Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Aiden’s Shepherd
SERIES: Paws and Magic #1
AUTHOR: Beany Sparks
PUBLISHER: eXtasy Books
LENGTH: 111 Pages
BLURB:
A man who never knew magic and shifters existed gets a crash course when he saves an injured dog.
Aiden Grey is packed and ready to move and start a new phase of his life away from the family that kicked him out when he was eighteen. The night before he leaves he sees something fall out of the back of a van. Upon closer inspection, he is shocked to find that it’s not the bag he suspected, it’s a dog!
He decides to take the dog with him, and the two set off the next morning to Aiden’s new home. Everything is going well for Aiden and the German Shepherd he named Lex. That is, until said German Shepherd shifts into a man who claims Aiden is his mate.
Lex can’t believe he’s finally found his mate. But as happy as he is to have him, he still worries about his brother and pack, and where they have ended up.
With the revelation that shifters exist, secrets about Aiden’s past come to light. Secrets he didn’t even know existed. Suddenly, Aiden has to deal with not only the reality of shifters, but also ghosts and magic. But with Lex by his side he can handle anything—even his surprise guest.
REVIEW:
I’m a little torn on this one. As far as I’m aware, this is the first m/m book published by author Beany Sparks and I’m not going to lie, I think the writing itself could use a bit more polish. Some parts felt a little amateurish while other parts were very well written. But hey, first published book right, so congrats and well done.
Although this book is a complete story in itself, it is also clearly the beginning of a new series (Paws and Magic for those that missed it) and I must say, I’m fairly excited to see where the author intends to take us next.
This first story introduces us to Lex the shifter and Aiden the…well, you’ll have to read the story to find out about Aiden. The story is told through the main characters alternating point of view which seems to be the preference of most readers. I thought both of the men had distinctive voices and was never confused about whose thoughts I was in at the time.
Considering the vast number of shifter books out there I thought the author did a commendable job of managing to make this one rather unique, to include some interesting elements that I’ve not seen before. Easily, the thing I loved most about this book was the way Aiden so readily accepts that he has a shifter mate because of his love of shifter romances. Strangely enough I’ve never really thought about it before but now that it’s in a book right in front of me I kind of had a “well, duh” moment. There are so many paranormal romances out there these days that show shifters, vampires, etc. in a romantic light that I don’t know that it would be that big a freak out to be presented with one. No, I’m not saying I believe they really exist but if you were a mad paranormal romance fan and suddenly your pet (your big manly pet, not your chihuahua) turned into a sexy man and claimed you were his mate, I think the shock would lean more towards “this is so freakin’ unbelievably awesome” rather than screaming and denial.
I also really liked the idea that the yet to form shifter pack that I’m assuming will be the focus of this series have all of their tales of finding love written down in a magic story book.
I think the author has some great ideas in this first book that promise to make for an interesting series. I look forward to seeing where those ideas may lead us.
RATING:
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