Giveaway, Blogtour Review: The Pack or the Panther – Tara Lain

Cole Harker, son of an alpha werewolf, is bigger and more powerful than most wolves, tongue-tied in groups, and gay. For twenty-four years, he’s lived to please his family and pack—even letting them promise him in marriage to female werewolf Analiese to secure a pack alliance and help save them from a powerful gangster who wants their land. Then Cole meets Analiese’s half-brother, panther shifter Paris Marketo, and for the first time, Cole wants something for himself. When Analiese runs off to marry a human, Cole finally has a chance with Paris, but the solitary cat rejects him, the pack, and everything it represents. Then Cole discovers the gangster wants Paris too and won’t rest until he has him. What started as a land dispute turns into World War Wolf! But the bigger fight is the battle between cats and dogs.

*I received a free ARC of The Pack or the Panther from Enchantress of Books Blogtours in exchange of an honest review*

The Pack or the Panther is a sexy paranormal romance about a gay future alpha-wolf and a strangely aloof and beautiful panther who both have some important decisions to make about their lives in order to find any kind of happiness at all.

When Cole’s parents simply inform him of his impending marriage to the neighboring pack’s daughter who is also a future alpha-wolf, he tries to tell them it’s a really bad idea, it’s not as if they don’t know he’s gay, but saving the pack is more important to them than Cole’s happiness. Cole, too thinks that it’s important to make sure the pack will be safe, especially because Eliazer, a gangster and wolf, is trying very hard to take over their territory, and has no qualms about killing and torturing to get what he wants. Cole realizes very soon that his true choice may really be the pack or the panther as Annaliese runs away from their betrothal party to be with her human lover, but her sexy half-brother Paris is still around.

Paris is very intriguing, half panther, he is the most beautiful person Cole has ever seen in his life, and Cole quickly understands that Paris is his true mate. Paris is a loner, though, so he will not stay around to see if more than fabulous sexual chemistry can come to be for him and Cole. The Pack or the Panther is mostly fast paced, but I wish there was a little bit more character development. I loathed Cole’s parents. Yes, I get that they wanted to save the pack, but really, it shouldn’t have been so difficult to find another alphanta to take Cole’s place in marrying someone from the Marketo pack in order to save them all. Good thing that they came around later, if not I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed this story.

Cole is pretty strong, but he hates speaking in public, Paris is his opposite in many ways, he loves to speak in public, but couldn’t be bothered to be part of a pack. The dynamics, both between Paris and Cole, and the pack as a whole is well done, I enjoyed seeing the underlaying currents of trust, incomprehension and how strong the ties between the various characters seemed. The Pack or the Panther is a good start to a shifter series, and there are many good stories to be told, I’m sure! Lindsey is the character I enjoyed the most meeting – apart from Cole and Paris – he is Cole’s gay best friend. And I hope he will get some nice adventures himself in future books of the series.

If you are looking for a shifter romance with two males, and where there is action outside of the bedroom as well, you should pick up The Pack or the Panther, as there is intrigue both between the packs, and with the outsider Eliazer. Cole finally manages to stand up for himself towards the end, and I am sure I will enjoy the next stories about him and this sexy pack.

He gritted his teeth. “I can’t marry Analiese Marketo.” Landon lunged forward so his booted feet hit the floor. “Why the hell not?” Take a deep breath and try not to bash your own father’s head. “You. Know. Why.” His father waved a hand. “It’s not a problem.” Cole clenched his fists. He could feel his eyes bulging. “It’s not a problem that I’m gay?”

“If you were to mate a man, a lot of the pack would never accept it. You’d never be alpha. “

Move, feline. Thous shalt not covet thy sister’s gay fiancé. He took two more steps. Merde. The wolf was gay. What were these insane canines doing marrying a gay male to his siter? How to wreck both their lives in one easy step.

His mom put her hand on Landon’s knee and leaned forward. “And I should have fought harder. Hell, sweetheart, letting the pack pretend that there’s no such thing as a gay werewolf was inexcusable. Because that made it seem that being a gay werewolf wasn’t okay. Wasn’t something to be proud of.”

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About Tara Lain:
Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT erotic romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her first novel was published in January of 2011 and she’s now somewhere around book 23. Her best­selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, and Tara has been named Best Writer of the Year in the LRC Awards. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. She often does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. She lives with her soul­mate husband and her soul­mate dog in Laguna Beach, California, a pretty seaside town where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says on her tombstone it will say “Yes”!

You can find Tara here :
Website | Blog | Twitter | FB Author Page | Goodreads | Pinterest

Thanks for stopping by today, have a wonderful day 🙂 Don’t forget to check out other reviews for Shine that are part of the blogtour as well, you can find them at

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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