Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Decided to give Lisi Harrison’s newest middle-grade series The Pack a chance after loving her nostalgic series The Clique growing up. Just like her newer series from 2021 Girl Stuff, this just doesn’t come near being as good and to me reads younger than The Clique even though they are in the same reading category. I’m a big fan of Lisi Harrison, but unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend this to any middle-grade readers. Maybe I’m just not enjoying her newer writing style compared to her older books. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The author's style of writing made this 192-page book a breeze to read. With totally hip language, animal puns, and sarcastic humor (is "hip" a hip word?) the story unfolded a-mane-zingly. With the Charm House, Charm Club, and Charm Spa - it's an absolutely CHARMING read that I recommend!

Claw and Order (book two in The Pack series) was exactly what I was hoping it would be: a short-and-sweet middle grade fantasy, with a spoonful of drama.

This book essentially picks up right where book one left off, but with a bit of a twist—Sadie’s grades are not looking too good. With all of the time she’s spent hanging out with her new Pack friends, her academics have kind of taken a bit of a hit. Sadie’s solution: to boost her grades with her CHARM club project, Claw Spa (which, in exchange for doing chores for the club members, customers can receive an entire makeover!).

However, when the club is shut down on a technicality, Sadie has to come up with a new idea, and FAST. But luckily, it isn’t long until she comes up with the perfect solution: creating a cheer squad for the Allendale football team!

Unfortunately, being a cheerleader comes with a lot more team drama than Sadie was prepared for. Not to mention that it’s been getting harder and harder to hide a huge secret from her best friend…one that would change her friend’s life forever.

I was actually pleasantly surprised in that I landed up not only enjoying this book a lot more than I thought I would, but also that it surpassed my enjoyment of book one!

My favorite part (in addition to the semi-twist ending!) arguably had to be the way the book handled the mixed bag of emotions that came with the girls creating their own cheer squad. While it was an exciting opportunity, it also meant that the girls had to (once again) conceal their animal powers, lest they be discovered and sent to a lab for testing. But, as Sadie points out…

“Lindsey wasn’t wrong for taking pride in her gifts. The world was wrong for making her hide them.”
– CLAW AND ORDER BY LISI HARRISON

Also, while I’m not giving out any spoilers, I was incredibly pleased that this book featured an adorable LGBT+ relationship between two of the CHARM students! The way that it was included felt very wholesome and special, and actually brought a big smile to my face. I’m looking forward to seeing how this relationship continues to develop in the series!

Overall, this was a very cute book, and (especially with where things are left off in the end) has me looking forward to continuing on with this series!

Claw and Order is the second book in the Pack series about girls with animal powers. Sadie navigates her classes, starting a cheer squad, taming her powers as a lion, and keeping a huge secret from her best friend Lindsey. This was a fun middle grade read, and I loved the different personalities of Sadie and her classmates as it relates to their specific animal lights. I appreciated how the book resolved itself at the very end, while leaving a loose end to be continued in a possible third book in the series. Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC and the opportunity to share my opinions on the book!

I received access via netgalley, but my opinion is my own.
I've also ready her Monster High books and this has a similar feel to it with the school/friendship drama, but the different powers is fun. However, it didn't quite draw me in as much as her previous ones I have read did. Overall a fun little read though

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

I throughly enjoyed part one a d enjoyed part 2 even more. Teen angst and growth is hard enough as a human, throw in pack dynamics, romance and friend troubles. Adults and youth alike will enjoy part 2.