A lynx shifter tribe cut off from all other cat shifters by a power-hungry and domineering (not to mention bigoted) alpha, his son Keith deeply in the closet discovering he has a mate after all – and he is human, and Jason, who is said human, feeling insanely attracted to his new neighbor without knowing why. Well, I had a suspicion, but it takes Jason and Keith a lot longer to figure it out. Add some inter-shifter almost-warfare between lynxes and wolves, some supposedly aloof and scary vampires, and some fascinating revelations about lynx shifters in this world, and you end up with an entertaining, action-packed read.

Jason is an orderly kind of guy who likes his peace and quiet. He works from home, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, his interest is piqued and he decides to take matters into his own hands. Soon he has his hands full with not only a very hot man who is extremely interested in him, but also with more revelations than he can handle. When his best friend also turns out to be not quite human, Jason is shocked. But he is also a very practical guy and there is some family history involving shifters… so his recovery is swift, and he jumps right in. Nobody is going to leave the human behind if Jason has anything to say about it!

Keith hates what his father is doing, how bigoted he is, never mind that he is the alpha. Keith has known he is gay for years, but has never revealed it to his father. He’s been told gay shifters don’t have mates, so when he finds out that Jason, his new neighbor, is also his mate, Keith is stunned. His urge to claim Jason is huge, but he realizes he has to be careful. Only very few humans know that shifters exist, and he has no idea how Jason will react. When an accident reveals his identity, Jason is shocked, but he gets over it surprisingly fast. Keith is lucky to have him by his side - what follows isn’t easy and standing up to his father requires all the support Keith can get.

While some of the concepts the author uses are not new (the half shift being more powerful than the full shift and the shifter council in charge of all tribes, for example), what made this story come alive for me were the characters. And not just Jason and Keith, but Keith’s sister and her son, and Jason’s best friend Sasha, to name just a few. They filled this novel with life and humor that made me laugh more than once. And the love that develops between Jason and Keith may have been triggered by the mating pull and a good dose of insta-lust, but it quickly develops into more, not least because the two men clearly relate to each other on more than a physical level.

If you like shifter stories with fated mates and a tyrannical father who wants to stop them from bonding no matter the cost, if you enjoy watching two men struggle with their emerging feeling while having to fight for the right t be together, and if you’re looking for an easy read that is as entertaining as it is hot, then you will probably like this novel.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )

This book is a big NO for me. The synopsis seems decent, but the writing style just does not mesh with me at all. And the characters are so bland and BORING. Basically, I read the first few chapters, where there was complete instalove (along with the "this guy is a stranger to me but we just had the best sex of my life so we are MEANT to be together" trope, which I almost ALWAYS hate, and this book is no exception), said "fuck it," and moved onto another book to read. The end. ( )