An angel fell and a devil was there to catch him.My fathers always told me the rules would keep me alive. For Mihail, I’ll break every last one of them.Never let the blood run cold. Never let the monster out in the light of day.Never let a human witness escape.He saw the secret I keep buried beneath my skin one night so long ago, and I let him get away. I should have killed him, but my soul knows … have killed him, but my soul knows him the way my fangs long to.
He’s got secrets, too. Secrets of the tarnished past. Secrets sharp and rusty enough to ruin us both.
Either he falls or I do.
This is the third book in the Flesh & Bone series. It can be read as a standalone, but it includes characters and references situations from the previous two books. See inside cover for content warnings.
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This is a well written book with strong characters and a dark story line. The author brings enough action and heat and throws in a bit of humor to go along with the romance. The story moves at a steady pace and has well described scenes , had me turning the pages right to the end and I enjoyed reading.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.
Deep secrets exposed and differences bridged as 2 enemies find common ground
May 10, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition
4.5stars
Exciting and well-written, with lots of action, twists in the plot and angst with a Hatfield and McCoy depth of clan hatred that threatens the connection between a young wolf shifter and the hunter who knows his bloody secret nature.
I only discovered this author a few months ago when Puppet Masters was released, and I have not had a chance to read the first two books in this series. Learning more about Andrei’s wolf shifter family and their extended battles with the hunters who seek to eradicate the paranormals would have helped ease me into the many characters featured in Andrei and Mihail’s story, but the author provided just enough hints of prior events to make this book enjoyable and complete as a standalone if you choose.
There’s longing, passion, grief and self loathing, hatred and hope, with steam and self-sacrifice as these two young men meet in a dark, bloody alley and build a friendship and emotional intimacy despite the pressures of who society and family say they should be.
I read a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.
While I liked Andre in the other books, I have to say that I didn’t much care for, or about, him in his own. Maybe if this had been the first book, I would have liked it better, but after the phenomenal job that Joel did with Bleed and Exhale, I was underwhelmed with Shift.
Added to that, I didn’t like Mihail – especially for Andre. And now that the specter of Dominic’s insanity is back, I don’t really see a way for these two to ever actually see eye to eye about being a shifter. There was some hope of it at the very end of the book, but I don’t know that I trust it.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
I would rate this 3.75 stars.
This is the third book in the series about werewolves, vampires, and hunters. These should be read in order for the overarching storyline. These books don’t have white hats, but shades of gray with graphic sex and violence. This is Andrei’s story of how he meets Mihail showing alternating POV. It makes sense, in this world, that they would end up thrown together–both know death and the hunt. This is a coming of age story in many ways and shows their gradual loss of innocence, breaking away from their family influences/duties and finding out who they are and what they can live with.
After all the nontraditional pairing in the first two books, I’m not sure why everyone expects Andrei to just fall in line with tradition, especially with his past. This has that Romeo and Juliet quality, except they actually have known each other for most of their lives. The plot is similar to the second one featuring Mason and Vasil, so the author had to throw us a curveball out of nowhere in regards to Andrei. That’s not quite fair, there was a little foreshadowing, but I feel like the actual plot didn’t need it on top of everything else. It just seems to be there for a certain type of sex to occur. This is trope city with friends to enemies to lovers, dirty little secret, alpha/omega, first time, and dubcon all present.
One of the emotional components I really liked about this story was something I understand: abuse, being feral, and then being vulnerable when you feel loved and unable to access that rage for protection anymore. There are so many psychological issues that ring true to human existence included to help ground the story a bit. That’s especially important when writing about characters who are not “good” or necessarily likeable.
In the beginning the story seems slow and clunky, but gets better as you see the threads of the plot weave in and tighten. The author is consistent and committed to this over the top, angsty style so it makes sense to just revel in it. Then it all ties back to books one and two, making it all inevitable. All the interesting world building from book one isn’t really used or visited again. It’s also a shame that we see all the characters from the first two books, but they have just walk-on parts with no sense of their personality. These books have been about finding home and someone who will love you, scars and scarred psyche and all, yet I didn’t really feel it. The way this book ends for Andrei and Mihail, the way the series ends, has a nice symmetry.
This author has created a complex mystical world with this excellent, emotional MM shifter romance, it has a “enemies to lovers” theme. It is third book in the series “Flesh & Bones” & it will capture the reader’s attention & keep it until the last page is turned. There are some character crossovers from previous books but it is complete & standalone. The characters are quite complex & well-developed with distinctive, individual personalities; at times they entwine fairly well with each other, & react with varying emotions to the unusual situations they find themselves in. The story-line & plot is extremely well-thought out & written, it is filled with unexpected situations & events.
There is: a hunter chasing & killing monsters (Mihail), a man battling to control a wolf inside him (Andrei), wolf shifters, packs, vampires, hunters, twists & turns, intrigue, suspense, sinister secrets, humor, danger, threats, violence, enemies, conflict, death, injuries, blood-lust, anguish, guilt, emotional turmoil, memories, confrontations, betrayal, deceit, choices, hope, love, steamy scenes & a satisfying conclusion. I would recommend this MM shifter romance to people who enjoy reading this genre, I doubt that you would be disappointed.
Have you ever wondered what happened to the puppy/ child Jack and Nicolae adopted in Exhale? I did ,and now I’m happy he gets his own story…his and Mihail’s, really, because their destinies are intertwined.
Both Andrei and Mihail know that they should hate each other,but the need and the connection between them are overpowering and win over reason. I believe that it’s actually their anguish over keeping secrets,their guilt and feeling like they’re betraying their families that help with making their bond so much stronger.
Shift griped me from the first page and I couldn’t put it down. As the story unfolds, it gets more intense, emotional,full of action and surprises. For me the book is worth more than five stars and I really recommend it.
Shift by Joel Abernathy is the third book in the Flesh and Bone series. This book is fantastic…. was so caught up in the story I just couldn’t put it down. Mikhail and Andrei are amazing characters and their interactions… I love them. They were supposed to be enemies but that connection and attraction was too strong…
The story had action, passion, heat, touch of the sweet, humor and… just everything Icrave for in a book. Phenomenal storytelling!
I received an advanced reader’s copy of the book and I am voluntarily leaving my honest review and recommendation.