3.5 out of 5 stars
Kindle Edition. 100 pages. Published June 22nd 2019 by JMS Books LLC
Blurb:
Thor, the winged lion guardian of the Bluebird Valley Preserve, is dying, and too weak now to sustain his powerful magic which protects the land and inhabitants from harm. There’s only one way to save himself and that’s by sacrificing Zach.
When a gut feeling lures Zach back to the preserve, he answers it. Despite his tragic breakup with Thor a decade earlier, he knows he must step in to help the man save the preserve, even as Thor does his best to deflect him at every turn. But Zach can out stubborn a mule.
As a winged horse, Zach is more than just a pretty face. His special abilities pale, however, compared to what happens when he and Thor come together. What Thor doesn’t count on are new and old enemies forcing his hand — and Zach’s persistence, not just in saving him and the Preserve, but in stealing his heart, as well.
Likes:
- We get Thor’s story.
- More mythical creatures being introduced.
- Explanation for how the preserve keeps humans away.
- Zach’s determination to fight for love and for Thor’s safety.
- The lynx, Lavender.
- Zach’s unique tastes in home décor.
Dislikes:
- Thor’s attitudes.
- The introduction of gods made the story feel a little wonky.
- The extra bit of faux drama at the end, when it was obvious nothing bad was going to happen.
- The side plot and the romantic plot were basically one and the same, and the story lost momentum when the romance angle was finally sorted out.
- Zach’s lack of response when he found out why Thor pushed him away.
I was really glad to see that Thor was one of the main characters of this book. He’d piqued my interest in the last book, since he was the first non-normal animal shifter we got introduced to. It should have been a dead giveaway that there would be more mythical shifters to come when a unicorn and centaur were also seen living at the preserve.
I liked that Zach’s shifted form was a winged horse, and even though it was weird, his parentage was also interesting. However, I wasn’t sure how I felt having random gods show up in the story. Even after finishing the book, I’m still not sure how I feel about it. It’s not the gods themselves that bother me, but rather I feel like the world should somehow be different if there are going to be minor and not-so-minor gods popping up randomly. The fact that most of the residents of the preserve seemed to have no idea that gods existed makes the whole gods angle feel like it was tossed in without much thought to how it impacted everything else.
Zach was definitely my favorite character in the book. He’s funny, especially with how he decorates Thor’s cave. But it’s his determination to save Thor, despite being pushed away without explanation a decade earlier, that really won me over. Thor on the other hand did a lot that annoyed me. The first being that he didn’t talk to Zach about why he refused to continue their relationship. Thor just made unilateral decisions for both of them. And when Zach realized the reason behind Thor’s attitude, there was almost no reaction. I would have at least liked to see a talk between them about how open and honest communication is a must.
There was a little bit of extra, and in my opinion unnecessary, drama near the end of the book. It happened suddenly and felt like someone had decided the book needed one last spurt of excitement. To me, it was obvious that nothing bad was going to happen, and I’m a little annoyed that it took the intervention of outsiders to get Thor to realize he and Zach should be together.
Overall, I had fun reading the book. The last few chapters felt a little slow, since without the push and pull over the romance, there wasn’t much of interest happening. I can’t help but wonder if there will be even more mythical creatures and gods appearing in later books, or if things will return to more ‘normal’ animal shifters. Either way, I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
Be sure to check out Mitch, the first book in the series.
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