Fangs and Catnip by Julia Talbot ~ Audio Review

Title: Fangs and Catnip

Series: Dreamspun Beyond 09 / Dead and Breakfast 01

Author: Julia Talbot

Narrator: Dorian Bane

Genre: Paranormal, Vampires

Length: 6 hrs, 41 mins

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (14th March 2018)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating: 💖💖💖💖 3.5 Hearts

Blurb: A romance worth fighting for – tooth and claw.

Solitary vampire Fallon Underwood gets all the social interaction he needs being the silent partner at the Dead and Breakfast B and B high in the Colorado mountains. Change is hard for Fallon, so when his business partner, Tanner, suggests hiring a new manager for the inn, he’s adamant that they don’t need help, especially not in the form of bouncy werecat Carter Hughes.

Carter is a happy-go-lucky kitty, and he loves the hospitality industry, so the D and B ought to be a great place for him. He falls for Fallon as soon as he picks up one of Fallon’s novels and begins to woo the vamp with gifts. When Fallon finally succumbs to Carter’s feline charms, the results are unexpected, to say the least. Their mating will have irreversible consequences – for their bodies and their hearts.

Product Link: Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Reviewer: Prime

Review: Fangs and Catnip is the first book in Julia Talbot’s Dead and Breakfast series and is a part of Dreamspun Beyond house line. For me, I have enjoyed Julia Talbot books in the past, but she is one of those authors that I don’t have any real opinion on other than they are usually a good read.

However, I did look forward to the narration by Dorian Bane. I’ve not heard his voice on an audio in quite a while and he was one of the first narrators I heard narration MM shape shifter stories (I think for some Siren books). At any rate, I really enjoyed hearing Bane’s distinctive voice – deep and husky and just perfect for many alpha type males. Although this story didn’t have any actual alpha type males – just a brooding vampire and cougar shifter who reminded me of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. I liked the two voice he gave the MCs of this book and it was generally very enjoyable.

This plot of Fangs and Catnip is totally cute and charming. There is no real big drama or obstacles – this is a shifter and vampire who have to get their shit together.

Fallon Underwood is a vampire who is basically a hermit. He is a few centuries old and prefers his solitude. He resides in the attic at the paranormal bed and breakfast destination, The Death and Breakfast, where is the silent partner in the business with the sleepy, grumpy bear shifter, Tanner, located on the top of an isolated, snowy mountain. Tanner does a lot of the work on his own and finally convinces Fallon that he needs to hire a manager so that he can sleep/hibernate a bit more as the winter approaches.

This is where hospitality manager Carter Hughes. He’s the bouncy cougar shifter that is basically Tigger. He comes to the B and B all excited for his new job, looking forward to being involved with a business that caters for all manner or paranormals and humans. When he encounters the enigmatic Fallon he immediately is attracted, and his inner cat knows that Fallon is his mate. The problem is vampires and shifters usually don’t mate in the sense that they form a full blown emotional and mental bond, so there are unexpected results as their different physiologies alter to help the bonding process.

There is low level angst and there is what think is a bit of stuffing around that I think felt more like to fill time/pages more than anything else. I won’t go into super details, but Fallon tries at certain points to push Carter away because he cares for the man too much and like many men in romances doesn’t talk to his partner about his concerns.

That is probably my only criticism of the entire book. The plot is simple and well-paced, which means that there is room for the characters to develop a bit. It also means we get time with the other secondary character who will no doubt get their own romantic story at some point. The guys have great chemistry and the sex scenes are steamy. I can’t wait for November when the second books comes out featuring barely in control, newly turned wolf Tom.