Title: Shifter Claimed (Royal Mates #1)
Author: Alexis Calder
Genre: Paranormal Romance
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Perfunctory.
That is the word that kept coming to mind while reading Shifter Claimed. There wasn’t an abundance of profundity in the story to fall into it, which is just a shame. I felt like there was a single note I was following, but there was so much left to see of the story that was kept from me. Shifter Claimed didn’t feel to me like it was ready to be published yet.
Skylar is a hunter with the guild. She is a mercenary that brings in lawbreakers that the enforcers don’t have time to look for and seize. She’s Buffy-esque but without the oneliners, part wolf, part human–all badass. She’s trying to do her job when she runs into Elias. A being that, clearly, is more than who he says he is and unwilling to admit to anything.
Elias is on a mission, and it has nothing to do with the (somewhat) sassy half-wolf hunter. But the Enforcer is the only alibi she has to her BFFs murder and will see her innocence proven.
But she also runs up against another male, Xander, her BFFs brother, and Alpha of the High Moon Pack. He’s protective and less of a mystery to her. But possessive as hell.
And this is where Shifter Claimed just chokes itself. It gets bogged downed. The anticipation of these relationships and chemistry is so undeveloped that it feels like it gags the story. It’s frustrating because you don’t know if you are waiting for the kickass throwdown, the kiss, or what, but the page count is counting down, and the cliffhanger is promising to be frustrating. That one-note throughout the story that kept the pitch from hitting a high or low note made the end boring.
It read as unfinished, not as a cliffhanger.
I feel there are much better shifter books out there you could read.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary advance copy of this book.
About Alexis Calder:
Alexis Calder writes sassy heroines and sexy heroes with a sprinkle of sarcasm. She lives in the Rockies and drinks far too much coffee and just the right amount of wine.
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