Review: A nice diversion
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 20, 2013
I rate this between three and four stars. I liked it, but it wasn't quite as compelling as some of the Ms. Richards other stories. Here, the wolf shifter Michel is towards the beginning of his self-imposed exile (which I'll explain shortly) when he meets his fated mate Jason. Jason is 22 years old and came to Stone Ride to stay with his Uncle Raul when his stepfather starts getting abusive with him because he's gay.As characters go, these two are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Michel is large, muscular, hairy, and over 300 years old. Jason is slight, effeminate, practically hairless, and is only 22 years old. Michel is experienced, Jason has never "gone all the way" before. This makes for some interesting, and sexy, interplay between the two. What's also interesting is that the issue is addressed in detail as to how shifters actually exist in our world. Thinking about it, when you live over 500 years, you can't really stay in one place the whole time because people would soon notice that you barely age. At least, you can't stay in one place with the same identity. Hence the self-imposed exile as Michel and the pack are establishing his new identity (something packs and shifters do regularly). This gets explained in detail and is very welcome as the question has existed for me for some time now.The weak points in the book is that the "action" scenes aren't very compelling, nor do they make much sense. Bad guys appear, bad guys get vanquished. That's about it. Also, during their appearance, their actions and reactions don't make much sense. While the ongoing plot of scientists capturing and experimenting with shifters is furthered, it's not furthered much at all. As such, it was an unnecessary component of the book.That aside, the book was enjoyable and about on par with other books in the series. It wasn't as good as some, but was better than others. I would recommend to the publisher though to be a bit more careful in proofreading and editing. For example, using the word "knew" when you meant to say "new" is a minor issue, but fully avoidable with tighter proofreading.