Review: The Awakening: Britton, A Review for the Blog Tea and Book
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 26, 2013
Each book in Abby Niles' Awakening Series just gets better and better. The Awakening is when a when a male shifter meets his mate he is of course instantly attracted to her and by marking her, he literally becomes hers. If she fails to mark him in return, she still has a chance at a different life. But if she should reject him? Life is just not worth living.. We saw in Book Two The Awakening: Aidan. But what happens if your animal is suppressed? If that one person was meant for you, would you still feel it, even if your animal was suppressed? Would you know? Or would you lose it all?Half-shifter and lead SPAC agent, Val Calhoun is second to none when it comes to scents. She can find a scent even if it is lost in a concealer. There is nothing she can't find. Val is secure in her talents until a small child is kidnapped and suddenly her talents aren't enough. They need someone better.. The only person who could even possibly be better is the disgraced FORMER head of SPAC. The one man every woman wants.. the man who loves every woman.. well except Val. For some reason, Britton hates her. So Val being Val retaliates.. causing a four year bitter rivalry. And this is who the council wants to bring back. The only reason Val can even begin to accept it is that there is a missing child out there. One who just wants his mom.Britton was tried and convicted for breaking shifter law. It didn't matter that he saved a child, it didn't matter that he was the absolute best at what he did.. Nothing mattered except he broke the law.. He has struggled for four long years (and has 16 to go) without the use of his animal. He had to literally learn to walk again. He had to learn how to be human rather than shifter and he had to give up doing what he loved. Yes, life has been difficult. But now the council wants him back.. at least temporarily. They aren't giving him a reprieve.. just fix our mess and then bam back to your sentence. And of course do it while working with the one person on the face of the earth that makes your skin crawl. Do it with the one person that every time you get withing scent distance you are instantly and completely revolted. True and complete hate.. for a woman you have no reason why you hate.As soon as Britton is given an antidote to the shifter suppression serum he and Val are sent off on a secret mission. Find the missing child, don't tell anyone and oh yeah do it in a week. But things start getting weird right off the bat. Suddenly Britton doesn't hate Val, he looks at his behavior of the fast four years and sees what a jerk he was. How he started the war and the more time he spends with her the more he wonders why? Huh, maybe proximity was all it took.. but things just keep getting more and more interesting. The more they are together, the more his shifter senses come back in line, the more he likes her and when like turns to attraction, things really heat up.Dealing with instant desire makes working a case incredibly hard but Val and Britton are determined to find the missing child. A mutant child who can shift from birth.. The council is not filled with evil individuals, just people who respect the old ways and refuse to comprehend that times have changed. Yes some laws need to stand firm, there are reasons for them, reasons that ensure their survival but some laws.. well they need to be updated.For all that this is a shifter book a PNR.. it is a romance, a story about two people who find each other and aren't willing to let the other go. Two people who face insurmountable odds and well surmount them. It's about standing up for what's right.. and standing beside the one you love. It's a wonderful book! Another great book in Ms Niles' Awakening Series! Can not wait for more!!ShauniThis review is based on the ARC of The Awakening: Britton, provided by netgalley