64 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Really Great Shifter Romance!, Jan 29 2010
By Tara Forester "Book Junkie" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Pride Mates (Mass Market Paperback)
I really enjoyed this book. It's a shifter story giving you a look at what happens after shifters come out to humans. They're feared and forced to live in a section of town, away from the humans. They're forced to wear collars that shock them if they get aggressive, even though they aren't any more aggressive than most humans. They're not allowed the latest technology. And when the human girlfriend of a shifter is murdered, the police and prosecutors do a half hearted investigation and leap to blame the shifter boyfriend. This is where the story picks up with the human DA, Kim, assigned to the case being immersed in the shifter culture. She learns about them with Liam, a very sexy and dominant male shifter, as her protector. She sees the real side of shifters and learns secrets the shifters keep from the humans in order to protect themselves as she and Liam work together to defend a shifter against a murder charge and try to unravel why the leader of the clan is so eager for the shifter to be found guilty.
I am a fan of shifter stories and I found this story to be very good. I could see people reacting the way they had in the story to shifters, even though it's quite sad, and I could certainly see the shifters banding together for protection. Liam is a very hot character and a very alpha male, but the writer keeps him from going too far with it. Kim and Liam really burn up the pages with their chemistry and while Kim does fight the relationship a bit, she doesn't go through the whole story fighting her attraction to Liam and then moaning because she's lonely with out him. That really gets on my nerves after a while and so many paranormal romances do that. This was a really fun read that I went through in an evening. If you're a fan of shifter stories or paranormal romances in general, I would definitely recommend this book.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
super romantic urban fantasy, Jan 31 2010
By Harriet Klausner - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Pride Mates (Mass Market Paperback)
In Shifterstown in the Austin area, human attorney Kim Fraser is defending shifter Brian Smith from the charge of murdering his human girlfriend. Brian is the first shifter she ever met though their existence has been known for two decades. Like mots humans, she assumed shifters were beasts who needed collars to keep them from going berserk. In spite of her fears of shifters being violent bogey-beasts, she believes her client is innocent; so she comes to Shifterstown to obtain the help of the go to shifters the Morrisey brood; father Dylan and brothers Liam and Sean.
Liam informs Kim that Brian never came to him so why should he help him. Kim explains she got the short straw as the junior lawyer, but believes Brian is innocent because the collar prevents violent crime. She also says the prosecution, cops, and judge have not played fair and her client has given up, but she has not. Although he has doubts about getting involved because of his attraction to the brave lawyer who came alone, Liam is forced to intervene when a shifter without a collar threatens Kim's life.
The key to the first Shifters Unbound romantic urban fantasy is the belief that the world of Jennifer Ashley exists; especially the racism with parallels to America as humans even those who never met a shifter believe they are deadly animals needing control. The story line is fast-paced from the moment the feisty lawyer challenges the powerful shifter and never slows down as love and the law clash in what is a terrific tale of people's rights and dignities.
Harriet Klausner
25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not great, but an interesting start to a new series, Feb 9 2010
By slbett "slbett" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Pride Mates (Mass Market Paperback)
I also picked this book up because I enjoyed "The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie." I recently acquired a few more of her titles and enjoyed those as well. This book is not quite up to those standards. If this had been the first book by JA I had read, I don't think I would have bothered to try to find any more of her books. HOWEVER, having seen what this author is capable of, I am optimistic that this will become a good series. Romance really took a backseat in this novel, but I don't think that was the author's intent. This is not UF masquerading as Romance. I think this series will run closer to the "Immortals After Dark." Hopefully a couple more installments will bring it up to par. "Ian Mackenzie" was her last publication, so this is definitely not an author in decline.
JA is also writing a historical series. Ian Mackenzie's brothers (4?) are all getting their own books, so I don't know how quickly a sequel will come. On the upside, if this author is new to you, you have quite a backlist to read.
All in all, this book is worth a look.