The Money Pit is the second book in the Barkside of the Moon series by Renee George. I had not read the first book, but George did such a great job of dropping in important information about the first book that I felt like I had.

Cougar-shifter Lily Mason is trying hard to live as a human in Moonrise, Missouri. But renting a garage apartment from Parker Knowles, her boss at the Pit Bull Rescue Shelter, is making it difficult to keep her secret. Lily makes an offer on a “fixer-upper” with a checkered past and begins work on getting the place ready for her and her dog Smooshie. The sweet pitbull proves primed for demolition when she scratches a hole in a wall and yanks out a human bone. The investigation brings Lily unwanted attention from the local police chief who has an ax to grind and a murderer desperate to keep the past in the past. Lily needs Smooshie and Parker more than ever if she wants to keep her secret and prevent another killing!

The Money Pit is a charming mystery with great characters. I enjoyed Lily's character, she is smart and strong with secrets she needs to keep, and innate skills that lead to her knowing other people's secrets. I loved the animals, Smooshie and Elvis were special characters all their own. I think the mystery was well formed and kept me guessing through the book. I was certainly surprised with a couple twists, but in a good way. I greatly enjoyed the read, and will be checking out the other books from George as time allows. The writing style and character development made me happy, and the other authors mentioned in the acknowledgements are some of my favorite in the genre, so that could be part of the feel.

The Money Pit is a fun, fast paced cozy mystery for dog lovers and mystery fans alike. Rich characters and a unique small town come together for a highly entertaining read. In fact, I bought and downloaded the first book after reading this one, not because I needed the background information, but because I loved the characters so much I wanted more.

Lily Mason and Smooshie return in The Money Pit, a cute cozy mystery with just a touch of romance.
Lily has fallen in love with Moonrise, but living with Parker Knowles causes too much heartache. As a shifter, Lily is afraid to let herself start a relationship with Parker. So when the opportunity comes to purchase a fixer upper with plenty of land for running, Lily jumps at the chance. But trouble emerges when Smooshie’s help leads to the discovery of a mummified body in the wall. Things get worse when the man who sold the property to Lily is murdered - and the sheriff considers her a potential suspect. Rumors abound of a bank robber’s missing loot and a possible connection to Lily’s property. Meanwhile, a reunion has brought many of Parker’s former teammates to town, including a beautiful reporter who is showing far too much interest in Parker and the previous murder Lily solved.


You have to love Smooshie, Lily’s sweet and exuberant pit bull. She is definitely an attraction. Lily is at times irritating with her insistence that humans and shifters are not compatible. It gets a little repetitive. The plot and the writing, however are excellent and I like the true to life depiction of pit bulls. (Most pit bulls are super sweet and loyal. Any dog mishandled and abused by humans can become agressive) I definitely liked this cute mystery, and I was glad that progress was made in Lily and Parker’s relationship. While I like these mysteries, a third one where she goes on and on about humans and shifters would be a bit too much. If you like pet cozies or paranormal mysteries The Money Pit is a great choice.


4 / 5


I received a copy of The Money Pit from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.


--Crittermom

Book two is just as engaging as the first and just as cute. Cleverly written with some humor and extremely likable characters. This is a light mystery, but Lily Mason and her sweet dog Smooshie make the book come to life. I also love the whole pit bull rescue shelter scenes which any animal lover will enjoy. Love this series!

How can you not root for a heroine with a pit bull named Smooshie? This duo gets into more tight spots than a leopard's hide, and it's pure, unadulterated fun watching them dodge bullets, both virtual and otherwise. A little paranormal activity here and there, and you've got loads of fun... and danger. A super way to spend some cozy hours! Highly recommended.

I respect authors for what they do so I am very sorry I couldn't finish this one. I didn't care for any aspect although the idea was different it seemed too disjointed for me

**** ARC kindly provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ****

Warning: I am not a robot! I have feelings, thoughts, likes and dislikes and this review is based on that. You should read the book to form your own opinion/thoughts. Read on!

Rating: 4 Shifter Stars

The book, I don’t know why but lately I really like these cartoon covers. They make me think that I will be having fun reading the book and this one fulfilled that promise.

The story, This is the second book in the series and even though I didn’t read the first, the author managed to get me up to speed. Thumbs up for her! Lily is a cougar-shifter and has now bought a money pit, she intends to stay in Missouri and build a life there. That is if dead bodies stop turning up around her. While remodeling her home, she finds a body inside a wall and an investigation begins. She is in danger obviously and her hunk of a boss tries to protect her at all cost. I’m going to guess here when I say that we were introduced to a bunch of new characters due to the retirement of a coach, and I have to admit, I did find it a bit confusing of who was who, but I was too intrigued to let it bother me that much.

I can’t say the ending is a cliffhanger, some of you will think that way, and it does make me want to get the next book.

The romance, Lily is a shifter and in this world, they do everything to keep it a secret. Also, shifters have soul mates and they don’t mate with humans, therefore, there was a bit of angst with Lily not wanting to get involved with Parker because of that. No triangle, thankfully.

Lily, I liked her, she was strong and was very determined to do something with her life. Her background story made me sad. Sometimes I wanted to yell at her about Parker.

Parker, oh Parker, he wasn’t afraid to really speak his mind. There was a bit of angst but he wasn’t closed up like most guys and I loved that about him. Want to know more about him.

Overall, did I like the book? Yes, I did. Would I recommend the book? Definitely.

This is a great book; this is the second book in the Barkside of the Moon series written by Renee George. Cougar-shifter Lily Mason is ready to put down roots in the human town of Moonrise, Missouri. She only has two problems: her attraction and proximity to Parker Knowles, her boss at the Pit Bull Rescue Shelter, and her need to shift into animal form more than once a month. When she gets the opportunity to buy a "fixer-upper" outside of Moonrise with plenty of room to get wild without running into easily freaked-out humans, Lily jumps at the chance. Smooshie, Lily's lovable pit bull and partner in chaos, is eager to participate with the home improvements. Unfortunately, Smooshie's help includes digging out a mummified body from the living room wall. Lily is still recovering from the last murder investigation she got involved in--and she's not looking forward to being in the middle of another one. The case gets even stickier when Lily's landlord is murdered, rumors of a heist gone wrong run rampant, and Parker's old high school buddies have returned to Moonrise, thus increasing the suspect pool. This is a great book with a wonderful story and well developed characters. This book will keep you reading long into the night. If you are looking for a great book, then you need to read this book. I am looking forward to reading the next book by this great author. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader’s copy of this book. The free book held no determination on my personal review.

Welcome, once again, to an adventure with Lilly a cougar shifter and her faithful pup, Smooshie, a pit bull little lady with a heart of gold and a nose for mysteries. After their last murder investigation you’d think that life would cut them a bit of a break – but, no. Who would have thought that moving into a new home would cause such a ruckus?

Lilly has decided to make her home in Moonrise more official by buying a house with lots of space for her cougar to get out and run when she needs to. Unfortunately, Smooshie has once again used her nose to sniff out something quite unusual in the wall of their new home. A human foot bone, as well as the rest of the preserved corpse. Yeah, it was murder and the absolute last thing Lilly needed to be dealing with this close to the full moon. It soon becomes obvious that the murderer is a local and has Lilly dead in their sights. It’s going to take some help from Parker and Smooshie to keep Lilly safe and solve this one that hits very close to home.

I enjoyed The Money Pit so much and since I’m addicted to Shifter romances as well, this Cozy Mystery was a perfect fit for me. I’m already looking forward to the next story in this series – and it hasn’t even been announced yet!

In this world humans and shifters do not mate and fall in love forever after – which is a shame because Lilly and Parker make such a fun, interesting couple… but who knows what the future might bring. With the discovery of the murder victim comes more attention than Lilly is really comfortable with, not to mention that she and the sheriff don’t exactly see eye to eye. But the murderer is close and doesn’t intend to be caught. Making Lilly a target was just another mistake on their part for she and Smooshie will track them down – eventually. But getting to that point is an enjoyable story of clues in the past and the present, new characters to wonder about and a deepening of the forbidden relationship between Lilly and Parker.

If you enjoy Cozy Mysteries then The Money Pit is a story that you’ll want to discover for your reading enjoyment. As in all series, I personally feel that it’s best to start from the first book. However, whenever necessary in The Money Pit things mentioned from the first story are explained – but you won’t get all the nuances of that particular adventure if you don’t read it too. In my opinion, as always.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

I am so glad I read book one, Pit Perfect, prior to this one. They maybe could be read separately, but I would not recommend it. Too much happens in both books to skip the first. Renee does do a good job of explaining some of book one during certain situations, but does not go so far as to drag the plot for The Money Pit down.

The Money Pit is exactly like you imagined from the movie. Insert everything going wrong in Lily's life and you get a scene something like where Tom Hanks just losing his ever loving mind because he can no longer deal with reality.

Fortunately, it's not quite that bad, although Smooshie, her Pit Bull, does find a mummified corpse in the wall, which could be construed as pretty awful! Lily is as stubborn as ever as she hears about curses and ghost stories and finds weird stuff happening all over her land. It's just enough to put on her sleuthing hat and go for a run!

Parker is as cute as ever in this, of course. There are some ups and downs with these two but overall, I like how their relationship is progressing. It's not all in your face, and it's not all that the book is about either. Lily has multiple relationships that she's working on, making it a book that is as real to life as possible when it involves a shape-shifting wear-cougar!

The plot for this one was just as good as the first. Lily does do things that puts her into peril, more often than not, but unfortunately, sometimes she is just breathing and gets in the way of a murder! Bad luck surrounds her, which makes the plots even more interesting.

I read this beauty in one day! Loved every word! Now to find out when the next one publishes. I need more Smooshie and Lily!

This second book in The Barkside of the Moon series find Lily smack dab in the middle of another mystery and once again trying to stay alive. Several months have passed since the last book and Lily has decided to settle down in Moonrise, Missouri and has purchased an old house in drastic need of repair. While working on it one evening, her companion and ever faithful pit bull friend, Smooshie, finds a new toy hiding inside a wall - a old decayed foot. Lily soon locates the rest of the body and the mystery ensues from there.

Once again, I found myself loving the characters of Moonrise. Lily has grown close to her uncle after years of not knowing him and has embraced that she is now a shifter living in a primarily human society. Despite that, Lily is making friends and is finally starting to feel like she belongs somewhere. I also love her interaction with Parker, a military vet and pit bull rescuer, and appreciate that the author didn't throw them into insta-love territory. After all, Lily is hiding a pretty big secret from Parker, one that may keep them apart forever.

This is a super quick read and a lot of fun. Of course, Smooshie is as adorable as always and the bond between her and Lily gets stronger by the day. I'm really looking forward to the next Barkside book - Pit Stop.

The Money Pit by Renee George is an excellent book.
I was browsing the available books on NetGalley and the cover was so vibrant and cheerful that I had to click on it.
I began reading it this morning and could not put it down. I had to read it cover to cover! I loved it so much that I had to purchase the first book in the series, I also felt the need to friend the author on Facebook and tell her that I was loving the book.
Lily Mason is a shifter, a were-cougar to be exact. Living in a world of humans isn't easy, so when she has the chance to buy a large home with plenty of land to run free, she has no idea about the secrets she is about to unleash.
Smooshie is her pit bull and when Lily isn't running free or making repairs to her new home, she works at the local shelter, helping these beautiful dogs find homes.

Parker is her boss and even though she would like to have a relationship with him, she knows it isn't possible. She could never reveal her secret, the only one that knows is her uncle Buzz since he is a shifter, too.

When a retirement party sets off a string of events, Lily must dig deep into her true being to save herself and others.

Ms. George creates a colorful story filled with laugh out loud moments, friendship, secrets and truth. Throw in some romance and you have the perfect book.

I voluntarily read an ARC of this book provided by the publisher and NetGalley

The Money Pit is a sweet funny paranormal cozy mystery. Cougar shifter Lily Mason and her pit bull Smooshie are back in another hair raising adventure. Lily decides that the best way to protect her heart from falling for the hunky human Parker Knowles, aka her boss, aka her landlord is to get a place of her own. The fixer upper she buys just outside of town has plenty of room for her cougar and Smooshie to run. It has character and needs a lot of tlc. It also has mysteries of its own and they might just get Lily killed.
Come along with Lily, Smooshie, Parker and the 2009 3A State Football Champions to solve the mystery of Lily’s new old house. I guarantee a fun ride.

The second book in the series, and I liked this one much more than the first the one. The main character, Lily, is a cougar shifter, and her pet pitbull and her love interest Parker (who runs the pitbull rescue center) are here as well. Another murder mystery, and more intrigue makes a lively story. Highly recommend, and look forward to the next in the series.

Lily is a shape-shifter, a were cougar, who has just purchased a fixer-upper. She is shocked when her rescue pit bull, Smooshie, finds a dead man inside one of the walls. Who murdered this man, and why? Can she find romance with a human? There are definitely a few surprises awaiting Lily and Smoooshie by the end of the story!