Wolf With Benefits (The Pride Series #8)
By: Shelly Laurenston
Paranormal Romance
Ricky Lee has no plans of getting serious about anyone, but he will protect Toni Jean-Louis Parker. Not just because he's been hired to do so, but because it's the right thing to do. And if that means travelling around the country with one complicated She-jackal, dealing with chocolate-eating wild dogs, instigating trouble between his brothers, and having the most amazing sex he's ever had...well, who said his job didn't have perks? Toni doesn't know how she keeps getting herself into these situations. But even she has to admit there's something about Ricky Lee Reed that she finds kind of interesting...and downright sexy. Now they just have to survive long enough to figure out if what they have is worth fighting for...
First off let me say, I really like this author's previous stories. The saga as a whole is well written, funny and very entertaining. I did not however enjoy this installment of the very colorful pride series.
We start with the tale of Toni and Ricky, a coyote shifter and wolf shift. It's abundantly apparent from the start that our main guy is out for some fun in the sack and not much else. As the story develops, we somehow jump from a hookup to "she's mine". With not much going on in between. Sure, he follows her around and they hang out, but there's no growth as a pair. No match made in heaven feel. With a romance novel, you expect that pull of the main couple. That was lacking.
Since Toni is one of about 10 siblings, a huge portion of this story revolves around their hectic schedule. All of her siblings are prodigies in some way. Be it the arts, music, math, or dancing. Each one is advanced beyond their young years and each one has some form of OCD or ADD. Possibly a mix of both. I found this very tedious to read about. The constant going on's about the schedule these kids have, the fighting between each other and over the top antics were a serious justification for birth control. Anyone looking to have kids, should read this book. You may think twice.
As previously stated, the kids schedules and Toni managing them is the main focus of the book. Really, her superpower is scheduling. I'd ask for a refund. There's so many different characters jam-packed in here that I had a hard time keeping track of who's who. Let's not forget about the abundance of meaningless violence going on. The packs are constantly at each others throats and there seemed to be a glorification of the fact that the men are just pushy. Animals they may be, but it got old, fast.
After chapters and chapters of filler we finally get to something worth while! But that does not happen until the final few chapters. I always try to finish every single book I start, but this was really hard to read. The split focus of multiple characters was overwhelming and took away from what should have been about Toni and Ricky. This left me both frustrated and let down.
If you like family drama and unruly kids, who will make you want to take a long walk off a short pier, then you'll find it here. I strongly recommend skipping this story altogether and waiting for the next. You wont miss much and Shelly does a good job of catching you up on previous stories with each new edition.
Getting 2 Sheep
KD
