Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: As It Should Be
SERIES: Windbrothers #2
AUTHOR: Sean Michael
PUBLISHER: DSP Publications
LENGTH: 164 pages
RELEASE DATE: December 6, 2016
BLURB:
2nd Edition
Set in the sweeping Windbrothers’ world, where magic users and their sworn mates find each other through a process of trial and error, these stories, which take place long before the events in Desert, explore the different ways that ba’chi and hi’icha come together to become ki’ita. For every magic user, there is a grounding force to steady him, and neither half of the pair feels whole until he finds his destined lover. Some mates discover each other with relative ease, while others have a harder time uniting with their designated partners, and the world they live in can be accepting, cruel, or even indifferent. From a shape-shifter with a secret to a pair of twins who think they’ll never find their lover, Sean Michael gives us a lot to love, just as it should be, in these stories sure to tug at your heart.
First Edition published by Torquere Press, 2006.
ANTHOLOGY REVIEW:
I loved the first book in this series to death (Windbrothers: Desert) and was really excited, and more than willing, to dive back into the world I’d grown so fond of. As it Should Be is a collection of five short stories all set within the Windbrothers universe and while it is technically a prequel to the first novel, I’d recommend reading this second as you won’t understand or enjoy it as much otherwise. The settings of the stories presented are all different but with an underlying theme: magic user meets warrior type and they come together as a bonded pair. A couple of the stories really stood out to me but, while I did like the book in general, I didn’t love it like I expected to. There wasn’t a great deal of story to be had in many of the offerings and I was a little disappointed by that fact. Still, I did enjoy the book and it was nice getting another look at the unique world presented in the Windbrothers universe. If you were a fan of the first book this would make a nice companion piece to it but without some knowledge of the world and relationships in it, you may be confused and won’t enjoy it as much.
Coming Home 4.5*
By far the best story in the book, and my complete favorite, this is also the only story you could read without knowledge of the Windbrothers universe and still completely understand and enjoy. Coming Home is the story of Bren, and unwanted and abandoned shifter who finds an unexpected home and family with Iral and his daughter Rian. This was a complete story with a sweet, happy ending that I just adored and that made for an excellent start to the collection. I really felt for Bren and his circumstances but it was an absolute joy watching as he’d worked to make a home for himself with the people he’d come to love.
Turtle 3*
This one was just okay for me, honestly. Satta is a warrior who unexpectedly finds and bonds with a pair of brothers while out patrolling his clan’s territory. There really wasn’t much story to be had here; you get to see different scenes between all three main characters mainly consisting of sex and it was disappointing that I didn’t get to see the triad getting to know each other with their clothes still on. The reaction and retribution taken by Satta’s clan made for a nice little bit of depth to an otherwise one dimensional story but I needed something more to really enjoy this one. Please note that there is some incest in this one but nothing overly graphic in my opinion.
The Wind’s Will 3.5*
This one was interesting and showed a different side to the meeting and bonding of a ba’chi and hi’icha. Both main characters were different than the ‘norm’ so far in these stories; Benik survived a bear attack and lost a limb as a result yet still managed to fight his way back into a position of respect while Semon is clumsy and shy and thinks of himself as a burden. It was nice seeing them come together and they seemed to match well but after the first part of the story, things moved back into the bedroom well before I was ready. I found the characters interesting and would’ve been happier if the story had been more about Benik courting Semon as planned rather than things moving so fast.
Blown Together by the Wind 3.5*
Pretty good story with a similar feel to it to Turtle but I enjoyed the characters a lot more; both men were interesting but I still found the character development somewhat lacking. Unar was a fairly easy character to understand but with Delen, you’re given little tidbits and comments in the beginning that stirred up a great deal of curiosity about him that’s then never expanded upon or explained. His lack of speech/understanding also made me a little uncomfortable at times as you’re never given a definite age for the character, just that Unar thought he was around 18-19 years old. Nice story about two solitary individuals coming together but there was no real depth to it.
Weaver 3.5*
This was a good story to end the book on but it was also one of the most frustrating. I really enjoyed this one, I did, but this was a case of so much potential completely wasted. Azen is the one ‘traditional’ magic user in the book with an ability I’d not seen before in these stories and I would’ve loved to explore that more. There were just so many directions this story could’ve taken, with plot even, but it was, unfortunately, one of the shortest stories in the entire book. If there had been more…well, more of anything, really, this could’ve easily been my favorite story of the book but as it stands it was a good story that left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied.
RATING: 
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