Review: Fantastic Shifter Series!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 3, 2011
This was a phenomenal read. From the moment I read the summary, I knew I would really like this book. The storyline is fantastic, and the character development throughout the book is nothing short of genius.I was actually quite surprised to find out that this was not the start of a series (see update 5-29-11 below), because it has the potential to become a great series with serious wide-spread popularity and appeal.I'm pretty bummed its not a series actually. The ending was done very well, but still leaves me a little incomplete in wondering about certain things.Alvarez spent so much time throughout the book developing her characters so well, which allowed me to become so attached to them, that the ending seemed a little disjointed and rushed in spots. Not enough detail in others. So that would be my only criticism. If this had been a series, there would be more time to devote to the storyline, and work on the characters over a series of books so it didn't feel rushed at the end and all about the "happy ending".All in all, not enough of a negative for me to rate this book less than 5 stars. I was very pleased with the book, and found it a fantastic read. I would recommend to anyone. Thanks to netGalley and Carina Press for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book for free!****************Update May 29,2011: I received a message on Goodreads from the author herself about this book and found out that this is indeed the start of a series! So all of us out here in bookland will get to read more about Beth, Braden and all the rest of the Edwardses. I am now changing my review above to take out all the disappointment I wrote about concerning the fact that it wasn't a series. This book was not notated as a series on Goodreads, so I was assuming that was correct and it wasn't a series book.Now that I learned from Amanda that it is a series book and it was a simple error, I can completely understand Alvarez's way of world building, and her fantastic way of describing her scenes in such detail, as well as how much time and attention she gives to all her characters, even the minor ones! I can visualize the scene, surroundings and characters in the book so well that it makes me feel like I'm actually there.  Knowing now that it is intended to be a series book, this intel just totally knocks it right out of the park for me as a 5-star book and further cements my love of the characters, storyline, and just about everything in the book.I do wish she had given the ending maybe 10 more pages, to make it a little less rushed, to spend a little more time on the "final battle" so to speak, draw it out just a teeny bit longer so we can all enjoy the revenge and justice served aspect. Other than that, it was a stellar read and fabulous new book by an obviously great writer! I compliment Amanda on her hard work, and am comparing it to each of the werewolves series written by Keri Arthur (Riley), Carrie Vaughan (Kitty) and Patricia Briggs (Mercy) because it is just THAT good!!