Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Paws and Claws
SERIES: Alphas Unleashed #1
AUTHOR: M.A. Church
PUBLISHER: Omnilit
LENGTH: 142 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 1, 2016
BLURB:
When neither choice is acceptable, then what? To save his jamboree from obliteration, Omega Cade Decker is forced into a match with the powerful but merciless Grady Williams. While he may be attracted to the big, bad Alpha, and Grady will protect him from a corrupt Alpha jaguar, Cade won’t settle for anything less than the love of his life. As Alpha of one of the most powerful jaguar jamborees around, Grady’s reputation for bloodthirst is more of a help than a hindrance. When Alpha Decker approaches him with a proposal, Grady jumps at the chance to mate with Decker’s Omega brother. Grady doesn’t believe in love but craves having a beautiful, talented partner, so this arrangement is perfect. When Cade is kidnapped, Grady realizes his love equals his fear that he’ll never get his mate back…
REVIEW:
When Cade Decker’s jamboree is threatened by a violent Alpha hell bent on taking him as his mate, Cade’s brother does the only thing he can think of: he approaches the Alpha of a stronger jamboree and proposes an alliance. The threatened jamboree will gain protection and Alpha Grady Williams will receive Cade for a mate. Cade is, understandably, less than thrilled with this arrangement but in order to save his family, he’s willing to give it a try. Grady could care less about a love match, much preferring a comfortable pairing with someone that will be an asset to him and his people. When the two jaguars meet, however, there is a near instant attraction between them and Grady finds himself falling for his new Omega in ways he never anticipated. Even mated, Cade isn’t entirely safe from the unwanted advances of the other Alpha, however, and when his life is threatened, Grady will be forced to face just what Cade really means to him.
I don’t see feline shifters as often as wolves in paranormal stories so I was really looking forward to this one. I felt the author did a really good job with the characters in both human and shifted forms, and while the book was on the shorter side, I very easily got a feel for all of their personalities. While shifted, the main characters actually showed more feline characteristics in how they acted, which was nice as well as different than what I usually see, and the playfulness exhibited was quite a difference to both Cade and Grady’s normal personalities.
While I really liked the characters, however, the story itself was just okay for me. The fairly quick pacing was expected and totally fine but I felt the blurb was slightly misleading and as a result, the drama I was expecting just wasn’t there. Slight spoiler here so skip it if you want but regardless of what the blurb states, Cade is not kidnapped; there’s an attempt made but it never actually succeeds. After that point in the story the ending just seemed to fall a little flat; I was disappointed and felt a bit gypped, to be perfectly honest. You never get to see a final confrontation between Grady and Hogan and being left with the explanation that the shifter council is handling it, with no other information or resolution had the ending of the book feeling somewhat incomplete.
I liked the story for what it was, an easy read featuring the shifter version of an arranged marriage, but I was hoping for a little more in terms of the plot and execution. If you like shifter stories but are tired of reading about wolves, you might enjoy this one, but keep in mind that it leaves things a bit unfinished at the end.
RATING: 
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