Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Romeo is gay and bad at hiding it. In New Town, his inability to stay in the closet has come face to face with his ability to stay alive … and the odds aren’t looking good. Some years ago, Romeo’s uncle Leo passed, leaving a small property to his sister and her children. It’s far away and off the paved road, but it’s got to be safer than New Town. And, with Romeo gone, maybe his mother, sister, and brother will have an easier time of it. So, with what little food his mother can spare, a car, and a tank of gas, Romeo heads for the hinterlands of Last Hope.
The property, Moonlight Ranch, is three cabins, a well, and supernaturals. There is a curious bear cub, a charming cougar and his aloof eagle owl friend, a murder of ravens, and vampires. They’ve been watching the property for Leo, and now that a human has come to claim the it, they’re not sure if he’s friend or food. For Romeo, though, the Breed — what they call themselves — are less frightening than the men in town. Besides, he likes Humbert, the bear cub. He even likes Ciar, the panther shifter. Something about him, his easy affection, his bravado, his sulking, and his need to be the center of attention makes Romeo laugh and melt in equal measure.
There’s just one problem. The wolf shifter doesn’t like Romeo and he wants to get rid of him. Unlike Ciar, the wolf alpha isn’t a solitary creature. He comes with a pack … and a plan.
In Panther’s Luck, humans live in small cities and towns, allowed only so much land and so many resources, and with the constant threat of the Breed at their heels. The shifters see no problem with eating human meat, but want what humans have: electricity, books, tools, and human money. As such, they set up arrangements to do work for humans in exchange for money, which allows them to buy human luxury items. The vampires are equal parts flesh and smoke, neither human nor shifter, and with the ability to blend into human cities. There are even shifters who can’t quite take a fully human form, ending up somewhere in between.
Romeo is trusting — at times too trusting. It was the work of only a moment for some handsome man to get him to follow him into an alley where he was beaten nearly to death, which caused him to have to leave town. And when the Breed promise him protection according to their rules, he accepts without question. He is selfless, kind, and quick to forgive. He’s not able to protect himself from the Breed and he knows it, but chooses to not be afraid of them.
Ciar is a solitary cat by nature, but he knows a good thing when he sees it. Romeo is a human who, like Ciar, has no interest in a female mate; he can read the words in books, is brave enough to charge out in the middle of the night when he thinks Ciar needs help, and can open a business account in town so that Ciar and his friend can sell their hunted meats to the humans for money. He also looks at Ciar like he’s wonderful, and looks to Ciar for protection. All of these are good things in Ciar’s book.
I’ve read other books by this author and have enjoyed them. Day has an honest gift for story telling, with fluffy, low-stress books where the drama is always neatly tied off in a bow, the characters all have good chemistry, and the happily ever afters are never too sweet. The writing is good, the pace is fast, and the setting is well handled.
