Just Like Cats and Dogs

By: BA Tortuga

Narrated by: Joe Formichella

Can cats and dogs ever get along, let alone fall in love?

Sam knows you can never go home again. As an orphaned feline shifter raised by wolves, being an outcast is nothing new to him. But the pack is still his family, and when one of them passes away, Sam returns to the New Mexico desert to say good-bye.

Gus is a loner who rarely returns to his pack, but as fate would have it, Sam is there when he chooses to visit. The history between Gus and Sam is tumultuous, to say the least, but when Gus gets an eyeful of the grown-up and gorgeous version of his childhood bully, he can't control his reaction. And he isn't alone.

The attraction is powerful, but so are their differences. And with trouble brewing in the pack and danger surrounding them, Sam and Gus might not have the opportunity to seek common ground.

This action-packed shifter novel is the ultimate opposites attract and enemies-to-lovers romance, and it includes a bonus novella, In the Dog House.

©2017 BA Tortuga (P)2017 Dreamspinner Press

it was wonderful

this story is so worth it you will not be disappointed i love this series

A bad narrator can ruin a story...

This was a lot of fun! One thing I appreciate about BA Tortuga’s shifter books is how “animal-like” the shifters are, even while in human form. They purr, growl, crave tuna, rub against one another and chase birds in the park. Sometimes the writing style reflects this – short, staccato phrases that go along with a more “simple” brain and this can be disconcerting until you get into the rhythm.

I was confused at times by the whole “mate” thing. It’s not as simple as some other shifter novels where they meet, know immediately and claim one another. It’s a bit more subtle than that, so I found myself flipping back and forth trying to figure out if I’d missed something when our MCs go from fighting to fucking to calling one another Mate.

I also didn’t fully understand the whole situation regarding Sam in the city and what happened. Maybe we’ll learn more as the series progresses? But that was not really clear. Nor was the family situation. I guess the “sanctuary” is meant to be the big adopted family but having everyone refer to one another as brother and sister (even when they hooked up) was a bit confusing and disconcerting. (I was also confused about the type of cat Sam was – the cover suggests a Jaguar but the way he acted felt more like a house cat…)

Overall, I really enjoyed this. There was a lot of sex and a lot of odd discussions but a lot of warmth and humor and sentiment as well.

I definitely recommend this to fans of shifter romances, but you might want to read a sample first if you’ve never read anything by this author before, as she has a distinct style that not everyone enjoys.
(This cover is a huge improvement over the original! Kudos!)

4 of 5 stars

Audio

Joe Formichella is a new to me narrator. Though he’s done a few audiobooks there weren’t many with reviews and though I wasn’t blown away by the sample, I wanted to give him a try.

I enjoyed this as a story and was hoping that the narrator would be able to have fun with all the humor, accents, and fun pacing BA uses in her stories. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Joe’s voice is pretty nasal. He’s got an older voice which didn’t necessarily fit the story, though he does have the “country” sound that fits the locale. He’s not a very emotional reader and doesn’t do much to add inflection to his reading, characterizations or to even differentiate between man or woman. He’s not great at “performing”, but rather reads the words.

I wouldn’t choose a book by this narrator and – honestly – I will probably avoid books if he’s the narrator because he doesn’t add anything to the story and his tendency to let sentences run on became distracting.

2 of 5 stars

Overall 3 of 5 stars

Good start to a new series, not so good narrator

I loved it. I hated how the pack treated Sam, that was just bullshit. I loved the banter between Sam and Gus. They make a great team. I wanted Gus to take on the alpha because that was Gus’s family’s farm. He had no right to do that. I can’t wait to see them settle down and start their own pack. What would even make this even better is if this was an mpreg book so they could have a littler of pups and kitties all their own.

great story

kind of a nice idea for a shifter story - unusual and interesting - the story gets better the more you listen

Dull narrator

This is such a fantastic book. I was so excited when I saw this as an audiobook. Unfortunately the narration is just dull. His voice is nice enough. The problem is that there was no change between characters. If it didn’t say Gus said or Sam said you can’t tell who’s talking.