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Book Review of Pride Mates (Shifters Unbound, Bk 1)

Pride Mates (Shifters Unbound, Bk 1)
frazerc avatar reviewed on + 672 more book reviews


A new series by Jennifer Ashley. I really enjoyed Pride Mates. It's more a contemporary book about prejudice and rights than it is a traditional shifter book. These guys don't hang out in the woods but live in a slum/ghetto/homeland on the edge of Austin, Texas.

Shifters have 'come out' and accepted collars that control their aggression as the price of being allowed to live in [relative] peace. Like minorities in the earlier part of the 20th century they strive to live public lives that cause no ripples, presenting a public face which won't cause anyone to look more closely. Their private lives are intensely different and intensely protected.

Our human heroine has been assigned to defend a shifter who has been accused of murdering his girlfriend. She becomes convinced that her client is as much a victim as his girlfriend was. She needs answers and goes to Shiftertown to get them... Liam has been assigned by the clan leader to send her away. He doesn't. She is steadily drawn into the secrets of the clan and learns things that humans aren't allowed to know - and eventually Liam has to mate her to protect her.

Both an action and relationship plot, filled with well drawn characters in a fascinating setting. I'll be keeping this one and pre-ordering the next when it makes it onto the listings...

Shifters Unbound
1. Pride Mates (2010)
2. Shifter Lovin' (2011)