Title: Fated Hearts
Series: Shadow Bound: Book One
Author: Garrett Leigh
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 256 Pages
Category: Paranormal/Fantasy, Shifters
At a Glance: Leigh does a nice job with the world building in this story, and I love all the relationships in the book as well. One of Leigh’s biggest strengths is absolutely her ability to get you to care about every single character.
Reviewed By: Jules
Blurb: “He’s not a wolf.”
Devastated by the death of his best friend, Zio is a soldier with one thing on his mind: revenge. Consumed by a conflict that’s raged as long as he’s been alive, he’s had little time or inclination to learn the legends of the shifter world he was raised in.And he certainly doesn’t have time to deal with a shifter of a different kind, even if it’s for the good of the war effort. For the good of his pack. The fact that he’s already crossed paths with the new face in his unit is almost irrelevant.
Almost.
Do no harm. Give life not death: it’s the oath Devan was reborn to live by, so when he’s sent abroad to embed with a wolf pack as their resident healer, he doesn’t hesitate. In the supernatural world, some bonds are instant—soldiers become brothers, pack become family. But others run deeper and before long, Devan’s at the mercy of instincts he can’t control.
Zio’s inner wolf is desperate to be with Devan, while Devan struggles to keep the pack safe. But as the war escalates, and new love is tainted by anguish and pain, the battles within might prove the toughest of them all.
“I won’t let him die.”
Review: Who’s here for a cool new paranormal romance from Garrett Leigh?? *raises hand* Ha. Ok, I know it shocks exactly no one that I was excited for a new release from one of my fave authors…but, up until now, Leigh’s full length novels have all been contemporary romances, so I was stoked when I found out she was writing a shifter story. She actually introduced this new shifter universe a few years ago, with a short story called Shadow Bound (which you can currently receive as a promo freebie for signing up for her newsletter), and with her new book, Fated Hearts, she has expanded on that intro and given us the first novel in the Shadow Bound series.
Devan is a healer in the powerful Shadow Clan. He’s a relatively young shifter, at least compared to his sire, Dash, one of Shadow Clan’s two famous alphas, but his gift is extremely strong, and he finds himself being called upon by Dash and Luca—Dash’s mate, and the clan’s other alpha—to go aid England’s Northern Wolf Pack, who have just lost their healer in battle. Devan is certain that the northern wolves will not be happy about him joining their pack, even temporarily, but his oath as a healer and his loyalty to his alphas drive him to accept his mission and leave his home in Slovakia.
Zio is grief-stricken and hell-bent on revenge after the death of Emma, his best friend and pack healer to the northern wolves. When Varian, the northern pack alpha, tells his wolves that even though they are at war with the southern packs, their main quest is still peace, Zio scoffs and inwardly sets himself in a different path. This passage perfectly describes his mindset when Devan arrives at the northern pack’s compound:
All that was left was revenge, and Zio meant to take it.
He would take it, whether the war continued or not. Tired of life and hungry for death, he was the perfect killing machine, the perfect soldier for Varian’s combat squad.
And, until Emma’s killers were burnt to dust, that was all he’d ever be.
Just after Emma’s death, though, Zio’s alpha gave him a bit of leave, and he used that time to try to find some escape by getting wasted in a nightclub. While at the club, he experienced the strongest pull he’d ever felt in his life. A scent that was like a gut punch and lit his blood on fire. He found this stranger in a darkened hallway, and they had a singular, blazing encounter that ended abruptly when both men realized that the other was not his kind. I’ll give you three guesses as to who the other guy was, and the first two don’t count. :-P
So, yeah, while Devan has never been to England, and Zio’s experience with Shadow Clan is pretty much only what he has heard from his alpha or others in his pack, the two are far from strangers when Devan is formally introduced at the compound. They keep their initial meeting a secret from the others, but they cannot deny that something intense, and seemingly out of their control, is happening between them. They also realize, however, that it isn’t something they will be allowed to act on. Devan is not a wolf, and Zio isn’t ready to accept the connection.
There is so much going on, with the war, and between the packs and Shadow Clan, that neither Devan or Zio know about, or that one knows about but the other doesn’t, that they don’t have a ton of time to focus on their personal bond—but, the pack bonds between Devan and the rest of the pack, and even Devan and Zio, grow stronger every day. Theirs is a strong brotherhood, and that means everything to the wolves, and to Devan too, especially during wartime.
I love all the relationships in the book. One of Leigh’s biggest strengths is absolutely her ability to get you to care about every single character. There is obviously one central, romantic relationship, but every friendship, every bromance, every side romance means something and is memorable. I love that about her work. I loved both Devan and Zio (and, of course, loved them together), but the supporting cast was also fantastic.
Leigh does a nice job with the world building in this story as well. I’m hoping that in future books we get a little more history on both packs, and how the animosity between them came to be—and, of course I’m eager to learn more about Shadow Clan—but overall, I enjoyed it immensely, and can’t wait to see what other books are planned in the series. I definitely recommend this one, guys. An intriguing new shifter verse filled with the author’s signature grit and heart. Such a fun read.
You can buy Fated Hearts here:
[zilla_button url=”http://authl.it/B07XSKC3ZP?d” style=”black” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon/Kindle Unlimited [/zilla_button]