Melanie
Written on Aug 30, 2016
I’ve spent the last year getting caught up on this series. Up until now, I’ve been listening to the books just for fun (requested my library to get the entire series on audio and they did it for me. YAY!) and haven’t been reviewing them. I’ve really been enjoying them. When I got caught up on all the audios that had been released, I jumped on the chance to review this one.
If you’re not familiar with this series. This is the eighth book, but there are several novellas that are also available on audio and a lot of fun. You can just do the full length books without having read the novellas, but I recommend them because they are just as much fun. In this series, there are shifters who are “out”, so humans know they exist. They are easy to pick out from humans because shifters are required to wear magical collars designed by the fae. The collars are supposed to protect humans from the violent side of shifters. Shifters are also treated like second class citizens. They are forced to live in “Shifter Towns” that house just shifters. They aren’t allowed to own businesses, have smart phones, or even cable. However, shifters have figured out how to get around all of these issues. They have more money than the humans know. There is a lot that they’ve kept from humans.
In this story, we have Kendrick, he’s a very rare white tiger. He is rare in many ways. One, he doesn’t wear a collar. He and several other shifters who followed him, hid from the humans and have been hiding out for 20 years since humans learned about shifters. He has become their de facto alpha. This is also very rare because he is also a Guardian, which are generally never alphas. Guardians are kinda outside the hierarchy in that they are special. They carry a special fae sword that they use when a shifter dies to send their souls off to the Summerlands (shifter afterworld). If he didn’t have enough on his plate, he has three cubs to take care of. He has his own two young white tiger cubs, Brett and Zane. He lost his mate bringing the twins into the world. He’s also adopted an older wolf cub, Robbie, who lost both of his parents.
Addison Price is a human waitress at a diner in a town where Kendrick and his three sons are hiding. They have become regulars, but she knows almost nothing about them. She’s learned the children’s names, but not the very quiet man. They always come and and she serves them pie. Things are tame until one night someone starts to shoot up the diner. Kendrick leaves the kids with her while he goes to deal with the men with guns. Kendrick wants to part ways (to dangerous to have a human on the run with them. He needs to put the safety other, Addison and the kids, before his wants). That is until cops take her in for questioning about shooting at the diner. He comes in as her lawyer and gets her out. She insists on going with him for her own protection and the protection of the boys. She even offers to serve as a nanny for them in exchange.
This is a fun story as we watch these two come together while Kenrick tries to learn how many of his pack has turned traitor. They settle in a old dude ranch, which is no longer really running. It is just the owner, Charlie, who lives there now. He has no problems with Kenrick and the boys being shifters. There are also several people from Kendrick’s pack that we met in Bear Attraction. There are also several characters from the Austin Shifter Town that we’ve seen a lot in this series.
I’ve really enjoyed listening to this series. It has everything that I enjoy in a good paranormal romance. It has romance, suspense and action. In this series especially, it has great cubs in the book. I really liked spending time with Brett, Zane and Robbie. There is another shifter cub that isn’t in this book, but has been prominent in the series, a polar bear cub named Olaf. The kids really help make this series and that is not normal for me. But these shifter cubs are a lot of fun.
“And yet, he knew if Addison didn’t come with him, Kendrick would forever be looking for her-around every corner, waiting to hear her voice, see her face. He’d been forced to sever many ties over the years-this one wasn’t even a knot yet-but he didn’t want to cut it loose.”
“Dad,” Zane asked Kendrick in their motel room well south of the I-10. “Is Addie going to be our new mom?”
“Dad,” Zane said in his small but surprisingly strong voice. “Addie is going to be our new mom, isn’t she?”
Zane started yowling again, and Brett morphed to a human and threw his fists in the air. “Yesss! I told you she was going to be our new mom!”
Narration
the first book or some of the later novellas, but does all the others). So, I’ve been listening to her narrate this series for a while. I’ve really enjoyed her narration of this very large cast of characters. I think she does a great job with the many different voices that have spanned across this series. I feel like she does a really good job with the male and female voices. She does an amazing job with the cubs voices (those quotes I listed above were done so well. You could really hear the uncertainty in the Zane in the beginning and the excitement in the last one). I think she’s done a miraculous job bringing this series to life.
**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.