Review: Paranormal with a hot twist
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 1, 2012
I've been reading romance for decades and moved into the paranormal section only a year ago. Vampires have been so done, but the skin walker - also known as a yee naaldlooshii - in Shanna Gekko's novella, 'Skin Deep' is new to me. Kai Hunter is a strong, Native American shapeshifter, who teams up with a feisty tree nymph named Hazel, to take on a skinwalker who is using the local wildlife around Bandit Creek Montana for ritual sacrifices. The author's use of wolves, eagles, bears and tree nymphs as her characters' alternate forms works beautifully within the northern Montana wilderness setting she describes. She brings added depth to her characters through their interactions with Kai's family and the townspeople of Bandit Creek (as introduced in earlier stories from this series). I stumbled over some of the language and dialogue style Gekko uses to establish the Native American flavor of her story, but then I haven't read anything like this before so what do I know? This is a perfect novella length for a lazy (or hung-over?) New Year's Day read and I am thoroughly enjoying it!