Review: 4 out of 5 stars
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 29, 2013
If you’ve read Niles before you know she’s not a rock’em sock’em kind of writer. She does like to build a story even if the premise is not exactly new. That’s the way I felt about Britton’s story anyway. The buildup was nice and good enough that it kept me reading to find out what happens to these characters I’ve come to want to find out about. Britton and Val’s story picks up right after Liam’s story finished – give or take a couple months. The difference between this and the other Awakening books is that this has my favorite hero and heroine of the series. Val and Britton are like oil and water – they just don’t mix and that’s what makes this a spicy read. Have you read either Aidan or Liam’s story? If you’ve haven’t I’ll try not to spoil them but I can’t promise. If you have read Liam’s story, you’ll remember Val and the special place that she had in Britton’s affections (insert a plethora of sarcasm).Shifter Britton used to head the local SPAC until he did someone so against the High Council’s laws that both his shifter abilities and his leadership role were revoked. Half-shifter Val took over Britton’s job as the leader of SPAC and it’s been a war of words and stink eyes ever since. After a dastardly kidnapping in the shifter community, the kidnappers threaten exposure but the High Council needs to keep this very hush hush as shifters have been undetected by humans thus far. I never did understand what would happen if humans find out about the shifters but then again I don’t need to know what’ll happen but I'm sure it’s going to be bad considering humans out number shifters (I’m sticking to that story even if it’s never actually stated).In all their wisdom, the High Council decides that the best bet to solve the case is by putting its two best agents together - Britton and Val are not in agreement with that but orders are orders. What they don’t expect as part of the investigation is their undercover role as a married and honeymooning couple. After being sent to an isolated cabin in the mountains, Val and Britton must solve the mystery of the kidnappers, rescue the kidnapped victim, and save the shifter race from human exposure - all without hurting, maiming or killing each other.I enjoyed my short reunion with Britton, he did it for me. He’s got a smart mouth and those blue eyes that can set the knees to shaking. It really was a lot of fun reading his story. For me, he's a much more well-rounded character that either Liam or Aidan which probably has to do with seeing him progress from one story to the next. The one thing that I'm not sure that I continue to dislike in this series is that they take place in a very short time span - this one happened over 3 weeks. A lot of things can be credible if I see a passage of time - 3 weeks isn't long enough to get where this couple needed to be...but it didn't make me enjoy the overall story any less. The interactions between Val and Britton and getting to know each other quirks tugged at my heart strings.The chemistry was in full force, but don't expect a lot or any action in the first half. Remember when I said this is a build up, that included the physical expressions too - I include kissing in that. It worked though because of the way these two felt about each other. Had they quickly fallen into bed with each other I would definitely call that out. So yeah, that part worked. Val was tough, I'm talking ball-breaking tough. She had no patience for Britton and his womanizing ways and she would let him have it every chance she got. That was nice and refreshing, she didn't fall at his feet. There was no mutual attraction here, these two loathed each other and wasn’t afraid of letting the other know; kudos to Niles for the way that was handled.Some of the characters from the first books do make appearances which was fun to read but not enough to satiate my shifter palette. If you're interesting in a bit of suspense, shifters, mates and shenanigans - do pick this one up.Happy Reading Folks!Rating: B*Book provided by Entangled PublishingAlso posted at www.redhotbooks(dot)com