The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
aquariandancer's review
4.0
League of Gallize Shifters Book Two
As a child, Elianna is exiled from her father's clan of shifters due to her mixed blood. However, he keeps watch over her. When her mother is killed he steps in to protect Elianna, but altruism is not his reason. He has made a deal with an American clan of bears to make a trade. Justin is with his Gallize brothers when he gets the call that he must escort an heiress to his old clan. Considering his clan shunned him when he was younger, he doesn't have any inclination to return, especially not in the company of some pampered princess. Neither of them could be more wrong about their preconceived notions about the other.
If you're looking for a story with shifters, politics and obliterated expectations, this is the book for you!
Audio Review:
Stephen R. Thorne performs the story with care. He gives Elianna and her family great accents, but he doesn't go overboard.
As a child, Elianna is exiled from her father's clan of shifters due to her mixed blood. However, he keeps watch over her. When her mother is killed he steps in to protect Elianna, but altruism is not his reason. He has made a deal with an American clan of bears to make a trade. Justin is with his Gallize brothers when he gets the call that he must escort an heiress to his old clan. Considering his clan shunned him when he was younger, he doesn't have any inclination to return, especially not in the company of some pampered princess. Neither of them could be more wrong about their preconceived notions about the other.
If you're looking for a story with shifters, politics and obliterated expectations, this is the book for you!
Audio Review:
Stephen R. Thorne performs the story with care. He gives Elianna and her family great accents, but he doesn't go overboard.
monadh's review
5.0
Fast-paced, action-packed bear shifter PNR with great banter
Although I am not really into bear-shifter PNR I loved this book! It is the second installment in Dianna Love’s new Gallize Shifter series and though in order to get the full background story arc it would probably make sense to start with the first book, Gray Wolf Mate, it also works well as a standalone.
I think I liked this one even more than book one: it’s still got the intensity, urgency and action but it’s paired with some light-hearted banter and humorous monologues the two main protagonists have with their animals.
Elianna has been shunned her whole life for being a ursid hybrid and has lived without a clan, devoting herself to looking after her little adoptive brother. So when circumstances put her brother in the sights of the Kamchatka alpha, she agrees (or rather is made to agree) to go to America and mate with a bear from a local clan there, if she ever wants to see her brother again.
Justin, one of the group of Gallize shifters, is assigned the task of escorting Elianna from her landing point to the bear clan in Louisiana, which also happens to be his previous clan, but from which he did not part on good terms. He expects a spoiled princess, but Elianna turns out very different from his expectations. But it seems not everybody wants Elianna to arrive safely at her destination and Elianna and Justin must work together to have a chance to evade their pursuers.
Quite a few shifter (and other paranormal) romances/series have this insta-lust, mate-bond thing going where the two protagonist are tied to each as soon as the bond snaps into place, for better or worse and sometimes against their (or at least the female’s) will. Although the idea has some appeal (in an imaginary world) I also find it highly problematic because it takes away choice and it often serves as an excuse for the man to “take” the woman, sometimes against her wishes (although they almost always come around). But the whole coercive scenario appears questionable in today’s cultural climate.
I think that is way I appreciated this book so much. Although the Gallize shifters suffer from the mating “curse”, meaning they have to find their mates until a certain age or they will lose themselves in their animals, Justin is nowhere near that point, probably because he is so in tune with his bear. So the two can get to know each other as persons first (although there is an instant attraction). And it’s actually Elianna who initiates sex, though Justin and his bear or on board with that plan instantly. After that it’s not so much of a stretch that their animals clue in to the fact that they are mates first.
Although I am not really into bear-shifter PNR I loved this book! It is the second installment in Dianna Love’s new Gallize Shifter series and though in order to get the full background story arc it would probably make sense to start with the first book, Gray Wolf Mate, it also works well as a standalone.
I think I liked this one even more than book one: it’s still got the intensity, urgency and action but it’s paired with some light-hearted banter and humorous monologues the two main protagonists have with their animals.
Elianna has been shunned her whole life for being a ursid hybrid and has lived without a clan, devoting herself to looking after her little adoptive brother. So when circumstances put her brother in the sights of the Kamchatka alpha, she agrees (or rather is made to agree) to go to America and mate with a bear from a local clan there, if she ever wants to see her brother again.
Justin, one of the group of Gallize shifters, is assigned the task of escorting Elianna from her landing point to the bear clan in Louisiana, which also happens to be his previous clan, but from which he did not part on good terms. He expects a spoiled princess, but Elianna turns out very different from his expectations. But it seems not everybody wants Elianna to arrive safely at her destination and Elianna and Justin must work together to have a chance to evade their pursuers.
Quite a few shifter (and other paranormal) romances/series have this insta-lust, mate-bond thing going where the two protagonist are tied to each as soon as the bond snaps into place, for better or worse and sometimes against their (or at least the female’s) will. Although the idea has some appeal (in an imaginary world) I also find it highly problematic because it takes away choice and it often serves as an excuse for the man to “take” the woman, sometimes against her wishes (although they almost always come around). But the whole coercive scenario appears questionable in today’s cultural climate.
I think that is way I appreciated this book so much. Although the Gallize shifters suffer from the mating “curse”, meaning they have to find their mates until a certain age or they will lose themselves in their animals, Justin is nowhere near that point, probably because he is so in tune with his bear. So the two can get to know each other as persons first (although there is an instant attraction). And it’s actually Elianna who initiates sex, though Justin and his bear or on board with that plan instantly. After that it’s not so much of a stretch that their animals clue in to the fact that they are mates first.
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