Genre: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Shifter, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: IDENTITY
Reviewer: Jay
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About The Book
Bad news always comes in threes.
As do the hits that knock Keon’s perfectly laid plans into chaos. His no-good brother conducted a hostile takeover of their pack, became Alpha, and got killed in the space of a year. Grief has crippled their father, leaving Beta Weston desperate for Keon’s return, as Simeon’s last act as Alpha was to name Keon his successor.
Leaving his friends is heartbreaking. Arriving home to a hostile pack is unsurprising. But finding a rival pack hovering on the boundaries of his land, vying for blood, could be a problem. With Simeon dead, they don’t seem to care which Alpha bleeds for the crimes.
With no other choice, Keon shoulders the burden of being Alpha. Fighting, bleeding, and sacrificing.
As a new Alpha, he needs to prove himself to get the respect needed for them to accept change…like dragging Vihaan into the 21st century. On the top of the list is finding a mate. But who would want to mate an Alpha whose own pack doesn’t respect him?
The Review
Keon was never meant to be an Alpha, but sees his role as bringing diversity to his pack and later, perhaps to others. He will be helped by his chosen mate, after he rejects his ‘true’ mate who is deceitful and manipulative.
The shifters live in a parallel world, Vihaan, but can and do cross into ours, where Keon studied and made good friends. There is a focus on pack and inter pack politics and family issues. There is also a main mm romance for Keon, and some minor ones.
I am not sure about the target audience, because the book is presented as being for the young adult demographic but there are some explicit and extended sex scenes that would probably be considered unsuitable for the younger end of that group. At the same time, the author spends a lot of time emphasising and explaining the diversity of gender, physical ability and other differences which Keon intends to promote, and for a more experienced adult audience a lighter touch might have been sufficient.
The world building could be a bit stronger, but I understand that this is the second book in the series so maybe that took place in volume one. You might want to start with that book firts.
I enjoyed the novel with its well-developed characters, exciting plot points and definite social messages, an interesting and fairly gripping story about shifters. Recommended for readers who like the addition of fantasy and thriller action with their helping of romance.
The Reviewer
I’ve been doing book reviews on my website, crossposted or linked to various social media, for a few years. I read a number of genres but I really enjoy all kinds of speculative fiction so thought I’d like to share my views with you. I love sci fi and other speculative fiction because of the way it can, at its best, make us see ourselves in a new light. Quite apart from the exciting stories, of course! I used to be an English teacher, and I’m a writer (fantasy) so I can be quite critical about style etc. but I hope I can also appreciate properly some books that don’t appeal to me personally but might be simply perfect for others. I have, obviously, read widely, and continue to do so.