Review: 3.5 stars - Mangled mate bonds and a shifter HEA that isn't a slam dunk
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 6, 2013
This had an interesting premise. Since I love shapeshifter romances and the whole mate connection bond idea, it was interesting to have the twist of consequences mate bonds rejected or 'broken' by death.Leading lady Jaylin is a half shifter grief counselor, who until recently included shifters and humans in her practice but who stopped treating shifters until,  cougar shifter Aidan convinces her to take on his brother's case. In Aidan's brother Liam, we get to see the devastation of a rejected bond and in Jaylin's explanations of his condition we get a whole slew of cheesy terms that go along with the broken mating process - fewsion, Dsershon (say 'em out loud for full effect) - so that we know the pain that Aidan faces when he decides that Jaylin is his mate, only to discover that Jaylin doesn't see the mate bond as something wonderful and is adamant that she will never bond with a shifter ever. Of course, Aidan's instincts are not to be denied, he takes Jaylin's words as a challenge and sets out to play dirty in order to win her.So that's where the execution of the idea work less well for me, Aidan basically kidnaps Jaylin and put her in a situation where she has to be around him and then goes all cold and controlled on her to prove that he can fight his instincts. Jaylin, who I didn't find at all likable even before that point, gets a bit muddled by his 'rejection' and starts regretting pushing him away, so they decide that their time together is going to be just about sex. Which of course insidiously forms a connection she's still not willing to commit to until events occur which cause her to see the light just as fate looks to separate them forever.