Reviewed by Kimberley
TITLE: The Pride of Amsterdam
SERIES: Lionhearts
AUTHOR: Elizabeth Coldwell
PUBLISHER: Totally Bound
LENGTH: 206 pages
BLURB:
When an ancient enemy is summoned to destroy his pride, a lion shifter must fight to protect the man he loves.
Kees van der Veer has never forgotten the mysterious stranger who seduced him on Millennium Eve and who promised that when the time was right, they would be together again. Returning to Amsterdam after fifteen years away, he is reunited with that stranger, entering into a world of love and danger he could never have imagined.
Arjan is a lion shifter, part of a pride who has lived in Amsterdam since its Golden Age. He has spent fifteen years regretting the need to drive his destined mate away after one night of blissful passion. But only once they meet again can he reveal to Kees the truth of his heritage. When an old enemy is summoned to destroy the pride, Arjan must act to protect not only his family but also the man he loves.
Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes of light BDSM and food-play.
REVIEW:
This is first book in the Lionhearts series and it features two of my favorite elements: shifters and felines. This was a good read, only I found it just a little bit difficult to connect with the characters. The story felt a bit rushed with Kees’s and Arjan’s characters not as fleshed out as they should’ve been. I had the slight issue with how quickly these two were able to pick up where they left off without missing a beat. I mean, it’s been fifteen years since a one night stand and they didn’t even know each other’s names but was able reconnect so easily. That could’ve been explored a bit more, I felt. I was reading thinking maybe I missed something…like maybe they’ve been communicating by phone, email, snail mail, text message, smoke signal…something. It was just too easy and it wasn’t believable. So that threw me off a bit.
Of course, there were a few things that I liked. The sex scenes were fire hot steaming. And there was quite a bit of it but not so much that it saturates and ruined the storyline. There was some very light BSDM written in but not too much; it was very light so it won’t turn you off if you’re not a fan of the lifestyle.
Arjan’s character was different. He was not the overly confident Alpha that you would expect from a lion shifter. He was somewhat insecure and unsure when it came to Kees, and rightly so. After all, he walked out on the man fifteen years prior without an explanation as to why and Kees was understandably leery of restarting a relationship with Arjan because of this. These problems also stemmed from the fact that they really didn’t know each other all that well.
You will figure out who the hunter De Jäger is by the middle of the story, but that’s okay. I liked the book. This is a new author to me and the series seems like it will be a nice one to get into. I’m looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
RATING: 
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