Rainbow Reviews

BOOK BLURB:
Jaguar shifter, Brent, is on the most important mission of his life, to find his missing brothers. Separated years ago when their family home was attacked by the Ravens, Brent has never forgotten his lost siblings and will do anything to bring them back home. Then he finds out that one man holds the key to their location, a Hawk shifter named Daniel.

Daniel has been on the run from the Ravens ever since they nearly eradicated all of his kind. Hiding by living as a human, the last thing he wants is to be sucked back into the shifter world. Then he wakes up to find a Jaguar shifter in his bedroom, demanding his help. Even though he wants to refuse, Daniel takes one look at the desperation in Brent's eyes and knows he has to help.

Even the smallest child knows that cats and birds don't mix. It still doesn't stop the two men's growing attraction to each other. Even as they fight new and old enemies, their feelings of love grow. Will they be able to overcome a lifetime's worth of hatred and prejudice to be together? Or will they have the pay the ultimate price for love?

BOOK REVIEW:
"A Feral Christmas" by Stephani Hecht is a strong follow-up to "Primal Passions." Although a sequel, this story completely stands on its own.

Daniel is a Hawk shifter who, many years ago, left the Shifter world after making a difficult choice that left most of his kind dead and Daniel an outcast. Even with a great back-story, Daniel starts out a bit bland, but becomes more complex as the plot unfolds. When he becomes dominant, it is not only surprising but also welcomed. With such a moving history, I wish I had felt a deeper sense of impact on Daniel. The past events seemed a bit superficial. Intellectually I knew it was horrible, but I didn't emotionally feel the character's connection to the horror. Otherwise, Daniel is an intriguing, attractive person.

Brent is a Feline Shifter who is aggressive, sexy, and funny. He is a man who never grew up. He enjoys explosions, driving fast, and loud noises like a kid, but fights and loves like a man. His humor keeps the plot at just the right level of intensity. His struggle to please his older brother and an underlying rivalry make him a complex character, one that I can relate to. I think I most enjoyed the scene when Brent is drugged. He grabs Daniel's hand and starts rubbing his face all over it to mark Daniel, loudly purring, and declaring, "Mine!" It was such a sweet, funny gesture from this tough macho man.

The villains are the Raven Shifters. Although they attack our heroes several times, they remain largely unseen. We are told of their ruthlessness and their cruelty, but never see it. When they attack, we are told of the attack, but time is never spent on the actual conflict/gun fight. So they remain more of an idea rather than an actual enemy, which is fine because this book focuses more on the budding relationship between Daniel and Brent than the actual conflict between the Felines and Ravens, or the attempt to find the lost shifters.

I do want to mention that although it’s called "A Feral Christmas," Christmas had nothing to do with anything in the book. This is not a holiday story; it is, however, a very sexy, enjoyable tale about shape shifters.

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