Saturday, July 20, 2013

ARC Review: Jaguar Fever

Jaguar Fever (Heart of the Jaguar #2)

by Terry Spear 

Blurb:

 Jaguar shifter Maya Anderson learns about a secret jaguar society through underground social networking sites. She wanted to discover others like her, but now she's got more trouble than she bargained for—including one hot jaguar shifter who's set his sights on her. Wade Patterson has learned that Maya is a shifter—and available. But how does he get to know her when he left such a bad first impression? When he learns Maya has gone to a watering hole for jaguar shifters to meet up, he quickly follows after, hoping she is wily enough to hold her own...

Review:

Returning to the exotic jungle’s of the world, Terry Spear takes us on an amazing adventure through the Heart of the Jaguars that reside inside these special shifters hidden among us. I have awaited this story for a long time, dying to find out if Maya and Wade would come together and how their relationship would progress. Full of twists and turns Jaguar Fever was certainly entertaining while showing us that even supernatural beings, like Jaguar shifters, can have bad seeds hidden in their populations.  Another great addition to the shifter romance shelf.
Our story picks up shortly after the ending of the last book, with Maya attempting to branch out and meet shifters, hoping to find herself a true mate.  She’s decided that she’ll put herself out there, visiting a shifter club for the first time.  But among all the humans and shifter males, she encounters Wade Patterson, the male that once aided her and her family when they were in danger.  And though he was attempting to steal her brother’s mate, Maya always found herself intrigued by Wade.  But their chance encounter soon leads to danger, leaving Maya caught up in a shifter police operation that Wade is running with his brother.  Attempting to stop an illegal exotic animal smuggling operation, Wade is beyond angry that Maya has gotten involved, even distantly, in his operation and though he is resistant initially, soon accepts that having her help and cooperation might be necessary.
As the story progresses, Wade is immediately possessive and protective of Maya, even though he is resisting finding himself in love with another woman who isn't interested in exclusivity.  He’s been burned in the past and is ready to settle down, but can’t see Maya being willing to settle with him.  Maya and Wade are certainly hot for each other and willing to give in to their bodies’ demands, but the more than are intimate, the closer together they grow and the more their hearts are invested.  It takes entirely too long for both of these characters to face the fact that they are in love with each other and will be perfect lifelong mates.
I will say that the overall plot involving the smugglers and the ring of dangerous criminals left me feeling a bit dirty.  Seeing these beautiful creatures endangered and seeing that even the men that should be protecting were involved in the crimes, broke my heart a bit.   Seeing things unravel for the smugglers was great, though at times it became a bit convoluted, in the end the strands all unraveled conclusively    However, the best part of this story was the exotic locales that we got to see glimpses of.  Spear writes with such detail and depth to her settings that you feel like you are in the jungle running alongside these beautiful cats.  It almost makes me want to travel there to see it for myself… until she mentions the snakes, then I remember why that will NEVER happen. :) Thankfully there are authors like this to let me see and enjoy it in my own mind.
I loved the story overall I must say, but there were points that I found the romance to be a bit shallow and fast moving. I know they had developed a bit of a fascination with each other in the last novel, but there didn’t seem to be enough time for them to get to know each other outside of bed.  It was missing a bit of the emotional element I’m used to feeling in a Spear novel.  There were some fun twists and cross-overs with other series, which left me smiling and chuckling.   I will definitely continue with the series because I’m interested in the characters I met in this story, but I’m looking forward to a return of the deeper connection I expect.   Jaguar Fever was a wonderful read and getting to see Kat and Conner together and how their lives have progressed was beyond fun. I can’t wait to find out what comes next for the Heart of the Jaguar Series and Terry’s world of big cat shifters.

Rating: 3.75  stars

Rose Rating: 

*eARC provided by publisher (via netgalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review.  No compensation was provided. 



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