Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Hidden Shifter
SERIES: Fated Date Agency #7
AUTHOR: Abraham Steele
PUBLISHER: Self published
LENGTH: 249 pages
BLURB:
Samuel Hillwell is in mourning for a man he’s never met. The handsome alpha waited too long to contact the Fated Date Agency. There was always a stock trade or a trip to Europe that seemed more important. His mate passed away just days before he reached out. As he goes into a downward spiral, questioning everything he’s based his life on, he can only wish he’d had one night with his deceased omega.
Caden Grey is on the run. After surgically altering his face and travelling across the country, the former kindergarten teacher still can’t stop looking over his shoulder for the people who want him dead. Now that he’s arrived in Clover Grove, he should finally be able to take a breath. But he’s just starting to get settled there when a dazzling man runs up to him. A man who knows Caden’s previous name.
Will Samuel figure out the truth about the tormented omega? And if he gets into Caden’s heart, will either of them be safe?
Hidden Shifter is Book 7 of the Fated Date Agency series. It also stands alone as a complete 200-page gay shifter romance novel with steamy content and male pregnancy.
Guaranteed HEA ending with no cheating and no cliffhangers!
REVIEW:
I am a big fan of shifters and the fated mate concept, so I jumped at the chance to review this book. The whole idea of an agency that brings fated mates together was intruiging. I know this is the seventh book in a series, but the blurb says it’s a standalone so I went for it. I can’t say that I loved it, unfortunately. I’m not sure if it would have been better if I had read the previous books and understood this world, but I just didn’t get it.
The book starts from Samuel’s perspective, as he finds out that his fated mate has died the day before. He’s finally contacted the Fated Date Agency, that matches shifters with their fated mates, but apparently he’s waited too long. Samuel is deeply distraught, and travels across the country to attend the funeral of his dead mate. Where he learns a bit about him, and meets some of his pack mates. He heads back to his sad, lonely life, to mourning and moaning about the loss of the man he never knew.
Then we switch to the perspective of Caden, formerly known as Idris, who has run from his old pack, faked his death, and had major plastic surgery. He’s taking bus trip after bus trip, all the way across the country finally stopping in a town when he comes the end of the bus rides. Of course he stops in the town that his unknown mate lives in… Where the two immediately run in to each other, Samuel recognizing him by his scent and his appearance, as altered as it is. This brings the two together and starts the romance.
I had questions and issues with this book from the beginning. I didn’t like the shifting perspective, I questioned how this world works, how does the agency work, I didn’t get why Caden ran from his pack, I had a really hard time accepting the plot. I was very bothered by Caden’s self lubing asshole, that was described as a dripping hole at one point, and makes the back of his pants wet. Ick. I’m not sure I liked Samuel and Caden, or really any of the characters actually…
I can buy anything if I understand the rules of the universe the author creates. Maybe if I had read the other books I’d know more about why what happened to Caden was such a big deal, maybe I’d understand the way fated mates work, and I’d understand the ending better. I just didn’t get it.
I hate to do this, but this book didn’t work for me. If you are looking for a shifter series, maybe start with the first book in this series and see how it goes from there. If you have read and liked the other books in this series, maybe this one will be fine for you, but I’m not sure starting on book seven was the best plan for me.
RATING: 
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