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majabwds's review against another edition
4.0
One of the best shifter romances I've read. The smut was great. The relationships were fun. The characters were fun. Everything was fun!
shannonreadingbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
caughtbetweenpages's review
funny
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The Shift series takes place on an Earth town known as Pine Falls, which feels very Pacific Northwest town, except instead of the Twilight vampires, we have a town full of best shifters. These shifters live right alongside the human population and in theory it's meant to be a secret (but they do a pretty bad job of keeping it so, at least within the context of these novellas).
Again, sometimes what you need from your entertainment is a little bit of predictability, a little bit of knowing how the story is going to go, and Ruby Dixon just always delivers for me, what can I say? The Shift novellas were quite distinct from her sort of Risdaverse, books in that the shifters are simply different; the bear shifters are far more human-adjacent, not just probably from living in such close proximity to humans, but because they have a literal human form (albeit one that's quite large and sort of ursine.) But I think having more of a tether to humanity allows for Ruby Dixon's bear shifters to... well, be a little bit more human. to be a little bit more varied and complex and to have those humanlike quirks that we have, for better and for worse.
Where it's familiar (and where Ruby's books shine for me) is in the male leads' devotion towards their partners. It does, in the case of the shifters, veer a little bit towards territorial the way that it does in Ruby's dragon books more so than in her masaka books. But because it's less "fated mate"-y, and because the shifters are more human, the level of obsession is just a little bit toned down, like they're a little bit more normal about it? Not that they're normal about it at all but, like, I'm not normal either so like? who am I to judge?
These novellas were spicy, but they were also very very sweet, and they put me in mind of a certain Baldur's Gate 3 druid who I just love so so so dearly.
I think part of the reason that I enjoyed the Shift novellas so much was because we were on Earth rather than in the wide galaxy where humans are at such a distinct disadvantage species-wise. These human women were allowed to have more agency and sort of exist on their own turf and, thus, not be in sort of constant survival mode and fear mode. At no point do any of Ruby's relationships ever feel non-consensual or like dubiously consensual, but I feel like she doesn't shy away in her sort of Risdaverse series from telling you "no, the world is bad, actually. Like, it's really rough to be a human out here." And while those women do love their partners, the partners also in a very real and tangible sense offer them a tremendous amount of safety that they wouldn't have otherwise. In the Shift novellas, that safety was sort of understood as much as safety is for any human woman, and I think removing that sort of looming sense of danger allowed for the romances to take more Center Stage if that makes sense. I had an absolute blast with these.
Again, sometimes what you need from your entertainment is a little bit of predictability, a little bit of knowing how the story is going to go, and Ruby Dixon just always delivers for me, what can I say? The Shift novellas were quite distinct from her sort of Risdaverse, books in that the shifters are simply different; the bear shifters are far more human-adjacent, not just probably from living in such close proximity to humans, but because they have a literal human form (albeit one that's quite large and sort of ursine.) But I think having more of a tether to humanity allows for Ruby Dixon's bear shifters to... well, be a little bit more human. to be a little bit more varied and complex and to have those humanlike quirks that we have, for better and for worse.
Where it's familiar (and where Ruby's books shine for me) is in the male leads' devotion towards their partners. It does, in the case of the shifters, veer a little bit towards territorial the way that it does in Ruby's dragon books more so than in her masaka books. But because it's less "fated mate"-y, and because the shifters are more human, the level of obsession is just a little bit toned down, like they're a little bit more normal about it? Not that they're normal about it at all but, like, I'm not normal either so like? who am I to judge?
These novellas were spicy, but they were also very very sweet, and they put me in mind of a certain Baldur's Gate 3 druid who I just love so so so dearly.
I think part of the reason that I enjoyed the Shift novellas so much was because we were on Earth rather than in the wide galaxy where humans are at such a distinct disadvantage species-wise. These human women were allowed to have more agency and sort of exist on their own turf and, thus, not be in sort of constant survival mode and fear mode. At no point do any of Ruby's relationships ever feel non-consensual or like dubiously consensual, but I feel like she doesn't shy away in her sort of Risdaverse series from telling you "no, the world is bad, actually. Like, it's really rough to be a human out here." And while those women do love their partners, the partners also in a very real and tangible sense offer them a tremendous amount of safety that they wouldn't have otherwise. In the Shift novellas, that safety was sort of understood as much as safety is for any human woman, and I think removing that sort of looming sense of danger allowed for the romances to take more Center Stage if that makes sense. I had an absolute blast with these.
kelseylopez's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
birdloveranne's review against another edition
5.0
Enjoyable collection of short stories, with great narration.
robinwritesallthethings's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
What It’s About: This volume collects all of Ruby Dixon’s bear shifter novellas into one book. They showcase a small town where bear shifters find their mates, who are often human, and bring them into the fold of the paranormal, despite some upfront difficulties.
Spice Level: The sex in all of these stories is intensely satisfying once the pairings get around to it. It doesn’t usually take long, since they’re all novellas. And shifters never run out of stamina, so take that into consideration.
Realism: I thought this was a cute way to deal with some of the issues shifters might face if their mates were human, and I liked the idea of a town that was mostly shifters, which provides them some security.
Trope Alert: Age gap, Daddy kink (if you squint, but just in case you don’t like it, I want to mention it), enemies to lovers, fated mates, friends with benefits. I might have missed a few since there were five novellas in this collection, but these are the ones I remember most vividly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Body shaming
gadering's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
xobooktrovert's review against another edition
3.0
I once said that I would read ANYTHING by Ruby Dixon. And this proves it!
I was not a fan of these short stories. You can definitely tell that this was Ruby's earlier works. It was fun, however, to see her writing evolve over time.
What bothered me to most about this was the underdeveloped were-bear history and how they live. They are destined to mate, one of Ruby's signatures moves, but it was never explained how that works. It seems like once they meet their mates, they become obsessed with them. But over half of these couples have known each other for years without becoming intimate. One reason being because the heroine is usually human. Apparently mating a human is forbidden. BUT IT IS NEVER FULLY EXPLAINED. I, personally, needed more insight on the were-bears to be satisfied and it just didn't happen.
Overall, I give this 3 stars. It wasn't the most terrible way to spend my time. Plus, I really enjoyed seeing just how far Ruby has come.
This review was originally posted on Sincerely, Whitney
I was not a fan of these short stories. You can definitely tell that this was Ruby's earlier works. It was fun, however, to see her writing evolve over time.
What bothered me to most about this was the underdeveloped were-bear history and how they live. They are destined to mate, one of Ruby's signatures moves, but it was never explained how that works. It seems like once they meet their mates, they become obsessed with them. But over half of these couples have known each other for years without becoming intimate. One reason being because the heroine is usually human. Apparently mating a human is forbidden. BUT IT IS NEVER FULLY EXPLAINED. I, personally, needed more insight on the were-bears to be satisfied and it just didn't happen.
Overall, I give this 3 stars. It wasn't the most terrible way to spend my time. Plus, I really enjoyed seeing just how far Ruby has come.
This review was originally posted on Sincerely, Whitney