Kriss Morton - In the Loft of the Cabin Goddess

First off I want to tell everyone who thinks they are going to point their fingers in my direction and go "HAHAHA YOU love hot shifter reads!!" Ya ya ya ya, I think I can no longer fall back on the "I have Harlequin PTSD" excuse anymore. Writers like Lisa Kessler have driven the flashbacks far back into a cobweb infested corner of my demented mind. I loved this book. I read three books of a paranormal- nature last week, one was my #TEAMVAMPIRE  review book, this one and probably should have read Moonlight last because it ruined me for the other shifter book I read.

How do I love it? Well let me count the ways, or at least give you some examples..
Lana

Though written in a somewhat formulaic paranormal romance style of an alpha female meets alpha male and butts heads until she realizes she needs him to rescue her... Lana still ends up making the story fresh for me. There is no hint of a churned out story, Lisa Kessler has a gift.

Lana is wonderful! She has survived after being a foster kid and never fitting in, and as she has gotten older she starts to have black outs once a month during the new moon. Why do I like this about her? Well I like how she deals with it, proactively! Sure it gets her hunted, when truthfully it is her who could be hunting them *wink* but this, this is one of the reasons I adore Lana. She is one HELL of go getter!
Adam

Adam is actually a blend of  the myriad of alpha male characters you find in paranormal romances. He is a brooding, indecisive individual who always wants to save the day and the woman he is with. Driven by the rules of the pack and his immediate attraction to Lana, which is beyond his control, his personality sometimes seems to go on Swing Ride for a bit. Made me wonder if he would ever get off! There were times I wanted to choke him!

But I was going to tell you what I love about him... I love the way he loves her. So passionately with every ounce of his being. I love how he loves his family, though will walk away from her for the woman he is meant to spend his life with, despite their differences.

What makes this completely different than most cookie cutter paranormal romances is Lisa Kessler switches back and forth from Lana and Adam's point of view. Each chapter is labeled with whose name (turn) it is and we see each of their inner struggles from their voice, not from the outside of what is going on around them. Lana's struggle to let her guard down, let Adam in and allow herself to be loved. Adam's struggle, as I mentioned, to be part of the pack or to embrace his destiny with Lana and her Jaguar shifter and to let Lana be her own woman, along with many others. It was very refreshing and very well done.

I have read a lot of books with shifters, I don't live on a hill looking down at all the urban fantasy books with my high literature and (shoving my zombie books under the couch) umm nose in the air, I swear! *snickering* Seriously! But I am not a paranormal romance reader unless it really has a good hook. Yep, I think I am taking Lisa on my next fishing trip, we will clean up and I will have a freezer full! She had me (excuse the cliche) hook line and ......... totally hot yummy werewolf ...sinker! Though I gotta admit, I liked the villains! Gotta love me the bad boys and girls, no matter how horrible they are to the team! Of course, who led those guys wrong? Just how bad were they? Could it be those who are chasing Lana? Oh heck.. wait... is that a spoiler? CRAP! HAH!

I read this almost straight through. I fell asleep after swearing at Lisa telling her she kept me up till 6 AM and woke up to finish it only go and get all fangirl on her cute ass! She really outdid herself! Thanks for giving me a great read, I have to agree with Froggarita, this may be going on my favorite reads for Urban Parnormal Romance/Shifter/HOT/reads of the year!

But between the hot yummy shifting goodness? I think this is a wonderful message of how differences do not have to be what keeps us apart. Just because one group "kills" your kind, doesn't mean all are the same... right? *wink* again .. good job...

5 - double paw prints, my friend! In honor of Lana! (cuz she's my fav)