book was that the first of the two stories is a Christmas story. And I thought, okay, I'm finally going to read a holiday book around the appropriate holiday. I get a big gold star on my forehead for that.

Sadly, neither story really rang my jingle bells, and I ended up skimming for the most part.

The first story is called Christmas Pride, and it tells the tale of Dez and Mace, long ago childhood friends who now want to mate like bunnies. Or lions. Or whatever. One of the things that was initially intriguing about the story is that we're told about these lion Prides, which are run by females. Unfortunately, said females come across as monstrous bitches, and Dez (a human and a cop), is kind of out to get them--not unjustly. Then there's Mace, who feels obligated to his Pride but refuses to be subservient to it, and as he would rather have one mate then serve as a master stud for all of the females. The whole structure, as I learned more about it, struck me as viscerally unappealing.

Another strike against it was that I didn't really care for the heroine (and yes, I know, I'm picky with heroines). She seemed crass and a bit flat in development, and I just couldn't get a handle on her. I did like the idea of Mace remembering her from high school, twenty years later, and actively seeking her out as a mate...but I guess I don't see what he sees.

On a positive note, Laurenston seems to be good at writing sexiness and sex. The men are hot, the chemistry is hot, and the sex is hot. No complaints there.

As to the second story, I skimmed to an even greater degree. While I liked the heroine more, I still didn't really care for the setting or world building. So overall, I think we have to call that a DNF.

So would I recommend this book? I don't know that I have the authority to, since I read it so very incompletely. What I will say is that, again, the sex is hot and the concepts are at least somewhat interesting, and if you're into shifter romance you could do a lot worse than that.