Review: The Awakening: Aidan by Abby Niles
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 23, 2013
Dr. Jaylin Avgar is a half-shifter and psychiatrist who knows, first hand, what happens when a shifter's bond is broken or rejected. She's been counseling the grieving for years, until their pain becomes too much and she stops taking on non-human clients.Aidan O'Connell is a shifter whose best friend is in trouble. After bonding with a human woman, Liam is suffering the effects of Dsershon. The rejection is crippling his friend and, with nowhere else to turn, Aidan reaches out to Jaylin for help. This sets in motion a series of events that threatens their very lives.Everything about this book is intense: the characters, the world of shifters and half-shifters, and the inevitability of what transpires once Aidan kisses Jaylin. A great deal of work, obviously, went into building a believable shifter world and credible characters.However, I could have done without the level of no-holds-barred, open-door intimacy that filled the middle of the book. Far more graphic than I anticipated, it actually became repetitive and tedious after awhile. I couldn't help wishing the story would just get moving again.And Jaylin is a bit ... over-the-top with the what-happens-if-one-of-us-dies angst. Everyone, everywhere, who's ever fallen in love has that fear. It just seems like beating a dead horse, going on and on about her fears. But, maybe that's just me.There are a number of secondary characters - Liam, Britton, and Pam - who seem to inspire their own stories. Who knows? Maybe there's a series waiting to be born.~*~*~Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary electronic copy of this book from the publisher [...]. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.