Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Guarding Axel
SERIES: Dark Forest Pack, Book 3
AUTHOR: Annabelle Jacobs
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 275 Pages
RELEASE DATE: May 30, 2023
BLURB:
A silver-haired fae with a shattered heart—a green-eyed shifter with enough love to heal him.
Axel
Burnt by a past betrayal, I’ve learnt the hard way to keep my heart locked up tight. As tempting as Talis is, all I can offer is friendship, because trusting someone again is a risk I can’t take. Love means sharing the true nature of my magic, and the last time I did that it almost cost me my life.
Talis
I want what every shifter wants.
A mate, a partner. Someone I can call mine.
Axel Molhieth, beautiful and free-spirited, makes it crystal clear that isn’t him. Will never be him.
I know it’ll end badly for me, but I want him anyway.
One night is all it takes to ruin their friendship, and avoidance is the easy way out. But when Axel’s past catches up with him, putting his life in danger, they’re forced to finally face the consequences of their night together.
Guarding Axel is an MM paranormal romance featuring a protective shifter desperate for love, and a beautiful fae afraid to trust. Full of magic, suspense, and sizzling UST, with a guaranteed HEA.
REVIEW:
Let me start by saying this is NOT a standalone story. You must have read the first two books in the series first if you want any hope of following the backstory. That said, I did, and I reviewed them right here on Love Bytes, so check out those reviews as well.
In book 3 we finally get to the story of Axel (Fae) and Talis (Wolf Shifter). They’ve been there in the story in the first two books, but we’ve never learned until now why Axel is in the human/shifter world and what his backstory is. We only know that Axel and Talis are not friendly, even though you can cut the sexual tension with a knife.
Axel it turns out was mistreated in the Fae world because of a special gift he has. He was sent to the human/shifter world for his protection. And boy does Talis want to be his protector.
The story was a slow burn, with lots of angst from both sides. I just wanted to reach into the story and shake both of them so that they got a move on! I really enjoyed the read, as well as the building story. We learn a lot of the unanswered questions I’ve had from the previous reads and it is fairly clear from the epilogue who the next story will be about. I look forward to Max and Jake’s story, hopefully in the near future!
I highly recommend this book and as I mentioned… hope the next one is out soon! If you are into series with shifters, fae and witches, all working together and intermixing, you will enjoy this series. Take my advice though, start with book one and read them in order.
RATING: 
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