This book kept showing up everywhere. Seriously, every time I tried to look for any other book, Amazon and Audible pretty much screamed at me to buy this book instead.
I was stubborn, refusing to do it even if the cover was hot as homemade sin. I refused to fall victim to an algorithm and love a book the big, bad Zon told me I’d like.
That was before a friend of mine left a review for it labeled “Magnificent Bastard ” and “Smut.”
Fiinnneeeeee, I thought. I’ll bite.
Mera is a 22/23 year old shifter who spends her days attending the local college with her bestie, working at a bookstore with an awesome boss and dreaming of life outside of the town she lives in. An easy life right?
Wrong.
The entire pack hates her and tortures her daily because her father attempted to murder the alpha. He paid for it with his life, and she’s still paying for it every day. That is, until her first shift when her true mate is revealed and then, as quickly as it was discovered, the bond is rejected.
I’m new to the shifter life and still learning my way around. Rejected mates wasn’t something I thought I’d enjoy (I mean, I go to books for happily ever afters. If I was looking for heartbreak, I’d re-download Tinder.), but when the mate is such a huge POS, I honestly did not mind it one bit.
In agony, Mera accidentally calls out to the ShadowBeast, the deity that made shifters. Fast forward to a huge Scottish shadow guy with tattoos and a ripped body.
This is where things get interesting. Until this point, it could have been any other rejected mates book ever written with a snarky, badass female main. But after the Shadow Beast arrives, you discover an entirely new world awaits you.
Among my favorite parts of that world were a library with all the knowledge in the universe, new best friends, portal doorways to other realms like Fairy, and a black cloud of smoke named Inky that I grew quite fond of.
If you’re looking for insta-romance or have an issue with the romance arc not wrapping up tight in the first book, this isn’t for you. There are some spicy-like scenes but never full spice (think Taco Bell mild sauce instead of fire, a hint of flavor with no burn). Still, it is NOT a book to give to your ten year-old niece. Mera is a foul-mouthed, sex-crazed badass. And I love her for it.
The only thing that frustrated me was that the ending is a total cliffhanger. But that just meant I immediately downloaded the second book and the story picked right back up.
REVIEWED BY: Laynie Bynum, Publisher
