Review: A Wolf and a Horse Shifter in a Cowboy Romance
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 8, 2014
I grabbed this one up because I love the idea of combining a shifter romance with a cowboy romance.  It delivered on both though I found some things about the story a distraction.Right away, I was hooked when the prologue began with an ending instead of a new beginning.  Jonah Marks came to Cole for a job because he needed to get away from a bad situation, but Cole Wilder was so worried about fighting his attraction to Jonah that he turned him down.At the time, he did it for Jonah too because first he thought Jonah was too young for him since Jonah just turned eighteen, but also because Cole was a half-breed wolf shifter and Cole's wolf hungered for Jonah and not necessarily in a good way.  Jonah disappeared after that and Cole's guilt and remorse were great.  A year later, he is still affected by his choice and so rarely turns away a stray whether it be human or beast.  His friend shows him a horse that has been mistreated and demonstrates self-destructive behavior not letting anyone near him.  That is until Cole comes near.Cole is shocked when he discovers the horse was Jonah trapped in shifter form by his hateful, bigoted brother.  Even though his wolf is still wild for Jonah, this time Cole is not letting go.  He won't deny his feelings or Jonah a second time even though Jonah is set on disappearing again to keep everyone safe from Nathan's fury when he discovers Jonah is alive.The plot on this one was basically good when it came to the romance.  I liked these two men together.  They were good for each other and their passion was developed well with refreshing dynamics that made them partners and equals.  The other side of the plot with the hateful brother and the church thing was only so-so for me.  Nathan just sounded over the top and a bit cray-cray to me.I also felt like I had been dropped smack dab into the middle of the story too because I always felt like I was missing the beginning.  The author assumed that the reader knew the basic rules of the shifter world she created and yet this was the first book.  Humans new about shifters' existence though some weren't keen on it, there were more than one type of shifter, shifters could be half-human, shifters were stronger, senses were stronger, etc.  It all just popped into the story here and there almost as an after thought.  Jonah and Cole were already known to each other as was their attraction so again, I felt like I was starting in the middle of things.Then there was Jonah himself.  Jonah's character got irritating at times.  I get that he was young and frightened, but some of his choices and then reactions afterward were annoying.  He's always skittish and his first instinct is to run.  This wouldn't be bad, but after he gets back with Cole, its like he doesn't get that his behavior hurts Cole now that Cole believes in their relationship and is willing to fight for it.  Jonah doesn't seem to want to fight for anything.  He says stuff like 'I've wanted to be with you since I laid eyes on you', but then 'I have to leave to protect everyone'.  'I have to confront my brother alongside you and you can't treat me like a kid', but then 'that scared the crap out of me so now I'm going to leave again'.  My brother is out to get me, but I'm going to go out by myself and fix a fence and get my feelings hurt when you yell at me about that and letting my phone battery die so I don't answer my phone and appears like my brother captured me again.  Yeah, Jonah just got on my nerves.  He wanted to be treated like an adult and an equal partner, but for the most part he didn't act like it.All in all, it was okay and I would definitely continue reading the series.