Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Earning His Trust
SERIES: Miracle #8
AUTHOR: Shea Balik
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 158 Pages
RELEASE DATE: January 9, 2019
BLURB:
Iniko had a problem. His mouth often said things that his brain hadn’t thought through. It didn’t make him very popular with anyone. How he hadn’t been kicked out of Miracle was in itself a miracle. Iniko also had a gift to help others find their niche in life. But to do that, the men of Miracle would have to find a way to give him a chance.
Greyson was stunned when he walked down the street of Miracle to discover a brash mouse shifter with blue and pink hair ordering about predators twice his size. So he was shocked when that man, who also happened to be his mate, ran from him in fear.
Neither man had planned to ever find his mate. Now that they had, would they be able to find a way to deal with their pasts? Then again, nothing in life had ever been easy for either of them. Doom or happily ever after would start with Earning His Trust.
REVIEW:
For those readers that follow this series, Iniko will be a familiar name, a tough little mouse shifter who doesn’t hesitate to fight for what he thinks is right. But Iniko has zero people skills, zero verbal filter, and only a few friends. The other residents of Miracle try to avoid the forthright shifter, a task that becomes rather difficult after the alpha of Miracle puts Iniko in charge of organizing the growing numbers of shifters into suitable employment.
Iniko was a favourite of mine from the moment he appeared in book two. I have a weakness for bossy, sassy twinks who don’t take crap from the big tough alpha males. It’s funny that this story actually includes elements that I complained about in previous books from the Miracle series. There’s the fact that Iniko blurts out his thoughts by accident, and there’s the fact that he immediately rejects his fated mate…But. In Overcoming Stereotypes it bugged the hell out of me when Kellach unknowingly speaks his thoughts aloud but Iniko only does it enough to be endearing rather than annoying. And I believe this is the first book of the series where the fact a character rejects his mate has made sense. Poor Iniko has only ever had horrible experiences with alpha shifters so the idea that he might have one as a mate is terrifying to him. I loved the combination of his over the top theatrics as he ran through the town screaming that Greyson wanted to make him a slave, the flip to his heartfelt pleas for Greyson to not give up on him. Iniko got exactly the story I could have wanted for him.
Greyson was a new addition to Miracle, and he brought with him a new group of gay outcasts running for their lives. His story starts with a literal bang, and an exciting race to find Miracle. He was perfect for Iniko, and I was really happy that the series finally centered on the town again. Though the last book was set at the town, the characters remained isolated for the most part, whereas this story pulled in all of my previous favourites to give me a chance to catch up with past MCs.
This series really does need to be read from the beginning. Each book feeds straight into the next, so if you’re interested in a quick and easy to read shifter series, maybe start by checking out the first book, Purring with his Mate.
RATING: 
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