News & reviews for the fiction lover in us all!
Fight, Flight, or Shift (Billie Blackwater, #1)
Billie Blackwater has a normal life in Juniper, Colorado, except for the fact that she can shift into a bobcat and prowl the ridges and basins of her mountain home. Her boyfriend, Caleb, is the son of Mitch, the town’s displaced mob boss. Caleb doesn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps. He wants to move far away, but he can’t leave Billie behind. Mitch runs an illegal casino and rules the town through nefarious means. Mitch knows about Billie’s shape-shifting ability and has made it clear that she either does his bidding as a spy or he will tell the world about her unusual gift. The less than perfect dynamic works until a strange drug appears in town and people turn up dead from apparent animal mauling. Can Billie solve the mysterious murders before she’s implicated in the deaths?
Kira Brinamon’s “Fight, Flight, or Shift” is the explosive start to Billie Blackwater’s exciting journey. Isolation and misinformation have trapped Billie into a small life that readers will fall comfortably into as Billie’s horizons slowly broaden. Though the setting is a rural, small town, this tale has a clean, fast-paced urban fantasy feel. Readers of Patricia Brigg’s Mercy Thompson series will love this shape-shifting, crime-solving heroine. The suspension of disbelief is stretched a bit thin in spots, and some of the characters’ decisions are questionable, but overall, this story holds together well. “Fight, Flight, or Shift” is a fast, fun read for urban fantasy lovers with a great new female protagonist.
Starling Gray