Beast Behaving Badly by Shelly Laurenston

Book Stats:

Reading level: Adult
Mass market paperback: 420 pages
Genre: Paranormal romance
Publisher: Kensington
Release date: May 25, 2010

Series: Pride #5

Reviewed by: Stéphanie

Source: Copy from publisher

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Ten years after Blayne Thorpe first encountered Bo Novikov, she still can't get the smooth-talking shifter out of her head. Now he's shadowing her in New York-all seven-plus feet of him-determined to protect her from stalkers who want to use her in shifter dogfights. Even if he has to drag her off to an isolated Maine town where the only neighbors are other bears almost as crazy as he is...

Let sleeping dogs lie. Bo knows it's good advice, but he can't leave Blayne be. Blame it on her sweet sexiness—or his hunch that there's more to this little wolfdog than meets the eye. Blayne has depths he hasn't yet begun to fathom—much as he'd like to. She may insist Bo's nothing but a pain in her delectable behind, but polar bears have patience in spades. Soon she'll realize how good they can be together. And when she does, animal instinct tells him it'll be worth the wait...

This is the type of book that gets me out of reading slumps. And I’ve been in a reading slump for a while now so I’m really glad I picked it up. BEAST BEHAVING BADLY is hilariously entertaining and I think a great addition to the series, of which I’ve only read two books. Now I’ll definitively have to read the rest of them, even if I did screw up majorly on the proper order. Even if it’s sold a a paranormal romance, it’s pretty heavy on the romance, although the main characters are shapeshifters and there is a background story about the shapeshifting world that hold the story in place. Acutally, I’m really glad the author concentrated on the romantic story because that’s why this was such a fun book and it’s also where the main characters, Blayne and Bo, were at their best.

I can see how Blayne could get on people’s nerves, but I think it’s her spazzy and crazy personality that makes her so loveable. Her obsession with great hair product, shinny things, red hockey skates, and getting a great deal, are things that I completely understand, even if I’m not remotely as crazy as Blayne. Her dedication to the ones she loves and to strange hybrid shapeshifters makes her a very humane and real character. As an unwanted hybrid wolf-dog, I think she identifies with whomever has been shunned by society, and tries to do everything she can to help those in need.

The other main character, Bo Novikov (a bear-lion) is Blayne’s complete opposite. Where she’s sloppy and random, he’s as neat as can be and OCD about every little detail surrounding his life. In my opinion, he’s a little too obsessed with time, but again, even if I’m can’t identify as a whole with Bo, I completely understand his need to have a schedule and to always be on time. As a hockey fan, I love seeing sports take major roles in novels, and the fact that Bo Novikov is a professional all-star hockey player makes this a match in heaven for me. I don’t know if it’s because I have an obsession with hockey players or simply because Bo is a tall, hot and muscled shapeshifter, but Bo made me drool through out the novel. What I admired the most about this alpha and ruthless male  is his protectiveness of Blayne, as she’s being hunted by humans that want to force her to fight in dog fights. And that alone makes him a worthy male in my book.

What makes this story so entertaining is undoubtedly the original characters. The book can certainly be read a stand alone because I personally didn’t mind it, but other characters from previous books definitively had some presence in the book. While heavy on the romance, the book did have a great story and the characters had to surpass quite a few ordeals to get to where they are. BEAST BEHAVING BADLY is a steamy, hilarious and wild read and should only be read if you want to laugh ridiculously and indulge in a hot romance.

Posted by Unknown at 07:30

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