Reviewed by Donna
SERIES REVIEW: Miracle series
AUTHOR: Shea Balik
PUBLISHER: Self Published
BOOK #5 TITLE: Tearing Down Walls
LENGTH: 144 Pages
RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2017
BLURB:
In a world where everyone was against them, they needed a Miracle. What no one had expected was to find their salvation in an abandoned town that was ready to collapse. Yet, that is exactly what happened when they moved to the town of Miracle, Oregon.
Finding one’s mate should be the greatest moment in a shifter’s life, but for Chadwick Ramos, who had been waiting for his mate since he was five, he was no longer sure he wanted a mate. At least not the one fate had given him. A dominate Alpha, who would sure want to tell him what to do, was not his idea of the loving mate he’d always dreamed of.
Saber Thorsen knew his immense size was an effective deterrent to those wanting to start trouble. He just hadn’t expected it to have the same effect on his mate. It would take a lot of patience and understanding to change Chadwick’s mind but for his mate, Saber would do whatever it took.
If only they had time. But with the challenge for the Council coming up, it would take a miracle for Saber to not only win, but to survive the battle. It was probably asking too much to also win the heart of his mate. Then again, that’s what their town is about, finding a Miracle.
REVIEW:
I enjoyed this installment, but at the same time it frustrated the hell out of me.
This book brings us the story of Chadwick, one of our original cat shifters from Miracle, and Saber Thorsen, an alpha to end all alphas. Saber is planning to become head of the new Council, so he doesn’t really have time to be wooing a reluctant mate, but he’s not willing to let Chadwick go. Saber is another one of those alphas who deep down is kind of a sweetie despite his badass exterior. I liked that he was an ape shifter, but to be honest I kept forgetting what he was. With a name like Saber I kept picturing him as a big cat.
Firstly, I loved the huge battle between the Council’s army and the good-guy army from Miracle. It’s always disappointing if a battle is built up in previous books just to fizzle out into a big old nothing. That wasn’t the case with this book. I also liked that the dreaded Council finally takes a more staring role in this series, though for now Miracle is still the focus. My third positive was that finally, the big tough alpha doesn’t automatically assume he’s going to be the one who gets to top every time they have sex. I appreciated that “equality”.
My frustrations? How did a war between thousands of shifters go undetected by any humans? No matter how isolated the location that can not go unnoticed. Also, Kirill, our bear MC from book #3 became Krill. Not just once, but constantly. At first I thought it was a different person. And lastly, the pet names are killing me. One or two books can get away with ridiculous pet names but every single book in a series, and now I’m cringing with each cutesy name that passes their lips.
Having whined about all that though, obviously they aren’t major issues and I did like this book. I’m looking forward to reading more about the new council.
RATING: 
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BOOK #6 TITLE: Like Magic
LENGTH: 136 Pages
RELEASE DATE: September 1, 2017
BLURB:
In a world where everyone was against them, they needed a Miracle. What no one had expected was to find their salvation in an abandoned town that was ready to collapse. Yet, that is exactly what happened when they moved to the town of Miracle, Oregon.
Draco Orah thought his chance of ever finding his mate was nonexistent. He was over a thousand years old and had been kicked out of his dragon clan when he had been young and unable, or maybe unwilling, to control his anger. It had taken years, but finally he’d become a master at control, that was, until he’d met his mate with chains holding him prisoner.
Ryland West hated shifters. Considering he was currently chained up and forced to work for the Chief Council, he thought he had the right to his feelings. So why was he having warm emotions for a shifter?
Time will be against them figuring things out as an evil monster comes knocking, bent on destroying Ryland. Can Draco learn to control his temper instead of scaring off his mate ? Will Ryland be able to find a way past his hatred of shifters in order to see what was between them? Love has a funny way of giving the hopeless a chance but they have to reach out and grab it, or Like Magic, it will slip away.
REVIEW:
This book moves us out of the town of Miracle as dragon shifter, Draco, follows his alpha Saber to check out the Chief Council residence.
I think that this series has become a bit of a guilty, addictive pleasure, because as much as I’m enjoying this series, reading one book straight after the other, my list of annoyances is also growing. Six books into the series and every single story has had the less dominant of the main characters reject his alpha mate. And for mostly stupid reasons. This book followed that same storyline again, although to be fair it probably makes the most sense with this couple.
Ryland is a human who has been kept as a slave in a shifter house for years. He has been repeatedly raped and abused so he’s not keen on finding out that he has a shifter for a mate. Even if this shifter is obviously different from his abusers. Also, three of the six books have mates who have been raped repeatedly, for years at a time, and I’m kind of ready for something new.
Whereas the first few books of this series were all about the cats and the mice, the author has begun branching out into different shifters. Dragon shifters always have that extra wow factor, and I actually liked the fact that one of the mates was a human. I loved Draco’s attitude of immediately viewing Ryland and his sister as family.
This story was perhaps even more over the top plot wise than the previous books but I like that about this series. I know I’ve said it before but for a series that features so many rape victims for MCs, its surprisingly light hearted and fun. Which seems impossible, but trust me, it works if you just accept that shifters work differently to humans.
Though the majority of this book is set outside of Miracle, all of our main characters do head back to the prospering town which means that all of our favourite shifters will be around for the next book.
RATING:
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