Review: fun and spicy shifter romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 21, 2013
BAD KITTY. Southern Shifters. Eliza GayleARC supplied via Netgalley.I've read some of Eliza's erotic novels, and having a love for paranormal this book combining both looked an interesting read. The description covers the basic plot pretty well, and I was pleased to find that even though I'd not read earlier books in the Southern Shifters series this one was easy to follow, with enough explanation given for me to understand some of the background to the characters. There's not so much though that regular followers would be put off. Personally I hate that, when books in a series waste a lot of time on what happened in previous books. Enough to understand the story is all that's needed, and hopefully that will whet the appetites of new readers.Anyway, Kitty is banished into a neutral zone, she's clearly been something of a hard ar$e bitch in the past, and as she arrives she's attacked by some of the Prides females who want vengeance. Running for her life she accidentally ends up in Wolf territory, and almost falls victim to one of three wolves, who claim under Pack finders- keepers law she belongs to him. Close to death she's rescued by Rafe, nephew of the current Alpha. Well, there are some serious problems for Kitty, not least that she's been brought up to believe that as a pure bred she needs a cat mate, and that half breeds are just wrong. Rafe isn't happy either with his wolf telling him this is his mate, and the human part of him shouting "hell, no". She might be delicious smelling and gorgeous, but she's Cougar and that can only lead to problems. And it does....and of course there's the fact he's going to be next Alpha very soon, and the Pack may well not accept a Cat mate for him. He's a strong man though, and over the next few days as Kitty recovers he sees she's equally strong and challenging, she stands up to him, argues and snarks at him and the doc, he likes it and begins to accept what his wolf is telling him.Kitty takes a look at her past as she's recovering, and doesn't like what she sees. What she's been brought up to believe had been shattered with her autocratic and cruel fathers actions, and they'd bled over into her life and forced her from the Pride. Now she can't help feeling attracted to Rafe, even knowing that its a disaster in waiting and she's always been so anti wolf, as are most of the Cat Pride. There's still the problem though of what penalty she has from straying onto pack land, she could face death or be claimed by the wolf that first found her. Neither appeal but she doesn't think she can escape as she has nowhere to go to. Back to the neutral zone house she may well be attacked again, even if she could escape from the wolves. She has to wait and that not easy for her, letting others decide her fate.There's some really hot, sensual sex between the two, with shifters being very sexual creatures, and these scenes fit well within the storyline Eliza has created. Some shifter novels seem to have been put together simply as an excuse to write page after page of sex, but without a decent plot to back it up that can get boring. This novel isn't though, we follow along with Kitty from one danger to the next, all the while learning about pack dynamics, and getting introductions to people and events that may shape later books. There's more too, to Kitty that anyone knows, and I get the feeling she's going to play a major part in some of the next books.Great book, with spicy sex, and believable characters and events. Of course fantasy means we have to suspend belief to a degree, but I feel plots and solutions still need to have the potential to really happen in the world that been created. What I hate - and thankfully Eliza doesn't do it - is instances where characters get new and unlikely powers just at the crucial danger point and so get a quick way out of the problem facing them. Priced at 3.08 for 155 pages/320kb it's quite expensive but as part of a well written series it has the potential for re reading, and I certainly would, which increases VFM of course.Stars: solid four.