The Mane Event by Shelly Laurenston

Do you like shapeshifter romance novels? 

Have you ever given one a try?

I received The Mane Event as a Christmas gift in 2009.  That was a really risky move on the part of my friend for two reasons:

1. I’ve read a ridiculous number of romance novels.  So it was sheer luck that she happened to pick one that was unfamiliar to me.

2. I am super picky regarding my romance novels.

However, she’d written “Merry Christmas” on the inside of this one, so I had no choice but to keep it and read it.  And thank gosh I did! The book was wickedly funny, totally sexy, and thrilling from start to finish.  Usually I find romance novels to be either funny and cute, or dark and sexy.  I don’t know that I’d ever found a romance novel to be both hilarious and spine-tingling, but holy hell, this book did it.  Instantly, Shelly Laurenston became one of my favorite authors.

The Mane Event actually houses two different stories: Christmas Pride, and Shaw’s Tail.  In Christmas Pride we meet Mace Llewellyn and are introduced to the idea of shapeshifting.  Mace and Desiree met as gangly, awkward teenager in high school but Mace moved away before anything could happen between them.  Now Mace is back from the Navy Seals, tall, sexy, and built to kill, and he’s ready to claim what’s rightfully his… Dez.  The only issue is convincing her to stick around after she discovers that he can shift from man to lion in the blink of an eye. 

In Shaw’s Tail Brendon Shaw is rescued from certain death by shape-shifter wolves, including one cowboy boot wearing babe, Ronnie Lee Reed.  Ronnie doesn’t have time to be messing around with lion shifters when she should be settling down with a nice wolf mate, but something about Brendon Shaw is calling to her.  Brendon Shaw’s lion side instinctually knows that Ronnie Lee Reed is his mate… he’s just got to convince her.

These men are everything you want in a romance novel.  They’re tall.  They’re dark.  They’re handsome.  They’re everything in between.  Her men all have very different personalities that can relate back to the animals they shift into.  Her lion shifters are total alpha males, arrogant, and a little selfish, but the women quickly put them in their place.  Her female characters are take no prisoners type of women whose confidence and independence rival the men’s.  The relationships in these novels are explosive and wickedly naughty, but still with enough romance to make you believe that these characters are meant to be together.

While the two men in these novels are lion shifters, Laurenston also delves into the swoon-worthy shifter lives of wolves, bears, hyenas, wild dogs, and a few more.  Laurenston does an amazing job creating character personalities based on the animals they shift into (i.e. Bears shifters are as curious and easily startled as their wild Bear relatives). I swear, sometimes I spew out a fact about wild dogs without thinking and then realize I only know that fact because of these shifter novels (that can get… embarrassing). 

If you’re looking for romance novels unlike any other I implore you to give Shelly Laurenston a chance.  There are nine books in the Pride series and Laurenston does a fabulous job keep the books consistently amazing and the plots interesting.  Characters do flit between the books, so while it isn’t necessary to read them in order it will be more enjoyable if you do. 

Shelly Laurenston has recently started a new series Call of Crows involving Viking Gods and their sexy followers, and she also writes dragon shifter novels under her pseudonym G.A. Aiken.  Her dragon kin novels are like the Game of Thrones of romance novels.  They’re incredibly detailed novels with sexy dragon shifters, temperamental gods, intricate plot lines, and more than enough erotic scenes to keep your romantic side sated. 

I cannot stress this enough.  You will not be disappointed.