Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Blade’s Distraction
SERIES: Paranormal Wars: Juarez #1
AUTHOR: Shea Balik
PUBLISHER: self-published
LENGTH: 113 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 3, 2020
BLURB:
Forest Bradford is a coyote shifter who has always fought against his parents’ need to control him. So when he met his mate, Blade Castillo, a black panther and an elite soldier in the Alliance Army, he refused to let the man order him around. He’s disconcerted when he has to face his own needs when it comes to his mate, but he fights the urge to submit even though it’s what he and his coyote want.
Blade’s need to keep Forest safe was confusing him. As the second to his team leader, Blade has usually looked out for the others, but with Forest it was much more than that, it was nearly an obsession. When Forest was almost killed by the traitor they were hunting, Blade was forced to face that Forest had become a distraction that Blade couldn’t ignore.
Note: This book is written in one point of view.
REVIEW:
This was a hard one for me. I loved it, don’t get me wrong, but it was a very hard one. Between Forest, Blade and Talon, I honestly understood where all of them were coming from, to a point. Blade and Forest, especially. And it broke my heart for them to undergo what they did. How they came out to be even remotely compassionate is beyond me, but that’s the proof that people really do want to be good and have good in their lives and not be like the horror they survived.
When Alek came to Juarez to find out what was up as far as finding the killer alpha and Talon’s brother, Raptor, no expected the fiery young man that came with them. All Blade knew was that the more the shifter called Wolfe, touched Forest, he wanted to beat the man within an inch of his life. Of course, with as big as Wolfe is, he might die trying, but it was the point. But he couldn’t figure out why he was reacting to Forest. But everyone else did. And when he finally figured it out, things weren’t going well, and they just got worse, because Blade ran for all he was worth. And for Forest, my heart broke. It was bad enough Blade never told him how good he was doing at training, he just made him feel worse about it. Now to find out his mate doesn’t want him, left him wanting to do the same. Run and never look back. And he planned to once he found Raptor and made sure the alpha was dead. But thankfully, Blade pulled his head out of his rear and wised up. But the places where Forest is going to find Raptor have now left Forest in desperate danger. And it’s going to be a tossup if they can get to him first, before Raptor hurts him again, and before Blade gets to tell him how he feels.
The stories from these guys….shew. It’s heartbreaking. And Talon having to do what he did. That was horror in itself. No matter if it needed to be done or not, it still leaves its mark. But Blade and Forest had some bad bad pasts that put them in the no trust zone. Much less anything else. And because of it, they got off to a bad bad start. Thankfully, yes, it’s an HEA, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to have to go through some stuff to get there. And they do. But what it does for both of them, is make them appreciate what they really have with each other. It might have taken them a while to get there, but they knew in their bones, this was it for them, and each battle they had to fight, made them appreciate and love each other all the more. Love is definitely never easy, but if it’s true, it’s worth it. And they learned real quick, it is.
Bring the tissues, but it’s worth it. I love this series. And am ready to see what’s coming next.
RATING: 
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