Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Static 
AUTHOR: L.A. Witt
NARRATOR: Michael Ferraiuolo
PUBLISHER: Self Publised
RELEASE DATE: January 14, 2019
LENGTH: 7 hours, 48 minutes
BLURB:
After two years together, Alex has been dreading the inevitable moment when Damon learns the truth: that Alex is a shifter, part of a small percentage of the population able to switch genders at will. Thanks to a forced implant, though, Alex is suddenly static—unable to shift—and male. Overnight, he’s out to a world that neither understands nor tolerates shifters . . . and to his heterosexual boyfriend.
Damon is stunned to discover his girlfriend is a shifter, and scared to death of the dangers the implant poses to Alex’s health. He refuses to abandon Alex, but what about their relationship? Damon is straight, and with the implant both costly and dangerous to remove, Alex is stuck as a man.
Stripped of half his identity and facing serious physical and social ramifications, Alex needs Damon more than ever, but he doesn’t see how they can get through this.
Especially if he’s static forever.
REVIEW:
I’m in love with this book and these characters. This book fascinated me. I’ve read numerous shifter stories before, but those were shifting human to animal or different creatures. Static was about shifting genders. It was new and it was different, but more than that – I loved every word of it.
Damon and Alex are in love, they’ve been together two years and Damon is doing his best to convince Alex to marry him, only so far she’s resisting. Yes, I did say she, because as far as Damon knows Alex is a girl, the girl. So when she disappears without warning and no contact he is naturally worried and goes over to her place hoping to find her. What he does find is a man he’s never seen before and one that’s obviously comfortable in his girlfriend’s apartment. When he finds out that not only is his girlfriend a shifter, the man before him was actually Alex, his lost girlfriend.
Alex put off telling Damon about being a shifter, shifting from male to female on a regular basis with no real preference for either. A dinner at his parents’ house (he always goes as male as they are less than tolerant of him shifting) goes catastrophically wrong as they not only do their usual ranting and raving about what an abomination he is, but takes it one step further. They drug him and force an implant in his spine which will keep him from shifting, to be static. So now he’s stuck in a male’s body, with a headache from hell, a boyfriend that doesn’t know he (was) male half the time and with no clue how to get back what he lost.
Like I mentioned previously, I loved the gender shifting concept and the world Witt created, the characters. I really enjoyed Alex’s POV, dealing with being static, forced into a male body and how that impacted and upended his entire life. From the bigotry and snide comments at his first work to the acceptance and support from his second. But also dealing with his parents – to report or not report?
I loved how Damon handled everything. His confusion about the whole situation was clear throughout. About his feelings towards Alex as a shifter, and “her” being stuck as male. I mean he’d proposed marriage to female Alex, but now she was kind of gone, but also still there. Oh and he did I mention that Damon was not gay? Yet as time pass and he gets to know male Alex and realizes they are one and the same, he finds himself attracted to this version as well and a new relationship develops between them. I liked how that was allowed to grow. It wasn’t forced in any way. Neither was there blame or expectations, just two rather confused people trying to deal with their new deck of cards that reality left them with. However, I also felt like the time from confused Damon trying to wrap his head around Alex as male to him finding Alex attractive and the subsequent sex scenes were too quick – at least compared to the pacing of the rest of the book.
Michael Ferraiuolo is a fantastic and extremely talented narrator. He adds so much passion and feeling to his words that you can’t help but to be sucked in, become a part of the story. I listened to this book in one go, I just couldn’t let it go and for these hours I was in this amazing world Will created and Ferraiuolo brought to life. I felt the despair from Alex realising he was stuck in a male’s body, the desperation to get the implant removed. It was there so clearly in every word. As was Damon’s confusion and his worry. My only niggle, and this is a very small one is that the voice he had for Alex was a bit too feminine. But I had such a great time listening to this book and Ferraiuolo’s talented narration that I could gladly listen to it many more times.
RATING: 
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