Katie Woods never thought she’d be forty-one, divorced, and thrust back into the dating world. To start fresh, Katie uproots her veterinary practice to upstate New York—not exactly the hottest dating scene on the planet. But when an unconscious cougar appears at her clinic, Katie’s newly single life gets a much needed jolt of the supernatural kind.
After Katie examines the cougar and leaves him caged overnight, she’s shocked to find a big strapping specimen of young, hot man in its place. And when the scratch she got during the exam results in some unnatural side effects, Katie has more to deal with then her animal attraction to a much younger guy—she has to figure how to stop herself from becoming a cougar of the four-legged variety.
I started this one a little while ago and had to put it to the side because I was really not liking it. But then, after encouragement from some other readers who enjoyed other books in Cassidy’s Accidental Friends series, I picked it up again. And, I have to admit, I rather liked it.
Katie is a fun character. A little older than many of the heroines in my books, she loves animals and is willing to do just about anything to help them, including “liberating” an injured one from a local animal sanctuary (okay, so she was talked into it but still). When that cougar turns into a young, hot, very naked man, she has a little freak-out. Completely understandable. So is the not-so-little freak-out she has when her canines grow and one of her hands turns into a paw.
Enter the OOPS crew (Out in the Open Paranormal Support). These four gals—Wanda, Nina, Marty and Casey—used to be your average, everyday humans until circumstances changed them into their current paranormal state (events that occurred in the previous books in this series). After living through their own experiences, they decided to bond together and be available to help other who have paranormal events disrupting their lives. When they hear about Katie’s incident, they spring into action and invade her vet practice in small-town New York, ready to help her transition into her new life.
The crew is overwhelming. Nina, in particular, just about sent me over the edge. At times, she could be funny with her pissiness but did she have to be a beyotch all the time? It’s wearying. Wanda tries to rein her in but Nina just steamrolls right over her. Personally, I would have slapped some duct tape over that vamp’s mouth and locked her in a closet. Not that it would have worked. I’m sure there are people out there who love Nina but she was just too much for me. But because I really liked Katie and her hot man-cougar (aka Spanky-Beck-Shaw. Nina just called him “Three name” which was pretty funny), I slogged through her bits so I could get to the good stuff.
Katie and Shaw were really quite good together. At first, Katie’s all, “No, I can’t lust after him because he’s way too young for me.” Then she decides that he’s got to be gay because, though he can’t remember his name or anything personal, he knows Project Runway. But Shaw knows what he likes and he likes her. It doesn’t matter to him that she’s 41 and he looks like he’s in his 20’s somewhere. He charms the pants right off her. Literally. (Personally, I’m all for a 40-something/20-something pairing. And 41 is not old! Sheesh.)
Of course, there’s plenty of action and not just in the bedroom. There’s Shaw’s mysterious past, what’s going on over at the animal sanctuary, the people of the small town who hate Katie, and a badly beaten man who accuses Nina and Wanda of the crime before slipping into a coma.
Overall, while the super-fast dialogue was overwhelming at times and the snark over-the-top, the love story between Katie and Shaw is cute and well worth sticking it out to read what happens.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
The series:
This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here
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