Author: Petra Lynn
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages/Word Count: 98 Pages
At a Glance: Shifting Gears is a shifter story that missed the mark for me.
Reviewed By: Lana
Blurb: One rainy night, bike-shop owner Kenton Palmer finds an injured dog on the road and takes him to the nearest vet clinic, only to discover he’s actually a wolf. Undeterred, he wants to nurse the injured animal following a necessary surgery. The handsome Dr. Will Barclay’s interest and his own brand of animal attraction overwhelm Kenton, who’s been doubting himself after a failed romance.
Gray Fowler is a wolf-shifter and pack alpha. After Kenton rescues him and takes him home to heal, he’s forced to remain in wolf form. But that doesn’t prevent him from falling hard for Kenton. It begins as jealousy, but Gray soon discovers Will, Kenton’s new admirer, is caught up in something sinister. However, he’s forced to wait until he’s healthy before he can shift and enter Kenton’s life as a man. Then Gray must discover how Will’s shady activities are linked to the men who ran him down and expose the scheme before Kenton gets too involved with Will.
Review: Shifting Gears is a formulaic paranormal romance. This story was mildly entertaining. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t have that extra something to make it great.
I’ve read this plot type before, and I do find it interesting because I love shifter stories, but this one wasn’t fleshed out properly. A man rescues a wolf that’s hit by a car, thinking it’s a dog but it’s really a shifter, and the human takes him home to heal. Because he’s hurt, the shifter can’t change and must stay as a wolf. The shifter, Gray, falls in lust with the human, Kenton. Kenton loves having his new pet wolf around, but then develops feeling for Gray in human form. There is also a crooked vet involved with selling animals on the black market, who Kenton falls for too. It was convoluted and confusing
What didn’t work for me was the storytelling. To me it was a bit amateurish. The whole relationship between Kenton and Will, the villain veterinarian, was blah. The vet’s shady dealings were just that—shady—there was no suspense or emotion. Even in the resolution, there wasn’t any tension. Gray was the alpha of his pack and two of his pack mates went missing, but their whereabouts was never resolved, and Gray just didn’t seem to care.
The whole pack interaction didn’t get me interested in the pack. I liked Kenton and Gray together. They were entertaining but still, something was missing for me. I also felt the scenes did not flow together. There needed to be more continuity and explanation of what was happening.
Shifting Gears is a shifter story that missed the mark for me.
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