A Shifter Christmas Carol by Jennifer Ashley ~ Review

Dylan Morrissey forgoes the Shifters’ traditional Yule celebration, to his family’s dismay. Instead, he joins Ben at the haunted house in New Orleans, planning to meet with potential, if dangerous, allies in the Shifters’ constant struggle for freedom.

But the sentient house has other ideas. Dylan wakes up—or rather doesn’t—unable to move or speak, and is taken on a journey to the past, present, and future.

Ben, Zander, and Tiger are his guides, but is what they are showing him truth?

Return to Shiftertown for a Shifters Unbound take on a classic Christmas tale!

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Okay, yeah, it's not Christmas but I'm so glad I ran across this little novella, that I missed in December, from a favorite series.

While it's not really decked in all the trimmings at all, it's definitely a kin to The Christmas Carol.  I LOVE the part the house plays in this tale.  Yeah, the house is definitely a character in this series.  And no one could be a better scrooge than Dylan, not that he's selfish or miserly in any way.  But he does seem to think he needs to do things his way all the time.  He likes to go off on his own and save the day.  We all need our family, our pack.  He just needed to learn how much he needed his.

I loved that there were appearances from some of my favorites in this one.  Ben, I really hope he gets his own book soon.  I adore Tiger and can never get enough of him.  And then Zander, an amazing polar bear shifter, is another favorite.  They make the perfect three ghosts.

I devoured this book and paced around wanting more.  I had to go check the authors website to see if there was info on the next book.  I will be stalking her to know more because this is a favorite series that I will always want to read.

                                             

Tiger Striped by Jennifer Ashley ~ Review

A novella of the Shifters Unbound series

Tiger wakes in the night knowing someone distant is in trouble, and he feels a terrible pull to help. His mate, Carly, is not about to let him run off alone, and so Tiger takes her on a wild adventure for what proves to be the most important rescue mission of his life.

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I have a few favorite characters in this series and Tiger is one of them.  So I was excited to see what this novella was going to be about.

Tiger is a tracker.  He can find people when no one else can and he knows things.  It's just him.  So when he wakes in the night following the screams in his head, his mate decides she better go with him this time.  Pretty good that she did.

I love this world.  It's just a great place for endless stories.  And I'm so glad from the authors note at the end that there will be more from this world.  I will admit to be partial to shifters but it really is a rich world.

It took me a while to figure out who he was tracking.  He had no idea and I figured it out just right before it was revealed in the story.  I'm excited about it and wish I could say more.  It screams of more stores to come.

If you love this series, like I do, then don't miss that wonderful Tiger adventure.

                                  

Midnight Wolf by Jennifer Ashley ~ Re - Review

The eleventh novel in the New York Times bestselling paranormal romance series, Shifters Unbound.

Angus Murray, bouncer for a New Orleans Shifter bar, is sent to round up an elusive, Collar-less Shifter woman, Tamsin Calloway, who is causing trouble for Shifter Bureau, and possesses information they want. If Angus refuses, he risks losing his cub. He finds Tamsin but she's slippery and not about to be rounded up quietly.

In fact, quiet is nothing Tamsin will ever be. She leads Angus on a wild chase, but he's determined to bring her in to save his son.

Can Tamsin convince Angus she's worth helping before she's locked away by Shifter Bureau, Collared, or perhaps killed?

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This book is what started me reading the entire series.  I enjoyed it so much that I started at book 1 and devoured the whole series!  Know I've re-read this one in order!

I did enjoy this one out of order the first time I read it.  It's great paranormal romance.  BUT when you know the world and the characters, the book is that much more enjoyable.

I was so happy this time when the house was there.  Yes, the house is a character.  One I love a lot.  It was also important to know that Tamsin's animal is rare - that plays a big part of the story.  I didn't really get how important the last time I read it.  Ben and Zander were there.  I love those two lots.  Most importantly, Tiger was there.  So love Tiger.  Having known him now for a few books, I was so interested to know where his allegiance were and that was made more clear in this book.  Understanding Dillon and who he is was important too.  He is a key person in this world and the first time I read the book I just thought he was problem to be dealt.  

But the most character to know this time reading it was Lady Aisling.  She joined the story in the last book and not only it important to know who and what she is but it helps to understand the information she gives Tamsin.  I think it will have a big impact on future books.

The bottom line for this re-review is that this book started my devouring of the whole series and that I loved it more after reading the books before it in the series.

All of the books in this Sifters Unbound series can stand alone.  They're just better when read in turn.

Can't wait for more from this series. 

                                 

Red Wolf by Jennifer Ashley ~ Review

The New York Times bestselling author of Guardian’s Mate returns to the world of the Shifters and a tale of a new love under fire...
Lupine Shifter Dimitri has always had to defend himself to other Shifters. As a red wolf, he’s not considered a “pure” wolf, and the battles have honed him into a tough fighter, a champion of the fight clubs. Jaycee Bordeaux, a leopard Shifter, is Dimitri’s staunchest defender and oldest friend. Dimitri is determined to turn that friendship into a mate bond.

Jaycee loves that idea, but she knows that a mate bond can’t be forced. And when Dimitri and Jaycee are called on to go undercover to protect collared Shifters, she knows the dangers ahead will make or break their future together.

 

One of the things I really enjoy about this series is how so many different stories can exist in this world.  This book shows that so well.  The story spins in a different direction while still being part of the world I love.

I first met Jaycee and Dimitri in Kendrick's story, White Tiger.  Don't worry though, this book stands alone.  It was just interesting to me that in White Tiger, Dimitri confessed his feeling for Jaycee and things could have been done.  Nope.  This author masterfully crafted them their own story even after the truth about feeling were out in the open.  And what a story it was.

I admit being concerned at the beginning that there wouldn't be much romance or tension left since Jaycee knew how Dimitri felt.  I needed have worried.  This is where the whole spin in a different direction came into play.  And we meet some shady shifters that I certainly wasn't expecting.  

The romance between these two is a tricky thing and I was so happy with how it worked.  Dimitri is determined.  Jaycee is...well she's a cat.  They sometimes need convincing.  The way she gets convinced is perfection.  

As for the story, it was interesting to see part of the Fae world spill into this one.  That aspect of the series comes and goes in the books and I always find it interesting when it pops up.  Just like shifters, there are good Fae and bad Fae.  I liked how this story introduced us to another aspect of the Fae.  Lots of good stuff there.

Mostly, this story was all Dimitri.  He's a tracker.  He loves Jaycee.  And he's this gorgeous rare red wolf.  But what he really is is special and he was the story for me.  I loved him.  He's protective and caring.  He does his job well.  He's loyal.  He fights hard.  I so love a good shifter and he's the best.

I feel like I keep saying how much I'm enjoying this series but it's true.   I've found another rereading series that can just sooth me to read it over and over.  I need those kind of books.  Ones I can trust to take me another world I wouldn't mind living in.  Where I can enjoy myself and be happy.  That's this book.  This series.  If you haven't read it and you are a shifter lover like me, then make sure and check this one out! 

                                 

Guardian's Mate by Jennifer Ashley ~ Review

She wasn’t ready to lead...

Chosen as the Guardian of her Montana Shiftertown, wolf Shifter Rae Lyall is facing opposition—for no woman has ever been selected for this powerful position. Still adjusting to the new authority thrust upon her, Rae travels to train with Zander Moncrieff, a Shifter healer, tasked with teaching her about her new role and its responsibilities.

He wasn’t ready to love...

A polar bear Shifter, Zander wears no Collar and follows no rules but his own. Rae finds him arrogant and demanding, yet compelling and intriguing. Zander has no wish to mate but the sassy Guardian is drawing him out of his shell, stirring feelings long suppressed. And when a new threat looms over Rae’s home, she and Zander must race to the rescue, forced closer to danger...and to each other.

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I met the polar bear healer, Zander, in Wild Things (Shifters Unbound, #7.75) a novella.  He's a little bit crazy or a lot depending on your point of view.  But how else can you be when you're Goddess touched to heal.  Zander craves the solitude of Alaska where he can recover from the pain and loss of the healing he does.  So he goes fishing on his boat not expecting anything in his life to change.  Yeah, that didn't work out for him.

Rae has a problem.  The Goddess chose her to be the new Guardian of the Montana shifter town.  Problem is, she's the first women Guardian ever chosen.  The rest of the shifters in her town call foul.  Silly really...I mean the Goddess herself is female.  But I loved that this glass ceiling got addressed in this book.  And Rae makes a great Guardian...after she freaks out first.  Yeah, I would too.

This one took the place as my favorite of the series.  I really enjoyed it.  It's a little different than the rest.  It explores the idea of being Goddess touched and how humans are feeling about the shifters.  It also addresses the issue of the Fae trying to take over shifters for their own reasons.  That creates issues with the humans and lines are drawn.  But sides change from race to beliefs and I liked that.  Don't just hate those that are different from you but fight on the side who believes the way you do.  I loved it.

It's well written and as always I love the characters.  I love how the characters weave in and out of the stories.  Those we have seen before coming back to play critical roles in this story as well as meeting new ones to love.  It's a well crafted world with so many stories intertwined that my paranormal heart can be happy for many a books.

I continue to devour this series.  I just want more.  I'm nearing the end of the published books and will be waiting for more.  Hoping for more.

Have you read it?  You should.

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White Tiger by Jennifer Ashley ~ Re-review

A woman is lured into the shadows of a dangerous manhunt...
Wanted and on the run...

For twenty years, Kendrick, a white tiger Shifter, has been the Guardian of un-Collared Shifters who spend their lives living in secret—and in fear of being shunted into Shiftertowns. When Kendrick’s group is discovered and forced to flee, Kendrick is more desperate than ever to protect them

His only salvation was in a beautiful stranger.
In a diner in the middle of nowhere, lonely waitress Addison Price has seen a lot of unusual drifters come and go, but none has ever captivated—and intimidated—her like the imposing fugitive who wields a broadsword with incredible skill. But when he risks all to protect her, Addison’s fear turns to empathy—and empathy to desire as she learns more about her savior. Soon she’s more than willing to help the crushingly sensual white tiger and his cubs in a passionate bid for freedom. Whatever the cost.

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The first time I read this book, I read it stand alone.  I'd not read another book in this series.  It was right before this book came out more than two years ago.  I enjoyed it.  It was great shifter romance.  But I did not experience it that way I did with this read.  I've read the whole series before this book now.  I knew so much more and I enjoyed it so much more.  What I don't understand is why I didn't start reading the series then.  I must not have been in the serious shifter mood like I'm in now.  And this book is good on it's own but it's even better as part of the series!

I understood what had happened to Kendrick and his shifter before he met Addison.  I got the unease in the shifter community.  I knew who Zander was and what a miracle it was for him to be there.  I understand who Dylan was and that his group of shifter where good people.  And I really understood Tiger.  Not the white tiger, Kendrick but Tiger.  Two tigers together is amazing and I got that.  I understand how this world worked and what a Guardian was.  And because I got all of this, I was able to just enjoyed the story of Addison and Kendrick.  

I love how protective Kendrick is and how deeply he cares.  I appreciate his two little tiger cubs so much.  Tigers are rare shifters and to have a set of twins is so awesome.  Kendrick is adorable as he tries to protect Addie from himself by trying to stay away from her.  Yeah, that didn't work.  They were adorable together.

And Addie is an amazing leaders mate.  She care for everyone and defends people.  She stands up to Kendrick but she worries about him like no one else does.  He's the leader and everyone wants something from him.  Addie just wants to take care of him.  I loved them together.

I have to say that this book is my favorite of the series and because I appreciate it more having read the rest of the series first, it has to have more stars than the rest.  

This is some of the best kind of shifter romance.  Good stuff.  The best.  Don't miss this series. 

                                            

Lion Eyes, Bad Wolf & Wild Things by Jennifer Ashley ~ Review

Bree has just decided to give up trying to be a Shifter groupie when a lion Shifter slams into her truck and tells her to drive. Seamus is on the run from hunters, other Shifters, and who knows who else. All Bree knows is that he’s compelling, needs her help, and most intriguing of all, wears no Collar …

Seamus McGuire fears he’s gone crazy—feral—and become a killer. His only hope of getting away from the hunters and police on his tail is Bree, a human woman who not only knows a lot about Shifters but has great compassion for them.

Things are more complicated than they seem, however. Seamus is on a mission, to protect those in his care after the destruction of Kendrick’s compound of un-Collared Shifters. Seamus must keep it together and keep his charges hidden, but at the same time, he’s pulled to Bree as he’s never been pulled to a woman before. He needs to prove he’s innocent and not crazy before it’s too late for himself, Bree, and those he’s vowed to protect.

Lion Eyes debuted in the boxed set Dark and Damaged, in June 2015, then released on its own in print, e-book, and audio in late July 2015.

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Wolf Shifter Broderick is stuck looking after his three younger brothers and a Collar-less Shifter who is driving him crazy, but he’s putting up with it for Joanne, the human woman he, for some reason, wants to impress. Joanne Greene, while grateful to Broderick for rescuing her sister, doesn’t know what to make of him. She’s been a loner most of her life, better able to relate to computers and coding than to people, until she’s drawn into the world of the Shifters.

Broderick is everything Joanne is not—a fighter and a tracker, from a rough-and-tumble family, better at working with his hands than understanding the netherworld of Joanne’s computer programmer life. Broderick is also extremely protective, wanting to draw her under his care as he does everyone else.

When Broderick is captured, mistaken for a Guardian, it’s Joanne who figures out that hackers are after the Guardian Network, the database that holds the deep secrets of Shifters past and present. Strangely, Broderick now holds the key to stopping the deadly danger of the network's breach, and Joanne with her coding skills is the only one who can help him.

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Wolf Shifter Mason McNaughton is tired of the crazy feral living in his house, endangering him, his brothers, and his sweet auntie Cora. Ferals are Shifters who’ve reverted to the wild stage, forgetting all about the joys of pizza and satellite TV. Not to mention, Mason is sick of waking up to the feral’s rampages in the bedroom next to his. The feral has been given sanctuary, so Mason can’t throw him out—the only thing to do is to find a way to cure him.

The problem is, Shifter healers—elusive, Goddess-touched Shifters who have the healing gift—are few and far between. Mason volunteers to go in search of one, and is sent to a psychic in New Orleans who might have an idea of where to start looking.

Mason doesn’t believe in psychics, but Jasmine, the psychic in question, seems to at least put on a good show. Jasmine believes in Shifters all right, but she vowed after her Shifter boyfriend dumped her to never have anything to do with them again.

The easiest way to get rid of the growly Lupine, Mason, is to help him, but Jasmine never dreams what that help will drag her into.

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I really enjoy all the little novella that make up this series.  They're fast, sexy reads that are still a big part of the series. 

Lyon Eyes 

Lyon Eyes is the story of Seamus McGuire and Bree.  Seamus was part of the group of uncollared shifters led by Kendrick that were discovered a few books back.  Scattered and on the run, Seamus is one of Kendricks trackers and he's charged with keeping others safe until they are called to regroup.  But something is weird and he feels like he's going feral, a very bad thing.  When he jumps in the truck...window...of a human women as he tries to escape the hunters, he's not sure of his sanity.  But Bree helps him.  Her touch clears his head.

This story is complex despite being a novella.  I'm not sure you'd enjoy it as much as I did if you weren't reading the series.  It takes a fragment of a previous book and winds into a beautiful story of protection, attraction, desperation, and love.  

We meet Bree and her mom creating a new fragment that will be used in Bad Wolf for another story.  I like that about this series.  All the fragments come together to make this beautiful series.  And there is one very small plot line from this book that doesn't get resolved until Bad Wolf.  It bugged me until I read Bad Wolf, then I got it, a thread neatly in place.

I love the characters and continue to love the world.  It's very enjoyable shifter romance.

Bad Wolf

Yeah, okay, I wasn't really looking forward to this one.  I'm not a fan of Brodrick.  He's been in other stories and he's a jerk.  Mouthy and difficult, I wasn't sure I'd like his story.  But leave it to this author to help me understand him better and end up liking him.

This novella is another fragment from a previous story.  Brodrick may be a jerk a lot of the time but it was him who befriended Joanne in a previous story when she was determined to find her shifter groupie sister.  He made sure she got safely out of the compound that night and he made her his girlfriend.

Well maybe that's a little strong.  He lets her sister and her half feral mate live in his house.  He treats Joanne like his girlfriend everywhere but the bedroom.  She's not sure what she means to him.  But in this story, he needs her and they discover what they mean to each other.

Again, this novella is a great read but I'm not sure someone one following the series would enjoy it as much as I did.  Understanding their history is important to their story.  There is some summary of it in the book but it's more enjoyable when you've experienced the whole thing.

This story was different than I expected and I ended up really liking it.  It brought some different elements into play.  I was very interested in the Fae part of this story.  And as it turns out, I really liked how this book linked back to Lion Eyes.

Again, this is very enjoyable shifter romance.

Wild Things

I was kind of surprised that we had Mason's story at this point.  He's young for a shifter and I wasn't expected him to get his own story just yet.  But as it turns out, I really liked  his little novella.

One of my very favorite characters was a house.  Yes, a house.  I won't say more on that, just that I loved it.

Mason needs to find a rare shifter healer and that leads him to New Orleans.  This story adds more psychics and magic than most of the stories have.  I really loved Jasmine.  She's a strong characters that doesn't take Masons skeptic growls.  They are adorable together with lots of fun banter.

When we meet the healer, another thread has been created that will, I'm sure, surface again.  Because this healer is so much fun.  I adore his...oh wait...I can't tell you.   

More still on the very enjoyable shifter romance.  Probably need to jump on this series bandwagon with me!