Status Updates From Savage Hunger (Heart of the...

I purposefully didn’t pick up Terry Spear’s debut series because they tend to be not as well-written as later books, but I still ended up being disappointed. Will I read the next book in the series? I’d say no, but the next story would be about Maya, and she’s pretty much the only character I loved there. So, for Maya, I’ll give the next one a chance and hope that the author won’t slaughter her personality.

To sum up the book as a whole, we have: 1) jealous and possessive hero; 2) heroine with no personality; 3) romance with no chemistry; 4) the plot that’s basically the heroes fleeing through the jungle with the bad guys after them; 5) one awesome character in the hero’s sister and one wholesome friendship between her and the heroine. Needless to say, I’m not happy with the summation.

Gonzales sending his man after Kathleen because she dared to trick him and live? Realistic and believable. Gonzales personally coming into a posh hotel to capture Kath and her friends? Unlikely, but possible. Gonzales, who’s a freaking drug lord, showing up completely alone, without bodyguards or minions? Not gonna believe it. As a result, a resolution takes about two paragraphs, and it’s the worst final ever.

For half of the book, Connor suspected that Wade Patterson either works for Gonzales or set Kath up for some reason, and now when they have a chance to meet Wade and actually learn his agenda, they just turn their back on it simply because Connor is a jealous twit who feels threatened that Wade can steal his woman even though Wade and Kathleen never met. The more I read about Connor, the more he disappoints me.

The downsides of the author writing a detailed sex scene each time the night falls and the couple is left alone: a) I keep wondering how they have the energy – like, you spent the whole day hiking and you’re going to drive the whole next day, how are you not sleeping on your feet? b) things begin to get repetitive, and I’m like ‘This old thing again? Spice it up, you two, use your darn imagination!’

There are enough hilarious moments in this book, like when Kath involuntary shifts in her sleep and begins to sleepwalk as a jaguar, or when Kath feels the urge to shift and strips down in front of the bad guys only for the shifting not to happen, or when Kath shifts in the hotel and the gang decides to just walk to the car with a jaguar in tow as if it were a dog. If only the action and characters were this good…

I adore Kathleen and Maya’s friendship – these two have more interactions and stronger chemistry than Connor and Kathleen. And honestly, Maya is the best thing about this book; she is such a strong and vivid character who really stands out compared to lackluster Connor and Kath, slow-paced plot and way too little action for a story featuring jaguar shifters in the Amazon facing off a drug lord.

What’s it with Kathleen’s low self-esteem? I’d much prefer for her to hesitate taking her relationship with Connor further not because ‘what if he meets a born shifter who isn’t a failure like me, he deserves better’, but because she needs time to adjust to the many changes in her life and get used to being a shifter herself, so that she can get her life together and then decide if she wants a relationship.

I wish the author actually explored the Andersons’ relations with the natives, who believe Connor and Maya to be jaguar gods and thus stepped in to protect them from Gonzales’ men. It’s such a missed opportunity – if the story takes place on the Amazon, it’s a shame to focus exclusively on American protagonists without giving at least some pagetime to the local cultures.

Was it necessary to make Kathleen’s ex-fiance a jerk for no reason other than to make Connor look better by comparison? Honestly, there doesn’t seem any other reason for Roger to exist otherwise. I don’t want Kath to get together with Connor because he’s literally the first decent guy she’d met – it should go without saying, and I want girls to have more self-respect than that.

Maybe I prefer the heroes’ relationship to develop gradually instead of the sparks flying from the get-go – it certainly seemed to me that Kath and Connor jumped into bed way too quickly. Like, you know each other for a week, most of which Kath was unconscious! And by ‘jumped’, I mean literally – if I went to sleep alone and someone got into the bed with me during the night, I’d be creeped out, not turned on.

Kathleen’s PTSD is seriously downplayed – this woman had seen her whole crew murdered before her eyes and almost died herself, she was forced to leave military because of her trauma, and yet it’s all brought down to her having nightmares and beating about in her sleep, and even that is quickly healed with a hug and some lovemaking from Connor.

I can understand that Kathleen cannot stay alone after being turned, as she has no control over her shifting and can put herself and other shifters in danger. But hey, how about you teach her how to cope with her instincts and gain control over her life and then let her decide if she wants a future with you instead of stating caveman-style that Kath has no choice but to stay with you? Looking at you there, Connor.

You know what’s more hilarious than Connor in jaguar form having play Lassie for Kathleen? When Kath involuntarily shifts for the first time, she’s extremely confused, thinking everything to be a very weird, very vivid dream, and runs off to the jungle. So when Connor and Maya actually find her, they have to play Lassie again, except that they are all in jaguar forms and have no means to vocalize their thoughts.

The problem is I don’t have a good feel of who Kathleen is like as a person. Maya has a very strong personality, and so does Connor, even if I don’t always like him, but Kath is just a generic girl, likable, but not outstanding. She’s supposed to be an army officer who had seen action, but she doesn’t give off an impression of experienced soldier, showing neither decisiveness nor strength required for this position.

Wade Patterson seems very suspicious indeed – I suppose it’s plausible that he could’ve known about Connor and Maya, since they did resupply in local villages and there aren’t that many Americans vacationing in the jungle so often and for so long, but there’s no way for Wade to know where exactly their hut is located if they never met in person. His offer of ‘help’ to Kathleen smells like a trap, if you ask me.