Recent Read

Pride Mates by Jennifer Ashley

Why this one: I received this one in the mail and I don't know from where!! I have an idea who might have sent it but as I'm not sure, a big thanks to whoever it was!!

I've read a number of her books now; The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie was my favourite read of 2009 and I'm eagerly looking forward to Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage. So when I opened the package and saw this one - I knew it wouldn't take long to dive into it.

Steam Level: Yep, it was the right temperature.

Blurb: Twenty years ago, shape shifters of all kinds banded together and announced themselves to the world, only to be shunted to areas no human wanted ("Shiftertowns"). They are forced to wear Collars that control their hunting and fighting instincts.

Liam Morrissey is currently liaison between the Shifters of Austin, TX, and the humans of the city. Kim Fraser, attorney, finds herself in the unique position of having to defend a Shifter on a murder charge.

She ventures to Shiftertown to seek out Liam's help, and there stumbles across too many secrets the Shifters want kept secret. The un-mated Liam is forced to protect Kim against the wrath of his clan leader and his own father, and to his surprise he discovers a powerful attraction to the sassy, sexy lady.

My Thoughts: Just about all of the books I've read by Jennifer Ashley have been historicals and I've enjoyed them all. I was curious as to what I would think of a paranormal by her and..... just as I enjoyed her historicals, I enjoyed this one.

I have to start this out by saying Liam Morrissey is adorable. He manages a bar in Shiftertown -a separate area where all the shapeshifters are forced to live as second class citizens and he's the go to guy for any shifters who are having any kind of issues. So when our heroine, Kim Fraser needs help in understanding more of the nature of shape shifters in a murder case she is working on, defending a young shape shifter on a murder charge, she is directed to Liam.

In this world, shape shifters have only recently outed themselves as a species and as they are not trusted due to their animal nature by the human populace, they have voluntarily agreed to wear collars that keep their more feral natures in check. They are despised and looked down on by most humans and really live a second class life, banned from many of the luxuries that the rest of the people enjoy.

So Liam is a fairly laid back kind of hero. Yet at the same time and in a short time he becomes very protective of Kim. There are some within the shapeshifter community who don't want her defending Brian, her client. Most puzzling is the clan leader. He is dead set against Kim defending Brian. Liam is one of those heroes kind of hard to define; not exactly alpha but not beta either. But what he is is a good hero.

Kim makes for a good heroine. One of the few who doesn't have the same prejudice against shape shifters, she is determined, at any cost, to defend her client. She knows he's not guilty and will do what she can to prove it. She is drawn to the closeness of the shape shifter families and to Liam in particular.

I did find it a bit puzzling that she was totally unfazed by the shape shifting aspect of them. She's just totally accepting right off the bat.

I didn't have the same kind of emotional reaction to this booPridek as I did to The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie, but I still quite enjoyed it nevertheless and will happily continue on with this series.

Grade: 4 out of 5