Brought to you by OBS reviewer Sammy

Synopsis:

Balancing a criminal empire and a preternatural clan war, reluctant front man Giles St. Clair doesn’t need a problem like Brigit MacCreedy . . . How much trouble can the head-strong and manipulative Shifter beauty get into in two weeks? Plenty when her schemes range from kidnapping to fleeing the retribution of her dead lover’s relatives.

With her family’s lives on the line, Brigit is willing to do whatever it takes to save them. The only thing standing in her way is an immovable stone wall of a man she can’t bully or beguile . . . a human, no less, who has promised to protect her from the secrets and dangers she conceals.

Risking her own safety gets complicated when an honorable and annoyingly desirable man puts himself between her and her powerful enemies in a battle he can’t win in this Taming of the Shrew meets Shifter Goodfellas on the bayou tale of consequences, redemption and finding love in all the wrong places.

Review:

This is the first book I have read by Nancy Gideon and it is the 7th in this series. I love shifter stories and enjoyed this one as well. Nancy has some rather harsh characters and super soft ones, there didn’t seem to be an in between. I love Bree and her self confidence in herself and what her worth was, she made no apologies for using her sexuality. Very refreshing! I would suggest to read the other books in the series to have a better understanding of the politics and some of the individuals that became a part of the family.

While I really enjoyed this book, I had some problems with it. Basically the hero is a killer, a nice one but never the less a stone cold killer. Oh, I should say human killer. This story glorified a hit man. That is my issue with the story. Yes, I know it’s hip to watch things like Mob Wives now and I think it used to be The Sopranos, since when is being the muscle and killing who you are told are romantic. I felt like all the self discriminations by Giles to himself were well deserved, he had a future and chose to become a killer and then his step-father was involved with killing his father and his mother married him and also, knew what had happened all the while having a holier than thou attitude toward her son…..and then all is forgiven.  Not in this lifetime! These are the humans in the story, nut jobs and people I don’t connect with.

My favorite character was Bree loved how sassy she was. I didn’t understand WHY everyone continually said she was so awful so much of what she did was for others in her family. Like I said earlier, I think some of the story would be more understandable if I had read the other stories, I didn’t understand the shifter community and who was who and how all that flowed into the story. So you can read this story by itself, but know that you won’t get as much out of it. . Yes, I know it’s a fantasy story, however, the author spends a lot of time letting us see why the main characters got to be how they were, in a HUMAN world and with that I felt it should have had more reality in that part of the story. I don’t care how hot a guy is if he killed willingly and wantonly because his (mob) boss told him to I wouldn’t want him for a man in my life. I recommend this for adults mostly because of the bad behavior and no consequences for the humans in the story who killed willingly for someone else.