Series: Southern Shifters #1
Author: Eliza Gayle
Published: Sept 10, Gypsy Ink Books
Format: NetGalley
If you think you've lost everything. Think again.
Kitty lost her father, her home and her clan. Clinging to what's left of her pride, she's forced into the neutral zone, the supposed safe haven for half-breeds and outcasts. An attack forces her to the wrong side of the treaty line and into an even more dangerous situation. Determined to greet death with the last of her dignity, she is suddenly rescued by a tall, gorgeous...wolf???
As the next alpha leader of his pack, Rafe Comyn has more than enough to handle with pack politics and precarious treaties. The last thing he needs is a pissed off feline landing in his lap, especially when her scent triggers his overwhelming drive to mate. While the daughter of a former rival is quite a conquest, she's both forbidden and dangerous.
But as the heat of desire threatens to consume them, their differences escalate and Rafe must keep his own pack from killing the one woman he can't live without.
Here Kitty Kitty.... Sorry, couldn't resist.
Bad Kitty by Eliza Gayle, it's not a bad read. Kitty is a cougar shifter, which is very awesome in and of itself. The story starts with her arriving in the neutral zone. You get bits and pieces of why, but not really as much information as I would like. It kind of felt like Bad Kitty should either have a prequel novella, or possibly even be book two in the series. It seems Kitty also almost had a relationship with a cougar named Kane that I felt could have been explored more. At this point, it felt like it was added just for the heck of it.
She'd learned a hard lesson that begging a man for his love and affection was what weak women did and she refused to be that woman anymore. When it came to her currently non-existent or future love life, she had no more tricks up her sleeves or any devious plans to get what she wanted.
So like I said, Kitty is banned to the neutral zone (for reasons I will not spoil), between cougar territory and wolf territory. When she gets to her new home, she quickly realizes she is not alone. A quick and action packed series of events forces her to run, and unknowingly run into wolf territory. That bit of action I did find to be very exciting and drama packed. But again, I would have liked to meet these other people before this scene happened, just so it didn't feel so out of the blue.
While in the new territory Kitty meets Rafe. This was played out in an intriguing way, but it also really drew your attention to Rafe. I felt like right off the bat he could be trusted, and I knew Kitty would be safe with him. Initially while Kitty is with Rafe very little happens. You discover exactly what Rafe thinks of Kitty, and then that evolves. The evolution of their relationship is quite quick and very interesting. But hey, they are shifters, and things tend to happen quickly for them.
I found the main characters to both be very pleasing, but my favorite was Kitty. This alone was awesome for me, because I usually love the man more. But in this book I found Kitty to be this bad-ass cougar who is just coming into her own. She's a wildcat in more ways than one, and I loved watching her self-awakening.
For a few long seconds he stared at her as if he saw straight through her. The vulnerability that look created threatened to overwhelm her. She wanted to blink or look away, but found it impossible to break eye contact. For a moment she forgot about the pain, the differences of their species and the fact she needed to get away. She focused only on the foreign sensation of being mesmerized. Her head and body betrayed her with a sharp longing for more of the man sitting in front of her who'd awakened something inside her with a simple touch to her cheek.
There is certainly a lot of drama, especially since wolves and cougars aren't normally friendly. There were a few action scenes, which I love. It really lent itself to the "wild animal" feel. However, there were several aspects which I just felt were out of place (like the previous almost-relationship of Kitty's, for instance). There were also some issues I would have liked to see a better explanation of- like some of the pack dynamics within Rafe's pack.
All in all, I enjoyed Bad Kitty. To be honest, I was expecting something a little different, and some parts of the book were a bit predictable, but it was still an enjoyable story. If you enjoy books like the Preternaturals series by Zoe Winters, or really any shifter romance, I think you will enjoy this book. As for me, I'll check out the rest of the series when it's released, but it probably won't be at the top of my list.
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