Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Coexistence
SERIES: Human Hybrids #1
AUTHOR: Clare Solomon
PUBLISHER: Meroda Publishing
LENGTH: 321 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 10, 2016
BLURB:
Scientists have genetically engineered five human hybrid races known as werewolves, vampires, dragons, sensers and wendigoes. The first four races coexist with humans in relative peace. The fifth one wants to butcher the others and they are getting stronger.
Lovers, Brand and Kye, are trying to fix their damaged relationship while working for a branch of HyCO that protects people and solves hybrid crimes. When they start finding the cannibalised remains of corpses they realise there are wendigoes in the city of Invercade.
Pal is a doctor living peacefully in his werewolf pack in Oxford, England until his local HyCO leads a mob of rioters on a hybrid killing spree. He heads north and ends up in Invercade, meeting a man he could fall for, only to then be arrested for murder.
For Brand, Kye and Pal this is just the beginning of the nightmare that will tear every part of their lives apart…
REVIEW:
I love books that feature shifters and other paranormal creatures and when you combine it with a law enforcement setting I’m just totally sold. Unfortunately, despite loving the premise of this story, the execution was a little…lackluster. The prologue jumps you right in the middle of things and introduces you to four of the main players right away, which was fine, as they take off to try and quickly catch a murderer. Quickly is the operative word here, however, as reading the entire chapter was like watching a video on fast forward. The case was solved with the watching of a single video and the main characters were home in time for dinner and a make out session because, hey, they think they’re each hot and why wait. I gave some leeway to the author at that point as I figured she just wanted to get things set up as quickly as possible to give context to the rest of the story and from that point forward, the story would slow down a little.
Unfortunately, the entire book was kind of like that. Instead of seeing the little things that make up any investigation or law enforcement agency, a few things were shown and then it was off to interview someone or make an arrest. The details that I look for and enjoy in any story such as this one were seriously diminished or lacking altogether and that was a serious disappointment. The transitions were also a problem and there were many times were there was nothing to smooth the way between what the characters were doing at any given time and where or what they were doing next. Sometimes that caused confusion before I realized the author had just magically blipped the characters on to doing something else.
The characters themselves, while interesting from a paranormal standpoint, were lacking in depth and the interactions were sometimes so frustrating I just wanted to walk away. The worst, however, was the constant strife between members of the HyCO team; I didn’t believe they were a team that had been working together for years at all. There were secrets and members that just hated and undermined each other to a ridiculous degree. Then there was the fact that, even though they knew and had worked together for years, the team was ready and willing to just throw another member under the bus and believe the worst without any proof. And then there were the arrests. Oh God, the arrests. No actual evidence but someone was around at the time of the crime even though he had an alibi? Book ‘em. No really, cuff the innocent bystander and call it a day. I can’t even get into the romance or lack thereof right now.
I just…I really had such hopes for this book but the lack of a concrete believable law enforcement agency and all of the things that would’ve made this a smoother more enjoyable read kind of killed it for me. Its always possible that you may enjoy this where I could not or maybe you’re just curious and would like to give it a try. In that case I would recommend heading over to the author’s website where she has a free download of a prequel story set in the same universe. I haven’t read it but if you want to give this story a try, I’d read that first before buying this one so you have a better idea of what to expect.
RATING: 
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