Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Shadows of the Past
SERIES: Miracle #7
AUTHOR: Shea Balik
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 99 Pages
RELEASE DATE: January 30, 2018
BLURB:
He didn’t deserve a happily ever after.
Hudson Martin watched as each of his best friends had found their mates, knowing he would never find his own. He didn’t deserve to. He’d done too many terrible things in his life to ever hope to receive the gift of a mate. On Christmas Day, seeing his friends gathered around with the one person meant for them had been bittersweet. He was happy for his friends, but it felt like salt being rubbed into an open wound. It hurt.
Please, just let me die.
Kassian had only one wish in life, to join his sister and parents in death. He should have died with them instead of surviving that terrifying night. This year, he was determined not to let anything stop him, or in this case, anyone. His sister, although dead, had stuck around, hindering him in some of the most frustrating ways possible, not allowing him to join his family in death. This year may be her best attempt, for as he lay on the floor waiting to die, the visions of the past holding him in their grip, he gets yanked back to the present by the most intoxicating scent he’s ever scented from a man. A man who gives him something he hasn’t had in over seventy years. Peace.
There may be hope for them both.
Hudson and Kassian discover this little town was aptly named, because it had taken a Miracle to bring them together. More importantly, it will take that Miracle for them to find their way to each other, and to chase away the Shadows of the Past.
REVIEW:
I really liked this seventh book of the series. It was probably my favourite so far.
Since the beginning of the Miracle series we have heard about the murders that occurred there in the past, and Hudson and Nole have been trying to track down a ghost. Now that the last old building has been knocked down Hudson is worried that the ghost they have been chasing might disappear. Add to that the fact that he has to watch his friends and their mates get cozy together at Christmas and Hudson isn’t really loving his life. But then he meets his mate, Kassian, after Kassian has once again attempted suicide only to be stopped by his sister, the ghost that Hudson has been hunting. Hudson quickly realizes that any problems he thought he had, are nothing compared to the hell Kassian has been living in for the last seventy years.
I think I enjoyed this book the most because it felt as though there was more depth to it than the previous books in the series. You really felt that Kassian was tormented by the murders of his parents and sister, whereas in previous books when we had characters who had been raped, I didn’t really feel their mental suffering. Maybe it was because of the lack of fighting and violence in this one, there was more focus on the characters’ development. Having said that, I loved the battles in previous books, but this was a nice change of pace. I also appreciated the “resolution” if you could call it that, of Kassian coming face to face with the possible murderer. It wasn’t perfectly designed coincidence to give him the closure that I kind of expected he’d get. But I actually thought what the author did with that was better than what I assumed would happen.
Another bonus, the author finally gave us a book where one of the mates doesn’t reject the other the instant they meet. Despite the fact that it was a big cat that killed Kassian’s family, and that’s exactly what Hudson is, both men are simply happy to find their mate.
So now I’ve read all seven of the books that have already been released, and I guess I’m going to have to wait now for the next one. Although all of our original cats now have their mates, there are still several other shifters just waiting in line.
RATING: 
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