kair_ree 's review for:

Pathfinder's Way by T.A. White

4.0

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I really enjoyed this. The characters are well defined and fun and the world is interesting. I was totally engrossed in the story from the very first page. Shea, our heroine, is amazing- smart, hard working, undervalued, underestimated and strong as hell. She's carving a place in the world on her own terms all while dealing with a mysterious incident that has her banished to a backwater town where she's surrounded by people who hate her. Does this cow her? Not at all- she keeps her head down, sticks to her moral code, and continues to do the work. She's fantastic and I can't say how much I appreciated her tenacity, her kindness, and her intelligence. Shae is the shit.

This was building to a 5 star for me and would have been if the romance hadn't felt so rushed. It's rare that I would want a slower burn, but I think this pairing could have used some more time. I found it jarring that Shea decided to

Spoiler

suddenly kiss and have sex with Fallon after being completely against it for such a long time. Fallon is our hero, but he's also a bit of a dick. He comes from a world where men kidnap their brides, and that's apparently the best start to a love story in his mind because he tries to abduct her/apprehend her multiple times. Because Shae is amazing, she escapes him multiple times and goes about her business saving everyone and being a badass. Eventually she's betrayed and Fallon has her in his clutches. At this point, I hoped that he would see the error of his ways and decide to earn her respect, but that's not what happens. Instead Fallon puts her through various trials and forces her to become part of his clan even though she's not sure that's what she wants.

The circumstances of their getting together left me wondering if it was because she was possibly high from the smoke she'd been inhaling for the "test" she'd just finished. I was nervous that her consent wasn't really there or that she was suffering from some trauma. She'd been turned into one of Fallon's clan against her will (sort of) and to have it be that this magical smoke made her accept her conversion and her attraction/feelings for him cheapened the journey she was on. I'd have liked her to have to see on her own that she wanted to be part of the tribe/be with Fallon instead of a mystical smoke journey suddenly illuminating it. Fallon, imo, needed to work harder to show he was worthy of her time and love. This is the rare book where the romance being left on simmer until later installments would have been more true to the characters and actually more satisfying. I'd have loved to read her struggling with Fallon's interest as he tries to be worthy of her. Plus Fallon is pretty entertaining when he's being thwarted. Fallon for me falls a bit flat. He's a warlord and an alpha and that only made me think he was as much of a bully as the townspeople who had been so cruel to Shae. I have to admit that I'm still not sure he's worthy of Shae. Part of me wants her to escape again just to see that she's still the Shae I fell in love with at the beginning of the story.

Still this was great fun and I'm looking forward to the next installment.