Long & Short Reviews
Hawk-shifter Brennon and his best friend, wolf-shifter Max trek through the jungle looking for the laboratory doing heinous testing on their various shifter brethren, along with a bunch of innocent humans caught up in the mix. What Brennon wasn’t prepared for was the knowledge that testing had progressed far beyond what they’d expected, successfully splicing human and shifter DNA already. Brennon also hadn’t expected to find himself so taken with one of the captives when they raid the laboratory. Can they stop this evil in time? This is the second book in the series and while I have read the first installment I was relieved that the author explained plenty of where things stood so that this book could effectively stand by itself. I feel that readers looking to read this book alone shouldn’t have any problems catching up. While the theme of splicing shifter DNA and doing testing on human (and shifter) subjects isn’t exactly new, and the experimentation isn’t overly graphic in its detail – readers who are sensitive to this sort of subject mightn’t find the story suits their tastes. While the romance that blossoms between Mikki and Brennon is hot, intense and deep Mikki was experimented on and Brennon is a shifter who is spear-heading the breaking down and shutting of the laboratory and tracking the Doctor in charge of these proceedings, so that aspect of the plot is quite deep, complicated and detailed throughout the story. I personally found everything to be written in good taste and not too over the top or gory/graphic with the details. Other readers might feel the descriptions are a little much – so that might be a consideration. Personally I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, and was pleased it wasn’t merely a token effort to give some aim to the romance. I feel the author did a good job explaining what was going on and detailing the layout of the laboratory. I didn’t feel quite as comfortable with the pacing of the story – it felt choppy and uneven in a few places to me but particularly when Brennon and Max were going through the laboratory – it felt suitably tense and rush-rush-rush, but then suddenly they could slow down and have a chat with the random captive – Mikki – whom they found. Then they found her clothes and food – even offering her a chance to shower, until they realized the danger and precarious position they were in. The sudden shift back to rush-rush-rush just had the whole scene feel a bit uneven. I was really pleased that, while a large portion of the story was from Brennon’s perspective, we did get a few chapters from Mikki’s point of view too. When the heroine was first introduced I didn’t really understand what on earth was going on with her. She appeared to be a human woman who had been kidnapped, imprisoned, had tests and experiments performed on her and then thrown her lot in with a random stranger (who claimed to be a hawk shifter on top of everything) and trusted them instead of fleeing for the nearest police station and safe haven the moment she was released. More importantly, I didn’t understand how she could grow to have romantic (let alone sexual) feelings for this man whom she had never seen or met before. It was a lot for me to take on in a very short length of time and so hearing directly from her helped ease a lot of my concerns. I loved the plotting, finding it complex and not just a token effort. I enjoyed the characters, though they’re not the usual sort and I’m not certain they will be to everyone’s tastes – I was pleased to get on board with Brennon and Mikki and ended up very satisfied with their romance and the chemistry in their sexual relationship. I was pleased that there wasn’t too much graphic detail of the experiments and craziness in the laboratory. I feel it would have been too easy for the author to dwell too much on that and it’s not what I want highlighted in my romantic fiction reads. Different and very well put together, I feel this will be a great read for many people. I’m pleased I have read it and will be keeping an eye out for any future installments.
