While this book didn’t completely deliver for me, I did still enjoy some of the same elements that carried over from the first book. If you enjoyed the first book, there is still a chance you’ll enjoy this one

Snyder's writing is both sensual and poignant, with characters that feel authentic and relatable. The chemistry between the protagonists sizzles on the page, making it a compelling and engaging read. Pretty Little Lion packs a powerful punch, immersing readers in a world of passion and self-discovery.

I cannot even explain how much I love this book. The premise with shifters being watched by the government and the way it was done was fascinating. You can definitely see the politics involved, but how it was matched with the shifters trying to leave their own lives was brilliant, I love the grumpy hero and oh is he grumpy. I love seeing the Punjabi family and I love the interactions of all of the characters. Seeing a secret group, and how all of the members interact with one another also added to the story. All in all, if you are looking for a clever paranormal romance book with steam this is a book for you.

This is the second book in a paranormal shifter romance series. The first book was just OK for me but it prepared me for the tone/style of the series. I liked this one better since I already knew the world building and I could ignore the things that annoyed me in the first book.

The suspense is intense, and I like the MCs, we get to see more of the abilities of the supernatural beings (I still don't like the abbreviation sup used in the book).

I have tried off and on to read this book, but it just fails to capture my attention. Although I want to read and enjoy it, I can't put a finger on why I can't make my way through it. Regrettably, this is DNF for me.

I didn't know this book is a sequel and I haven't read the first book so this review is for this book only.

I found it hard to understand the setting and world building because I skipped the first book but I was getting familiar about them after quite some time. The characters are fun and interesting but I didn't feel attached to them. maybe I'll read Big Bad Wolf someday and rethink my opinions on this book.

I have voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this title given to me via NetGalley. This was just a wonderful book to read and it was just easy to lose yourself in the story. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

It's been a while since I read the first book in the series, but as soon as I read the first page, I was back in this amazing world. Snyder's writing is as sharp and as engrossing as ever, and I love our main characters Elijah and Meghna! The romance is hot hot hot - the attraction is immediate, and it doesn't let up until the last page! And of course, bonus point for the poly relationship between three supporting characters!

Pretty Little Lion is the second installment in the Third Shift series, and I think they should be read in order to establish the backstory of several characters. Action packed and full of suspense, I liked this episode of the paranormal romance thrillers as much as the first. Megan and Elijah’s chemistry is on fire, scorching the pages when they connect. With so many characters in a series, you’d expect to be confused, but the author does a great job of individualizing them to distinguish their stories.

This is my first time reading a book by this author Suleikha Synder and I must say I enjoyed this book rather well. This is the 2nd book in the (Third Shift Book Series). I thought I had the first book in this series but unfortunately I don’t. As I was reading the 2nd book in this series I was able to follow along. Elijah Richter is co-founder of the Third Shift and is a lion shifter. Meghna is a lion shifter who has been trained to be a spy, assassin and she is well versed and good at her job. Elijah is the hero and is on a mission to get inside a terrorist ring that has gone global. Elijah’s target is none other than Meghna the heroine. The couple meet at a party and my girl Meghna spots Elijah eyeing her and decides to invite out on a rendezvous. Something happens and there cover is almost blown. Elijah has fallen for Meghna and as she is trying to hold out she just doesn’t seem to be able to. Their attraction to each continues to grow.

I enjoyed reading “Pretty Little Lion”. I’m going to go back and read book # 1 in this series.
Will Elijah and Meghna work together and get the job done, will they continue to grow closer and have an HEA?

I received an ARC via NetGalley and I’m leaving my review voluntarily.

I really wanted to like this book, but it is all anger and Trump-hating attempting to hide in a mediocre story line. I believe the appropriate phrase would be "utter woke crap." The author writes an Orwellian 1984 style setting with spy drones. There is so much harping on perceived racism and misogyny that it is hard to even see the small bits of plot provided. What I took away from this is that the author thinks men are just too stupid to see when a girl is faking enjoying sex, but if you treat them like the idiot they are, you may teach them to spot the difference.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for sending me this book in exchange for my honest review.

Given a copy for review.

I loved book one in this series and could not wait to get my hands on this book. I still really like the characters and the current issues that the author tackles in the paranormal realm. However, it took me over a month to finish this book. I read books in a day, not a month. I could not stay interested in this story. It felt disjointed and was too "flabby".
I am interested to see where the team goes next but I hope that the fun that is in book one comes back. Even Finn lost some of his sparkle in this book. The writing is still good, it just felt like there were two books in one and they did not fit together seamlessly.

Pretty Little Lion was an amazing follow up to Big Bad Wolf featuring a romance between two people after the same man.

Third Shift co-founder Elijah Richter breaks the number one rule of undercover work to never fall for his mark. But the minute he spots Meghna Saxena-Saunders across the room, Elijah is immediately taken by her. Originally intending to seduce her due to her role as arms dealer Mirko Aston's girlfriend, his plan goes off the rails when one of Aston's goons interrupts them. When Meghna is revealed to be an assassin, the pair are forced to work together to salvage their missions. With danger on all sides, their attraction threatens to consume them both.

The plot to take down Aston and stop the arms sale was an interesting plot. Elijah and Meghna are both after Aston although they go about it in different ways. Meghna's method usually includes getting close to someone before making their death look like an accident. Elijah is more direct in his methods with his work at Third Shift. In this case, the pair are both after information Aston has about a weapons sale which keeps them from immediately eliminating the guy. There's a fair amount of action in this book as Meghna and Elijah track down leads which I enjoyed. The implications of the weapon they're tracking down could have far reaching consequences for the shapeshifter community and I'm interested to see what comes from that in future installments. The ending was suspenseful with a great final confrontation with the bad guys.

Elijah and Meghna's romance starts out as an immediate attraction on both sides. The pair hook up only a few minutes after they first meet and the sexy scenes don't let up the entire book. I very much prefer my romances to be on the more explicit side so I loved that aspect of the book, but just fair warning if that's not your thing. With both of them being in similar lines of work, there is an understanding there when it comes to their work although they do go about doing things in different ways. There were several issues in the way of a real relationship between them and I liked how the author dealt with those issues. In addition to Elijah and Meghna's romance there was also a romance between three side characters; Grace, Finn, and Nate. This was my first time reading about a romance involving a throuple, so that was a nice change. I liked the dynamic between the three of them and how well they fit together.

Overall Pretty Little Lion was a fantastic read and I'm looking forward to reading future books in the series.

Suleikha Snyder was a guest on the Fresh Fiction Podcast on October 31st! To listen to this podcast, head to podbean: https://freshfiction.podbean.com/e/special-halloween-episode-suleikha-snyder-interview/

She was also featured on the Fresh Fiction blog with a 20 Questions feature: https://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=11557

A big thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks/Casablanca for the Wish and ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is the 2nd in a series, and I have not read the first. I must say that this is ok as a stand alone not great but ok. This book is quite convoluted, with many characters, I loved the idea of this book, more than the book. I liked the main characters Meghna an assassin and Elijah the lion. But the book gets slow with flashbacks and things that I had no idea about (maybe explained in the first book?). I didn't love the book, but it was ok. I liked the secondary group as well Nate/Grace/Finn. 3 stars

This was a fun paranormal romance story that incorporated a lot of the things that I enjoy about a PNR/urban fantasy world: great world building, interesting paranormal creatures and lots of side-characters that you want to learn more about. It's the second book in a series, and as someone who hasn't read the first book, you can definitely read it on its own, but there are aspects that I think would benefit from reading the series in order. There are a lot of things that have happened previously that are alluded to without being fully fleshed out in the second book, so if that's something that bothers you, definitely start from book one.

Elijah and Meghna were intriguing protagonists who have a lot of chemistry right off the bat. They find themselves and their worlds (and missions) colliding unintentionally. And while we spend the majority fo the book with them, I have to admit that it was the side characters - a triad relationship, featuring Grace, Finn and Nate - that intrigued me a lot more. Which was a shame because we don't spend nearly as much time as Elijah and Meghna, and there was a lot more growth from the triad in terms of navigating their relationship, even though they weren't front and centre. In many ways, it felt like the major and minor storylines should have been switched around.

Overall it's an enjoyable read, but I'd probably only continue if the triad gets to be front and center.

THANK YOU @sourcebookscasa FOR THE ARC!

Paranormal Romance is probably my favorite genre. It's definitely the genre I've read the most of. This is why after reading Third Shift #1, Big Bad Wolf (review here), I wanted to read Pretty Little Lion, Third Shift #2.

This book is a continuation, starting a few months later, with the Third Shift team dealing with the fallout from the end of Book 1 and climbing the food chain of bad guys to eradicate. When Third Shift boss and lion shifter, Elijah, decides to honeypot the bad guy’s gf, Meghna, he finds he's lured an assassin with her own mission into his bed. Of course, the mission goes sideways and a third book is set up (my guess is it's about Third Shift boss and sorcerer, Jackson).

What Big Bad Wolf did well, where it had us panting for more, was the secondary romance featuring a triad: Finn, Grace, and Nate. Though this book was more about the action plot and the emotional connection of two operatives, rather than the sex scenes (boo), there was A LOT more development between the trio. No explicit sex, but lots of scenes from Grace's POV. The trio’s story I cared about. Their story is compelling. Their story will have me picking up Book 3. Not so much the MC’s. -Ford

I have Thoughts not only about this book, but the series. It's set in a world where 2016 went even worse than it did in real life, but it challenges the awfulness at every turn and offers us hope along with the love. Snyder isn't writing her way out of this pandemic, she's writing her way through it. The result isn't escapist, quite, but a cathartic read all the same.

Themes and ideas that are rattling around my head:

- The idea that privilege should be owned and used to further the fight. Wealthy? Put that money towards the cause. Does your skin color give you access? Use that for the greater good.

- You don't wrestle with privilege once, never to think about it again. It's a constant battle, people you love and trust will call you out on it, and it's your job to listen.

- We have a main character that identifies as a sex worker and the importance of that work, as well as the right to choose it, are discussed.

- There's a nonbinary character that is allowed to simply be nonbinary on the page - no coming out story, no hint at what their assigned gender at birth might be. There's more talk about their ethnicity than their gender, for goodness sakes. We need more of this.

- The found family vibes are strong and earned.

- There's a discussion of how both revenge and hope can fuel good work, and while both are valid one is probably more sustainable.

- A side relationship from the first book continues and I love it so, so much. I would love for them to have their own book, but their relationship running alongside the story over multiple volumes means we see more of them, longer, and I'm not going to complain about that.

- Third Shift is here to fight white supremacy, fascism, and all the awfulness in the world, unapologetically, and I'm here for it.

Pretty Little Lion wears its heart and its politics on its sleeve and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm guessing that the larger story is a three book arc but this world has so much to offer and explore than I'm hoping for a much longer running series.

This is the 2nd in the Third Shift books and I admit I have not yet read the 1st one. I will remedy that mistake soon. Shifters, vampires and an apsara (celestial nympth in Hindu Mythology) join forces to take out the bad guys. They sort of succeed. This is a trilogy and we have to wait for book 3 to have resolution to the mystery. But the couples, Elijah and Meghna, and Grace, Nate, and Finn are together at the end of this book so the HEA is confirmed. I am looking forward to the next installment. 3 1/2 stars.

ARC review copy via NetGalley

I said JANAGWIT (Joe and Neha are great—who is THAT?) last time, and /Bernie Sanders voice/ once again I am asking for more about the spicy couple in the background.

Elijah & Meghna are fun, sexy (almost too sexy? this book takes place over the course of maybe a week, and two days of that or more is just straight banging), and principled, reflecting different sides of the decision to rebel against injustice. I wish we got more of Meghna's otherworldliness, instead of just allusions to her beauty and her very convenient healing factor, which is on par with Wolverine's. The addition of the Vidrohi to the shadowy network of resistance drives the idea that the rising wave of intolerance is global, and not just a uniquely American problem.

Of course, also, full snaps & claps for the Finn/Grace/Nate situation, love a bunch of jagged edges finding unexpected matches. There's no preview in the back of this copy, but big hopes for the next of these to have something to do with Spicy No. 2 (i.e., the reluctant villain vampire & the djinn).

Final note: the detail that Elijah can regrow his locs at will was just /chef's kiss/ a whole 'nother level.