Review: It was good but this series has better
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 22, 2012
Alone in the Nevada desert, Claudia Hunter pulls onto the side of the road when she notices a dog has been injured. Rushing him to the nearest vet, Claudia makes the startling discovery that it's not a dog she just saved but a shapeshifter. A shifter that's been beaten and left to die. Luis Alvaraz doesn't want Claudia to get involved. Being too weak to stop her, Claudia catches the attention of his attackers and soon the pair will need to work together to stop the dangerous men who now wants both of them dead.Claudia is retired from the army and has spent the last few year traveling around the U.S. After finding Luis injured, she makes quick connections and discovers who is behind his beating. Not one to back away from a fight, Claudia demonstrates some impressive skills when backed into a corner and finds herself with the same enemies as Luis. I liked Claudia's ability to stay calm and rational when situations got bad but there wasn't a whole lot more to her. Whether she eating dinner, being shot at or looking at Luis when he's wearing nothing but a sheet, she had the same calm and detached demeanor.Luis is the opposite. He works as an investigator for the Wyr (the supernatural) and you get the feeling he likes to go out and really live life. His feelings for Claudia are instantaneous and he lets her know it. I know this is a novella and because of its length, the characters are suppose to fall in love quickly but Claudia and Luis get a late start to things so I wasn't all that convinced of their feelings for another. Sure, they're good in bed and work as a decent team in the field but nothing about them said permanent.I didn't enjoy this novella like I did True Colors, the first novella in this series. It starts out slow but in the end I found the story to be interesting and something I wouldn't have mind reading in a full length book. In a series with really strong couples, Claudia and Luis didn't hit any of the right cords with me and ended up being what I liked least about the novella. I'm really hoping that the Devil's Gate, the next Elder Races novella, will be better than than this one.