Blog Tour, Giveaway and Review: Shifter- City of Wolves by Avery Burch

Book Blurb:

He'll risk anything to be inside me. I'm his fated mate.

Lyla:

What the hell am I thinking? I can't fall for a wolf. He's a criminal and an outcast. I'm an elite. If we get caught, they'll destroy us. I'll be disgraced. He'll be tortured and killed. But his wolf instinct has locked on me. He says I'm his fated mate. And every time we're alone together, he melts my heart ... and makes me so wet I'll risk anything to feel him throb inside me.

Zac:

Everything they told me about fated mates is true. And that means I'm in a lot of trouble. I'm risking everything. As a shifter, I'm used to living on the edge. The regime wants me dead. But now it's so much more complicated. I'm obsessed with this girl. I can't get her out of my mind. I need to devour her, body and soul. I know I should resist, for her sake as much as my own, but I physically can't. My wolf lust has locked onto her. There's no way we get out of this alive, but one night inside her will be worth any punishment.

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My Review:

3 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: Dystopian, Romance, Supernatural, Werewolves--

Zac and his friend have just arrived at New York to start new lives with only the clothes on their backs and the instruments they play. Zac wants to only look to the future, not worry about the fears and past his adoptive father handed down to him. When Zac catches a glimpse of a pretty girl, he is instantly captivated and does not understand why. Lyla is an Elite and has been sheltered and pampered her entire life, much to her unhappiness. She is engaged to her Uncle as a play for power by her uncle due to the standing her father had in society. Lyla logs for a taste of freedom that her cold, planned life does not offer. When she keeps running into Zac, she is drawn to the freedom he offers. Both have secrets in their pasts that will come forward with the potential to destroy them.

I love a good werewolf shifter story, especially ones that deal with the mate bond which this one appeared to do. I had never read a book by this author before so when I read the synopsis and I fell in love with the cover I knew I had to. To be perfectly honest, I only found this book only to be ok. I was not blown away by what I read, but that being said I feel like the story has a lot of potential and I would be interested to see what the author creates next. If you like a paranormal angsty romance this might be the book for you.

I don't want to dwell on the negatives, but there were some issues I had with the book that I need to address. I was a little confused by the use of the phrase "passion" in the story. It is used as a name to describe the shifters as if it is an integral part of shifting, looked down upon as a bad thing, yet then it is thrown around as something the elite are looking for. I feel like the author should have used a different word instead of the same word with different meanings because it was hard to keep straight and it is used all the time. Also, the main characters are not really described. Zac is "skinny, scruffy and good looking" and Lyla is "beautiful, like an angel". So... I am going to say that they both are attractive, but that is about all I got out of it. I personally like to have a visual created with descriptors so I can picture the characters in my head, and this had none (at least for the main characters, some of the side characters like Uncle Oswald had tons of details). There was some repetition in phrases with the same sentences or almost the same used over and over again which became tedious for me as a reader. I understood it the first time, thanks. I didn't like how Zac and Lyla were referenced as a "girl" and a "boy", it made them feel like children which was a little creepy especially due to their carnal activities. And yeah, the whole marriage to the uncle thing. Nobody else seems to be married to an immediate family member yet it is ok? I would think that would be more of an issue than any other discretion but whatever. And hello, does nobody in this society understand the potential issues with inbreeding in offspring? You want to have perfect kids to carry on your greatness you don’t marry family. At least put some "once-removed" or "second cousins" in there instead of a direct uncle. Eww.

I thought the world was incredibly intriguing. It was like reading a book set in the future but with so many Victorian beliefs and practices thrown in. I would love to learn the hows and whys behind the society, like what caused the switch between Elites and Norms, what causes Shifters, how far in the future is this or is it an alternate reality? The potential for this world is great and I would love to see how the author alters or evolves it in the future if there will be more books.

I think that the plot and the setting/world are interesting and the author has the opportunity to make something unique and different from everything else I have read. I did not connect to the characters as I hoped I would for the first half of the story, but as the book progressed there was more character development and they became more interesting as people. I thought this book was only ok, but I am interested in reading more from the author to see what she can create next.

I received this title from the author in exchange for my honest review.

Author Bio:

Avery Burch is a hot new paranormal romance author and her series, Shifter: City of Wolves is going to have a huge impact. She writes chilling tales of shifters and heart-wrenching stories of love and lust. If you like your romance spicy, your shifters sexy, your love stories intense, and your heroines passionate, then her books are for you.

She lives in Toronto, Canada.

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