Genre: Paranormal, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Tony
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About The Book
Josh McPhee always wanted to be an agent. To keep from going crazy at the Agency’s New Mexico substation, he talks to the imprisoned wolf shifter—or tries to. Their one-sided conversations only prove the shifter is not getting the help he needs. After all, he is a victim too.
Wolf shifter Xavier doesn’t remember much before his time with the Knights or the time under their control, where he was brainwashed and used to kill innocent shifters. He wants to recover his memories, and yet he fears what he might find. He would escape were it not for the aide whose voice quiets Xavier’s implanted urges.
Late one night the Knights attack the station to retrieve what’s theirs. Overpowered, Josh cannot stop them before they unlock Xavier’s cage. But Xavier rushes to Josh’s rescue and, sensing his opportunity, escapes, taking Josh with him. When Josh wakes up on the road, they strike a bargain: Josh offers Xavier one month of freedom before he calls in the Agency. Both doubt he can be cured, but something about Josh makes Xavier better. They just have to figure out what before the enemy catches up to them.
Second Edition with updated and revised text.
The Review
Healing Minds (The Shifter Chronicles 5) is Xavier’s and Josh’s story. Xavier is the damaged wolf shifter from part one, Psychic Moon.
When the Knights raid the Agency substation where Xavier is held, Josh, an aide based there, tries to hold them off, but is overcome. Xavier manages to escape with Josh slung over his shoulder, after killing the Knights.
The story follows the pair as Xavier comes to terms with what was done to him when the Knights broke him. They head for somewhere far from people and shifters, as Xavier has been ‘brainwashed’ into attacking and killing shifters. The chase is on to see who gets to them first – Knights or Agents.
Josh wants to be an agent, but he finds himself in a difficult situation where he must forgo protocol if he is going to protect Xavier and the world at large from each other. In the process, Xavier finds that he needs Josh, as the man has a soothing effect on him. He knows a lot about Josh, as Josh spent a lot of time just talking to him while Xavier was trapped in his wolf form. Everything he heard made him like Josh more, and from that something else develops, a something else that is going to make a big difference to the both of them as they travel toward their destination, facing one danger after another.
I was less convinced by Josh’s responses when he and Xavier finally got to express the attraction they feel for each other, with this being his first ever sexual experience.
Still, I liked this story a lot. Just enjoy it!
The Reviewer
Tony is an Englishman living amongst the Welsh and the Other Folk in the mountains of Wales. He lives with his partner of thirty-six years, four dogs, two ponies, various birds, and his bees. He is a retired lecturer and a writer of no renown but that doesn’t stop him enjoying what he used to think of as ‘sensible’ fantasy and sf. He’s surprised to find that if the story is well written and has likeable characters undergoing the trails of life, i.e. falling in love, falling out of love, having a bit of nooky (but not all the time), fending off foes, aliens and monsters, etc., he’ll be happy as a sandperson who has just offloaded a wagon of sand at the going market price. As long as there’s a story, he’s in. He aims to write fair and honest reviews. If he finds he is not the target reader he’ll move on.