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booksafety's review
5.0
Book safety, tropes and tags down below.
"If he knew the effect he had on me-how everything else all but disappeared when he had me in his sights-how would he react?"
Dude, I love when a book has believable chemistry and sexual tension. That's the good stuff. Jett Shaw and Vaughn Michaels definitely had an instant connection, but it didn't feel like instalove. Sometimes you just meet someone you click with, and that was definitely the deal with these boys. Michaels was a little gun-shy maybe, but not because of a fear of love or connection, but a fear of losing someone else after losing his previous work partner in the SICB. This is detailed at the end of book 1, but you could read this as a standalone without any problems. There's a couple recurring characters, but nothing crazy where you'll feel like you've missed half the plot.
"To protect and serve was like a distant memory. Instead, seek and destroy all the f*cked-up criminals in our world had become my new mantra." I think it's safe to say that Michaels had lost his way for a while there, lol.
I enjoyed the mystery/suspense part in this book a lot, and just the whole general premise of this one hits so many good tropes. An experienced agent is sent to the training academy in order to solve a case where cadets are going missing after dropping out of the program. He's paired up with the top cadet in the entire academy, Jett Shaw, in order to find out what's happening.
"'Kent has your academy pass and has sorted your paperwork. On paper, you're there for a month-long sabbatical as part of the academy's teaching and training program.' No.' I gasped, legit struggling for breath at the horror of it all." Honestly, this interactions had me giggling more than strictly necessary.
Shaw isn't arrogant, but he definitely has that swagger that just draws people in. He's a little cocky, sure, but for good reason and not obnoxiously so. His interactions with Agent Michaels were awesome. He looks stoic on the outside when meeting the older agent, but on the inside he's fangirling, lol. I loved it. These guys just seemed to have fun together, and that's one of my favorite things to read. Where the connection and friendship feels natural. Oh, and the spice in this was definitely a step up from book 1. Thank you, Becca!
"'Take a seat.' Relieved he directed me to sit, I went gladly, preferring the safety of a table separating us rather than standing and not knowing what to do with my hands." Same Shaw, same. I'm glad badass shifter law enforcement-trainees don't know what to do with their hands in formal situations either, lol.
This book contains a (to me) often dreaded trope: the fake relationship. BUT, fear not! This is the kind of fake relationship I can get behind. There was no character pretending like there was nothing more going on, or dragged out pining that only gets resolved in the last 3% of the book, etc. They both acknowledged that there was more going on (atleast to themselves), and the fakeness was for the sake of their mission/op.
There's one thing I felt was missing here that we got loads of in the previous book, and that was interactions between characters while one or both of them were in their shifter form (wolf and panther for Michaels and Shaw respectively). I honestly forgot I was reading a shifter book at times, which I'm a teensy bit sad about. Cuddles or caretaking of the other MC while shifted is one of my favorite things about shifter books, so I wish there was just more. Overall though, I highly enjoyed this. The suspense, action and relationship was on point.
Book safety
Cheating: No
Other man/woman drama: No
Third-act breakup: No
POV: 1st person, dual
Strict top/bottom or vers: Strict roles
TW/CW
Injury, blood, explicit sexual content, explosions
Tropes & tags
Age gap (8 years), wolf shifter, panther shifter, training academy, secret shifter law enforcement, fake relationship, trainee, agent, paranormal, mystery, suspense, super soldiers
"If he knew the effect he had on me-how everything else all but disappeared when he had me in his sights-how would he react?"
Dude, I love when a book has believable chemistry and sexual tension. That's the good stuff. Jett Shaw and Vaughn Michaels definitely had an instant connection, but it didn't feel like instalove. Sometimes you just meet someone you click with, and that was definitely the deal with these boys. Michaels was a little gun-shy maybe, but not because of a fear of love or connection, but a fear of losing someone else after losing his previous work partner in the SICB. This is detailed at the end of book 1, but you could read this as a standalone without any problems. There's a couple recurring characters, but nothing crazy where you'll feel like you've missed half the plot.
"To protect and serve was like a distant memory. Instead, seek and destroy all the f*cked-up criminals in our world had become my new mantra." I think it's safe to say that Michaels had lost his way for a while there, lol.
I enjoyed the mystery/suspense part in this book a lot, and just the whole general premise of this one hits so many good tropes. An experienced agent is sent to the training academy in order to solve a case where cadets are going missing after dropping out of the program. He's paired up with the top cadet in the entire academy, Jett Shaw, in order to find out what's happening.
"'Kent has your academy pass and has sorted your paperwork. On paper, you're there for a month-long sabbatical as part of the academy's teaching and training program.' No.' I gasped, legit struggling for breath at the horror of it all." Honestly, this interactions had me giggling more than strictly necessary.
Shaw isn't arrogant, but he definitely has that swagger that just draws people in. He's a little cocky, sure, but for good reason and not obnoxiously so. His interactions with Agent Michaels were awesome. He looks stoic on the outside when meeting the older agent, but on the inside he's fangirling, lol. I loved it. These guys just seemed to have fun together, and that's one of my favorite things to read. Where the connection and friendship feels natural. Oh, and the spice in this was definitely a step up from book 1. Thank you, Becca!
"'Take a seat.' Relieved he directed me to sit, I went gladly, preferring the safety of a table separating us rather than standing and not knowing what to do with my hands." Same Shaw, same. I'm glad badass shifter law enforcement-trainees don't know what to do with their hands in formal situations either, lol.
This book contains a (to me) often dreaded trope: the fake relationship. BUT, fear not! This is the kind of fake relationship I can get behind. There was no character pretending like there was nothing more going on, or dragged out pining that only gets resolved in the last 3% of the book, etc. They both acknowledged that there was more going on (atleast to themselves), and the fakeness was for the sake of their mission/op.
There's one thing I felt was missing here that we got loads of in the previous book, and that was interactions between characters while one or both of them were in their shifter form (wolf and panther for Michaels and Shaw respectively). I honestly forgot I was reading a shifter book at times, which I'm a teensy bit sad about. Cuddles or caretaking of the other MC while shifted is one of my favorite things about shifter books, so I wish there was just more. Overall though, I highly enjoyed this. The suspense, action and relationship was on point.
Book safety
Spoiler
Cheating: No
Other man/woman drama: No
Third-act breakup: No
POV: 1st person, dual
Strict top/bottom or vers: Strict roles
TW/CW
Spoiler
Injury, blood, explicit sexual content, explosions
Tropes & tags
Spoiler
Age gap (8 years), wolf shifter, panther shifter, training academy, secret shifter law enforcement, fake relationship, trainee, agent, paranormal, mystery, suspense, super soldiers
ccreadsbooks_'s review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
tamke's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bookpimpfairy's review
5.0
First of all, I loved the action and pace of this story. It keeps me enthralled the entire journey.
Michael's is poorly coping from the events of the previous installment, which leads him to take a breather and help out at the academy. He meets Shaw there. The chemistry is palpable from the getgo, even though they need to work through their pasts to be able to give this a real chance.
I made the mistake of not having read Thicker Than Water recently, so I had to go back and read that first to really get an understanding of this world. So highly suggest reading this series in order, or you will be as confused as I was.
Michael's is poorly coping from the events of the previous installment, which leads him to take a breather and help out at the academy. He meets Shaw there. The chemistry is palpable from the getgo, even though they need to work through their pasts to be able to give this a real chance.
I made the mistake of not having read Thicker Than Water recently, so I had to go back and read that first to really get an understanding of this world. So highly suggest reading this series in order, or you will be as confused as I was.
wildfaeriecaps's review
5.0
Entirely unsurprised that I loved this book as much as I did. Shaw was wonderful. Seriously, everything about him was great. It was nice to get to know Michaels more as he was definitely a sort-of background character in the first book (or I was so taken with Callen and Thatch that I didn't pay attention, you decide). I'm hopeful that we get Smythe's story next. I'm super loving the whole gang and would happily read *many* more books about them.
bronwynheeley's review
4.0
This one is so good. A mystery that makes it hard to put the book down, the academy and the romance was just all I wanted and expected from this book, and I wasn’t disappointed.
vicki_williams's review
5.0
I picked up the paperback of this wonderful yet to be released book at the GLO Sydney signing 15/04/2023 and I’m so glad that I did!
There’s been a fair bit of time between this book and the first in this urban fantasy series and it was definitely worth the wait.
Vaughn Michaels is grieving the loss of his work partner and, well, he’s not at his best and is making poor decisions. This leads to him coming into contact with Jet Shaw at the SCIB Academy and so begins an undercover mission that gets very intense. As does the chemistry between them which leads to some heated moments that ends with a well deserved HEA.
There’s plenty of action in this fast paced complex storyline and two very likeable main characters and an great cast of secondary characters to keep things interesting. I was fully engaged in this very enjoyable book from start to finish and I cannot wait to see which character gets their story told next - personally I’ve got my fingers crossed for Smythe!
I would recommend reading the previous book in the series prior to this one.
There’s been a fair bit of time between this book and the first in this urban fantasy series and it was definitely worth the wait.
Vaughn Michaels is grieving the loss of his work partner and, well, he’s not at his best and is making poor decisions. This leads to him coming into contact with Jet Shaw at the SCIB Academy and so begins an undercover mission that gets very intense. As does the chemistry between them which leads to some heated moments that ends with a well deserved HEA.
There’s plenty of action in this fast paced complex storyline and two very likeable main characters and an great cast of secondary characters to keep things interesting. I was fully engaged in this very enjoyable book from start to finish and I cannot wait to see which character gets their story told next - personally I’ve got my fingers crossed for Smythe!
I would recommend reading the previous book in the series prior to this one.
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