My rating: 3 of 5 flames
I don't mind fated mates, or in this case, "true mates," and I've enjoyed this series, BUT there was just so much MORE that could have been done with this plot.
Sabrine is a Raven shifter. Her bird shifter kin have been hiding in the forests, keeping themselves secret from all of the wolf shifters, who make up the majority of the Chrechte (shifters). They believe that ALL of the wolf shifters hate them and will kill them on sight, so they have kept their location/existence secret.
Well, they are dying out and not receiving their gifts as they come of age. Anyone familiar to this series might recall that sex helps wolves control their change better, but they stay celibate til they meet their mates for the reason of avoiding a bad mating. It's really confusing as not all wolves stay celibate and not all are mated to the person they end up with...it gets tricky and confusing. But for the birds, they need a special stone to help receive their gifts. This stone was thought to have been stolen by a clan nearby, so Sabrine fakes amnesia and lets the Donegal laird "just happen" upon her during one of their hunts. She accidentally is shot by a boy who sees a raven in flight and says his grand da says all ravens are evil, and kill on sight.
The injury lends credence to her claims of injury/amnesia, and that boy's grand-da has some interesting views on the raven shifters.
So obviously, being a fated mate story, the laird smells his mate, finds her and takes her back to his people. His clan and most of the people never even knew Raven shifters existed...they thought they were myths. so no one suspected she's a raven.
I was okay with the book til about that point. Sabrine's amnesia was so obviously fake, it drove me nuts. Luckily the laird wasn't an idiot so she didn't get away with it for too long, but she continued claiming it up til the last 30 pages or so. Dumb.
The laird was not the one she'd been told about by her people, instead he was from the neighboring Sinclair clan. Barr had taken over because the other laird was a douchecanoe. Rowland had been forced to step down, allowing Barr to lead his clan until the young boy who was true laird was old enough to lead. And no one thought it was suspicious that such a power hungry asshat just stepped down with no problems? So Barr is acting laird for the next decade or so til the actual laird (who's like 16) can grow up.
Meanwhile, we have Sabrine looking for the stone, Barr growling "you're my mate," Sabrine screwing him that night, but then up til the last few pages disagreeing she's his mate-they can mindspeak, and all the other little true mate tricks, and yet she denies it to the end. And all the internal clan drama that made for a more interesting storyline than the love story.
Very frustrating story.
The whole thing had so much going on that could have been used instead of focusing so much on Sabrine and Barr.
So of course Barr finds out Sabrine's a raven (luckily early on),and he's okay with that. But then he also finds out she's been plotting to leave him once she gets that stone, he's NOT okay with that. But the biggie? Even Sabrine will say finding your true mate is a sacred thing and so rare no mate should ever leave the other. But this is exactly what she plans because she doesn't trust Barr (who has proved his worth above and beyond in my opinion). So this book was all over the place. I enjoyed parts of it, but really it was just a light read. And I wouldn't recommend reading it as a standalone. You'll be confused.
Likes: -Barr's twin brother and his same sex mate were back
-the dragon image
-the clan dynamics and drama
-how the new laird and his second dealt with the elders of the clan
One thing I really liked was the ending. It was a way too neat and convenient ending, but I really liked the concept of Sabrine's brother and what could happen in the future with him.
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