Familiar Mates #1
Publisher: Indie
Pages: 208
Characters: Jude/Mack
POV: 3rd
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Series
Blurb:
He can hold lightning in his hand, but will love slip through his fingers?
Jude Sullivan has one more chance to prove he isn’t a danger to the paranormal community. If he fails, he’ll be stripped of his magic, a painful process to make a witch human. As a test, the Coven sends him to Mercy South, Colorado, to stop a creature that’s been mutilating cows and scaring the locals. Jude hates cows and small towns. The Coven should’ve sent a nature witch.
Rob Mackenzie is the local mechanic and bear shifter. If the locals knew his secret, they’d run him out of town. He wants someone to really know him and not be afraid. With several chewed-up cows and some other weird happenings, he’s wondering if he’s no longer the strangest creature in Mercy.
After meeting Mack, Jude thinks he’s found the cause of the trouble. But the trouble is only just getting started when Mack realizes he’s Jude’s fated mate. As the cow-mutilating creature starts hunting in town, Mack and Jude will have to quit fighting their attraction and each other, to stop the creature from killing again.
Review
I got caught up in this story very quickly. I loved the world building and the characters, and the mix kept me absorbed from start to finish.
The twist on a witch’s familiar was very clever, and I love stories about fated mates, so I was very happy to read a story that combined the two. Jude and Mack also have an opposites attract vibe going on several levels. I liked the two of them together and the instant lust/fated mates pull that they both try to deny and resist. I liked how they got to know each other and how that friendship progressed to love.
I loved the magic system. Jude’s power is very cool. I liked how the magic users in this world have to follow rules, and that there’s a council with not quite straightforward motives pulling a lot of strings. Mack is fabulous as a bear shifter.
I enjoyed the action scenes, especially the showdown with the creature, and how Jude and Mack have to work together to survive. Their bond has some rather neat aspects to it, some of which I hadn’t read before. The Coven is a real piece of work, and I disliked them from the word go, especially one in particular who has it in for Jude. I hope we get to learn more about the Coven, and what Landstrom’s issue is, in other books in the series.
I’m very happy this is book 1 in a new series, and I’m already looking forward to reading them. 5 out of 5 stars.
