Jess's Reviews > Kennel Club

This book was provided for free by the author and Love Bytes in exchange for an honest review.

This review was first posted to Love Bytes: LGBTQ Book Reviews. It has been slightly edited here for content.

Geonn Cannon never fails to impress. I’ve read many of his books, and this one is definitely high on my list of favorites. It’s the juicy, action-packed, character-driven, tightly-written paranormal lesbian crime drama I’ve been so desperately craving after a long line of generally fluffy romances.

After six books set in the “Underdogs” series, it’s time for a new twist on the classic werewolf dilemma—what happens when you try to cage an animal that is meant to be free? There’s been a lot of great sci-fi/fantasy plots involving canidae and hunters in the series, and there have been a lot of crime drama plots that kept me on my toes, but this is the first book that intersects the two worlds perfectly. When Ariadne is falsely accused and sent to prison, she has to deal with the isolation and heartbreak of being away from her mother, Gwen, and her soul-mate, Dale—but she also has to deal with the fact that it’s pretty hard to hide a full-wolf transformation when you live on top of a hundred other women. We definitely didn’t see that in the last season of Orange Is the New Black.

We’re thrust into the action right away and it never stops for a second. This book gives both Ari and Dale a real chance to shine as strong POV characters. Dale is usually the “woman behind the curtain”—though she’s good at research and detail, field work isn’t her area of expertise. But with Ari behind bars, she has to step it up and take charge, and seeing her in full bad-ass mode is absolutely amazing (and often hilarious). Ari is also great, but I think her strong personality takes a bit of a backseat as she uses her wits instead of her mouth to get around in prison.

I wasn’t expecting to like the side romance between Gwen and her much-younger lover, Milo, as much as I did. Their chemistry has been building, but in this story, they get the perfect romantic arc they deserve. Cannon is so good at writing full casts of diverse, kick-ass women who are strong in their own ways, and Gwen’s quiet power mixes perfectly with Milo’s brash confidence. Other awesome female characters, like Ari’s prison cellmate Segura and instant rival Kunz, leap off the page and come into themselves so quickly that it feels like we’ve been reading about them forever. And the familial bond that continues to blossom between Gwen and Dale got me misty-eyed quite a few times.

This book can certainly be read outside of the series timeline. Cannon does a great job bringing back much-loved characters while still writing a great standalone mystery. If you’re a fan of the series already, you’ll love the progression of certain relationships and the downfall of a few familiar villains, but if you’re new to “Underdogs,” many of the important plots of previous books are nicely recapped to prevent confusion. This is a hard balance to strike, but it felt absolutely perfect. Highly recommended in every way.