Title: Escape
Series: Rebellion: Book One
Author: Annabelle Jacobs
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 319 Pages
Category: Paranormal/Fantasy
At a Glance: Escape is a promising start to what looks to be an exciting new series. By the end of the book the author absolutely had me primed for the next installment.
Reviewed By: Jules
Blurb: This isn’t the life Cole dreamt of, but what choice does he have?
With his twenty-third birthday behind him, Cole Moreton now faces the shifter compatibility test which will decide his future. Testing positive means joining a pack and eventually taking the bite. Unfortunately, with enviable skills in self-defence and hand-to-hand combat, the kind of packs interested in him aren’t any he’d want to join.
Logan has been a member of the McKillan pack for most of his life. Pack is family and loyalty is everything, but when the shifter government turns out to be no better than the oppressive humans before them, he questions everything.
Right from their first meeting, Logan knows that a life with the McKillan pack isn’t right for Cole, but with his alpha taking a keen interest in Cole’s skills, Logan’s hands are tied. Mutual attraction builds between them, but acting on it is futile—helping Cole will put their lives at risk and an end to any future they could’ve had.
Review: I went back and forth with whether to request this one for review or not; I hadn’t previously read anything by this author, and, to be honest, shifter books aren’t always my thing. But I am more than happy to report that Annabelle Jacobs did not disappoint! Escape was a promising start to what looks to be an exciting new series.
The setting is present day London, and from the prologue we learn that shifters—more specifically the Shifter Alliance Party—have taken control of the government. The shifters had grown tired of living under the iron thumb of the humans and being oppressed for so long, so they banded together, along with some human support, to purportedly create a fair and balanced system. However, it turns out that the shifter rule is just as oppressive as human rule was. The government has a system in place that requires all humans to undergo compatibility testing, wherein they decide if individuals are “compatible”, i.e., whether they would make good pack members. Upon turning twenty-five, an appointment is made for each human to take the test. Failure to show for your scheduled test is a criminal offence and will earn you a trip to the police station. Needless to say, most humans dread the appointment, and many pray they test negative.
Cole Moreton is one such human. He doesn’t want a life where he’s forced to join a pack, especially the McKillan pack, who only want him because of his black belts and superior weapons skills. Unfortunately, though, Cole does test positive and the very pack he wants nothing to do with immediately comes courting.
I of course want to avoid any spoilers, so I’m not going to expand much more on the plot; but, let’s just say that there’s a reason why the book is called Escape and the series is called Rebellion. 😉 Jacobs has done some excellent world building here, setting things up very nicely for the next book. The first half of this story is laying the framework for the state of sort of quiet unrest that’s been building, so it’s a bit of a slower go early on with all the groundwork that needs to be done. But the second half of the book is action-packed! The shit starts hitting the fan at about fifty-five percent and goes pretty full-on until the end.
By the end of the book the author absolutely had me primed for the next installment. The storyline is intriguing, I care what happens to the characters (though, I’m definitely hoping for a bit more relationship development between Cole and Logan in the next book), and I can’t wait to see where things are headed. I wouldn’t say the ending of this one was a cliffhanger necessarily, but it was by no means wrapped up and settled. I think the next book is gonna be a total nail-biter. A nail-biter with potentially a bit more romance, perhaps. We’ll see! I hope the wait isn’t too long!
You can buy Escape here:
[zilla_button url=”http://authl.it/B07WGYRNDH?d” style=”black” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon/Kindle Unlimited [/zilla_button]
Thanks for your review, as I’m a fan of Ms. Jacobs. But also for the warning. I’m not a fan of cliffhangers…even the sort of/kind of/perhaps/but not really ones. teasing smile I’ve already bought the book, so it’s just going to have to sit there until enough more in the series are published to finish out this one. At which point I’ll buy them all (or along the way) and read them all. Again, thanks. Eric