How to Walk Like a Man: Howl at the Moon, Book 2

In my review book review for How To Walk Like a Man I wrote the only thing that will make this better is when Matthew Shaw does the narration for the audio book.

And I was absolutely right.

Matthew Shaw’s sophomore effort proves he wasn’t a flash in the pan, one time rock star. He gives a performance like a virtuoso, playing the characters brilliantly and bringing this story to life! I absolutely LOVED how he made each dog breed “sound” like you would expect their breed to sound – it was awesome!

Timing, sound quality, character voices, cadence – it was all fantastic. It doesn’t hurt that this series gets better with each story.

This is brilliant, funny, sexy, and heartwarming. Coupled with Matthew Shaw’s narration How to Walk Like a Man has it all!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

(Book Review below)

I absolutely, unequivocally, hard-core LOVE and ADORE this story! Eli Easton – THANK YOU!! Because this? This was PHENOMENAL!

Getting to see the characters I got to know and love from How to Howl at the Moon again, ESPECIALLY Roman Charsguard, the newly quickened, German Shepard shifter, made me melt faster than a chocolate bar left in the sun, and it's just as sweet and savory! Roman made this book so extra-special for me. Getting to be a part of his journey as he realizes his full humanity and fall in love with DEA investigator Matt Barclay was so awesome I cannot gush enough.

Matt's struggle and fear with coming out, particularly because of his father the General, and his attraction and chemistry with Roman was beautifully done.

There's also a lot of humor in this, which is spectacular and adds just the right amount of juxtaposition to the deeper emotions.

Hell, it was all beautifully done! Bravo, Eli Easton! Bravo!

The only thing that will make this better is when Matthew Shaw does the narration for the audio book.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Such an amazing sequel!

We met Roman (and fell head over heels in love with him!) in book one. He’s a newly quickened German Shepherd who lost his master, James, in the war in Afghanistan.

He’s adapting, slowly, to life on two legs with the help of Lance and Tim and of course, Lily.

Near the end of book one, Roman saves a DEA agent (who reminds him of James) from drug dealers. That DEA agent is Matt Barclay. Matt got injured in that drug raid, and is still recovering and though he’s grateful to the man who risked his life for him that day, but perplexed by his actions, as well.

When he meets Roman again at a joint DEA/Mad Creek task force meeting, he realizes that Roman is a unique guy. He’s at once innocent and sweet, but with a will of steel and a heart as big as the sky.

Lance tasks Roman with keeping Matt occupied and out of town so as not to give away the secrets of the quickened. Roman diligently drags Matt all over the mountains both in search of the drug dealers who might be praying on the town and because he’s fascinated with him.

It doesn’t take long before Roman’s affections turn from friend to more and he struggles with understanding these new emotions and desires. Luckily *smirk, he has Lance to go to when he’s got questions.

When Roman gets shot and Matt is faced with some questionable actions from both Roman and the rest of the town, will Roman have to give up his new love? Or will Matt be able to accept Roman for who he really is?

**

OMG this was even better than book one and I absolutely LOVED book one. I’ve already rhapsodized on how amazing I think the “quickened” concept is in my review of How to Howl at the Moon .

Roman grabbed me by the heartstrings in book one and he continues to tug at them throughout this entire story.

Gawd. When Roman “tells” the story of James and his training days and the day he turned into a man I was seriously sobbing. It’s such a touching story and so obviously in tune with that relationship between man and dog. There’s no question that the love Roman had for James was deep and abiding and Roman’s pain and loss is so deep and heartbreaking.

The parts where Roman is discovering his sexuality had me howling with laughter. Lance and Tim’s “help” is hysterical.

The slowly developing relationship between Matt and Roman is so sweet, my only regret is that we didn’t get to see them as a couple for more than a few pages. I loved how easy going Matt was and how tender and gentle he was when he figured out Roman was a virgin.

The rest of the townspeople continue to entertain me endlessly with their “dogisms” and the drinking of broth instead of coffee was another inspired detail.

Watching Lance nearly screw up everything with his overprotectiveness also made me laugh out loud. In the movie theatre:

Then, Beaufort compounded the weirdness. Because, you know, this wasn't already strange enough. He stood up, faced the people sitting behind them, and loudly said. "We're just going to quietly enjoy the films.Quietly. Without comments, talking, or noises of any kind." Then he sat back down.

So funny! I must have underlined a dozen passages that cracked me up.

I can’t express just how entertaining this book is. The dogisms are hysterical, Roman is an absolute sweetheart and the love story is so very sweet.

I can’t recommend this and the entire series enough.


Audio

Matthew Shaw did the first book in the series and he did another amazing job. He does well with some of the “accents” and he really does a great job of giving Roman this sort of halting, reserved but deep tone. I loved the emotions in this audiobook and I know this will be one of the ones I listen to over and over!

6 of 5 stars

Shifters learning to be humans, humans learning to be humane. These stories are fun, quick witted and full of love. you find yourself tearing up with laughter while your heart breaks for the wounds left on these souls. Beautifully narrated he manages to capture emotions and projects them to the listener perfectly.

4-4.5 stars

This was a really good story. I really liked Roman and Matt and enjoyed their story a lot. I did read book #1 before reading this story but I'd say it's enough of a standalone that you don't need to read #1 in order to enjoy #2.

Roman is a deputy sheriff in the small town, Mad Creek, he lives in. Roman is human now but before 2 years ago Roman was a German Shepherd that worked as an explosives sniffer in the military. In this book, dogs with close relationships with their owners can sometimes be given a "spark" when their owner dies that (quickens) them and allows the dog to shift into a human. When Roman's handler died, Roman gained the ability to shift and then had to figure out how to live as a human.

Matt is a DEA agent that is gay but keeps his sexuality hidden. He has a "girlfriend" to keep his father off his back but she's actually just a friend whose family is also very pushy so they use each other as fake significant others to fend of their respective family pressures. Matt was injured in an operation a while back and is still recovering when he's assigned to Mad Creek. His task in Mad Creek is to keep a eye out for illegal growers that might be trying to take advantage of the massive amounts of unused land around the town.

Lance is the sheriff of Mad Creek (and a MC from book #1 in the series) and Roman accompanies him to a meeting of local law enforcement. At this meeting, Lance and Roman find out that the DEA is investigating the area for illegal growers trying to set up shops in remote areas. Since Mad Creek is mostly inhabited by the "quickened" (aka dog shifters), they don't exactly welcome strangers, fearing that someone might figure out that something weird is going on in their town. Because of this, Lance makes a bigger deal than he should have about having a DEA agent stationed in Mad Creek for 12 months and this just makes the DEA wonder why he's objecting so much and more insistent on having someone assigned there. Matt ends up being assigned to Mad Creek but goes there knowing that the sheriff doesn't want him there and his time there probably wont be fun.

When Matt arrives, Lance assigns Roman to work with Matt and keep him in the field (and away from town) as much as possible. Matt and Roman had met briefly in the first book (when Roman pulled Matt out of a firefight and possibly saved his life) and Matt's been wanting to see Roman again since then. As they work together, they start to become friends. There's an attraction between them but Roman hasn't been in a relationship yet so he's iffy on...well pretty much everything. It also doesn't help that Matt's still "in the closet" about his sexuality and despite their friendship and strong mutual attraction, Matt and Roman have some difficulties because of misunderstandings. There's some drama about Roman, what he is and how/when to tell Matt, as well as some issues with marijuana growers that try to move into the area. It takes some time and effort but everything is settled nicely, allowing Matt and Roman to start on a nice HEA together.

This was a really enjoyable story. I really liked Roman and thought it was interesting to see how he dealt with everything. TBH, with Roman being kind of new to humanity (let alone relationships), at times he almost seemed too innocent (a bit child-like at times) but his feelings were certainly adult enough so it worked for me. I liked Matt very much...he made a couple of mistakes but they were pretty minor and ones I could understand how they came about. Overall, I really liked both the characters and the story itself so I'd recommend this story. :)

My Review:
Overall: 4.0
Performance: 4.25
Story: 3.75

This series is cute and quirky and just so much fun. These aren't books with lots of angst, although there is a low level of both a bit of emotions and suspense to them. It's nothing too horribly deep. These books are meant to be for pure entertainment and going into reading them with that knowledge is the key to enjoying them...because there are a few scenes that push the levels of believability...but they are books about shifters...that's kind-of, sort-of to be expected from the trope.

I looked forward to Roman's story from the very start of book #1 in this series. Roman was a K9 dog in Afghanistan when his master/partner was killed and he was wounded. The trauma of that quickened him and he became a man. He hasn't been human all that long and doesn't quite have the hang of how everything works. In this book, he discovers his sexuality...and that's something new for him, creating some really humorous scenes between him and his boss, Lance, who is really uncomfortable having to explain all this to him.

Roman's love interest is Matt, a DEA agent in Mad Creek monitoring drug activity in the surrounding mountains around this quirky little small town. Roman is assigned to Matt to keep an eye on him and keep him from discovering the town's secret....that it's full of dog shifters. A lot of the newly quickened haven't exactly gotten the hang of acting completely human yet.

Overall I enjoyed this book. Matthew Shaw did an amazing job with his narration. Roman is stiff, a bit awkward, and has a very military bearing. M. Shaw did his inflections so perfectly, but still managed to bring out the humor of his interactions with Lance about erections and gay sex. It was pure fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to both this book and the first. Now, I'm ready to tackle the third in the series.

This is the second book in this series, but can be read on its own.

I just love this m/m romance series about dog-shifters with a twist. This one is about Roman, who served as an explosive - sniffing dog in Afghanistan and is a deputy sheriff partnered with a DEA agent looking for illegal pot growers in the forests of California.

The reading is easy to listen to and understated. I very much enjoyed it.

A very original sci-fi storyline that kept me engrossed in Where and what adventure the next "Howl" book would take me on. I thoroughly enjoy the town characters too.

I LOVED. THIS. BOOK! There is Nothing wrong with this story, except...it ends!!! This is a 5+ Star story from Eli Easton that will have everyone wishing they had a special doggie to love also...if you don't love this book...then you have no soul! (Hahah I know I am rough huh) But seriously, I LOVED Roman's story!!

I loved this story! I love Roman! There really isn't enough words to express just how much I loved this story!! :)

This is a must read series!! Please bring us more!!!

The only other book I've read by Eli Easton is "The Lion and the Crow" I bought the e-book a couple of years back and fell in love with Ms. Easton's story telling. I didn't match the author's name until after I listened to "How to Walk like a Man" and started to hunt for more of her stories...

I bought this book based on its ratings and that it had a shifter story line..

I'm so glad I did -- reviews are so subjective, but for what it is worth....

Roman's spirit and innocence as gifted to us from Eli and hilariously envisioned and voiced by Matthew Shaw has spirited me back to sun-shiney days and to a "Lost Boys" world where everything is wondrous and new. Memories of the scent of newly mown alfalfa or lazily watching the heat shimmer off the black top to jumping off of ancient lava rock cliffs into a man-made lake with my buddies.

I think we all remember a "Roman" if we're lucky to have one in our lives and maybe just maybe we all strive to be a little more like "Roman" in hopes of being a better "being" ;-)

Thanks for taking me back to those wondrous "Roman-esque" years.

I've listened to this audio many times since I've bought it, to the point where I think I may owe both Eli Easton and Matthew Shaw some more money...

;-)

So as I stated in the title if I slow down and put a little magic back into the world around me maybe just maybe I'll quicken into an "Alaskan Husky".

pj

A great sequel to How to Howl at the Moon. I couldn't help but fall madly in love with Roman. Narrator Matthew Shaw is much improved, as was the quality of the recording, from the first book. Highly recommended.