Review: First novella in erotic shifter series
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 19, 2012
Caught In Heat is the first book in Miranda Stowe's erotic paranormal (shifters) novella series.I'll start by saying that from the moment I read the blurb I was curious and wanted to read Caught in Heat as it sounded exciting.The heroine Riley is a young shifter on the brink of her first mating. These are lust crazed periods where due to the hormones and pheromones the shifters are ruled by their animal basic instincts of nonstop mating. As we soon learn this is a much more serious matter than it sounds at first, because besides the serious physical pain Riley is in , after the mating fever reaches its peak she will go crazy with sexlust and mate with whatever she encounters (and if she doesn't mate she'll die). I found this aspect particularly poignant as we experience at the start of the story the raging battle Riley the human rational being tries to fight with her instincts. She is terrified of what nature will reduce her to as she feels control slipping between her fingers. She is horrified by the aspect of mopunting anything to relieve the pain and yeraning, and what disgusts her is that she has absolutely no say in the matter, after a certain point her body will take over and will do as it pleases.So when she spots an attractive male in the forest she is relieved and hopeful that he can alleviate her pain and help her:"Please," she whispered. "Please, I can't take this anymore. I'll go mad. Prolonged exposure to these hormones have killed some females and sent others insane. Please help me."His heart broke. Easing hesitantly forward, he crouched down. When her eyes slitted open, she looked drained and half-coherent. He swallowed. "How do I help?""[Do] me," she rasped. "[Do] me or kill me. Please."Having witnessed his family being massacred by a werewolf pack Shaw has become a dedicated shifter hunter. He encounters Riley in the forest fallen prey to one of his traps. He soon realizes that she is a shifter and tries to see her as a disgusting and dangerous enemy, but he can't fight his attraction to her. He sees her humanity and her vulnaribility calls out to him.As soon as Shaw and Riley meet they combust. The sex scenes were hot, but as they were going at it nonstop it felt as if they were mindless sex craving bodies possessed by their lust, at times it was as if they weren't even enjoying it but couldn't help themselves or stop their bodies and hormones from taking over. I feared this fever would be dangerous to their health, and seems I wasn't the only one concerned:When he collapsed on top of her, he mumbled into her hair, "I should really pull out of you before we ... ourselves to death. This can't be healthy."There was a suspense sub-plot and the fight scene at the end was exciting, I was biting my nails while holding my breath.Verdict: I thought Caught in Heat had a good premise but there could have been a few breaks between the numerous rounds of sex to give some breather to the characters. I would have enjoyed if it were a longer story.Plot: 7/10Characters: 6/10Writing: 7/10Ending: 4/10 the solution would have been good but it was brought to resolution too quicklyCover: 7/10 - a bit too blue for my taste, but the jaguar is a nice touchOverall I give it 3.5 stars!