Review: Enthralling and Primally Seductive!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 31, 2013
How can a paranormal romance be lighthearted, yet heavy in all the right ways? I'm not entirely sure, but it must have something to do with the fact that this is a fantastic coming of age romance that creeps up like a stalking wolf, and then strikes at just the right moment!Change for Me is a fine debut that blends New Adult themes, paranormal shifter romance, and raw sensuality in ways that left me howling for more. It's rare to mix genres like this and do it so well. Actually, only one other series comes to mind where an author has managed to use shifters in a way that drives home some very real, very timeless, and very human concerns.Reading Lily's tumultuous side of the story brings back gritty memories of High School and the aimless period right after. Aside from their uncanny abilities to transform, Lynn Red's shifters are remarkably like the average young adult without such powers. Young Lily begins in an uncertain place, pining after an alpha who seems a world away. Becoming permanently paired with the bad boy alpha-in-the-making she remembers is the most unlikely thing in the world, and soon other aggressive rivals move in to claim her.You might think that young alpha Damon would be swooping in for Lily's hand from the get go. In fact, he starts off more than a little lost himself, an uncertain alpha who doesn't yet realize his power, nor the fact that his heartrending love for Lily isn't just a young crush. They're fated to be together, the same way Damon is meant to be a King among wolves, and watching his gradual transformation into an alpha and a man is just awesome.Lynn Red gives us a small, but amiable cast of supporting characters to help these two in a volatile journey. Wise elders, best friends, and wicked villains are sketched with almost the same passion as Lily and Damon. This may not seem important, but for me, it helped enormously to embrace the paranormal wonderland Red has created. Chapter by chapter, I found myself getting a little more invested in everybody at Fort Branch, feeling their shocks and grinning with Ms. Red's sometimes diabolical wit.It needs to be said that this story has some serious steam too, but it doesn't arrive as filler or brain candy. Lily and Damon have to work for their passions. And when it arrives, they're utterly consumed...and so was I.You better believe I'll be waiting for the next installment in this hair raising shifter tale. But until then, I hope more writers dive into this New Adult Paranormal Romance mash up and deliver shifter romances half as hot and enthralling as Change for Me!