was a fantastic story, We have shifters, but not your typical wolfshifter, This story we have catshifters, We have some family drama, We have our destined mates, but we still see the struggle of acceptance between them, especially from Zee's point of view, The story flows very smoothly and it is it gripping, You don't want to stop once you start, at least it was for me,
During the prologue you see a young man who tries to save a lion who is fatally injured instead of running away or killing it.
He cries for this lion, Then we jump ahead to Zee's time,
Zee is a lion shifter, a black lion, He is in charge of his pride, passed down from his parents, Even though, his parents are still alive, they wanted to go explore the world, Zee is a very good leader, He wants what is best for his pride, No one knows he is gay, He especially, doesn't want his rival, his uncle to find out, He uncle wants the pride for himself and isn't a good person, The only person who knows that his is, is his best friend and fellow pride member, Ben, Since, they rock the same boat, Ben is his second in command,
Well, all is well until Ben hires a very attractive man to be a groundskeeper, Though, there is something about him, . . that isn't entirely human. The first time Zee sees Luka, he is thrown through a loop, He has never had this type of reaction to someone, especially right up front and so strongly, They are destined mates.
But not all is easy for these two, First, we have that Zee, who puts his pride before him, so he tries his hardest to deny it, Though, that is a losing battle, Then we have Zee's uncle and the fact that he wants Zee out of the picture, Finally, we have that Luka isn't just anybody, He is male, and a different type of shifter,
I really enjoyed watching these two grow as the story progressed, They are both strong characters that have good morals, They care for one another but also aren't full of themselves, though they certainly could get away with it,
The ending was very good, The beginning of the story makes more sense, Then we have Ben who has a vision of most likely his mate, I really hope to see a sequel where Ben is the front man, finding his mate and Luka/Zee as the secondary characters.
looks pointedly at the summary yikes
there is an offchance that this is NOT, in fact, rather African colonial fantasyy, but the chance is so off that honestly I'm not going to chance itHmm, this book was a bit awkward for me.
I felt I should have liked it the elements were there, all my boxes were ticked, but it just didnt play out the way I expected.
I hoped for something rather tribal, maybe primitive, but our MCs are a bit more modern, Our prince runs a zoo of sorts And hes a shifter of course, and connects instantly through a window with his sexy mate to be.
The two dont say a word to one another but their first meeting is cataclysmic and scorching, Their second meetingnot so much, Its mundane and anticlimactic, and our prince runs away ! from Luka, Luka then turns to the princes best friend and says hes going to have to make a choice and tell the pride hes gay
and starts borrowing trouble without any conversation with the prince himself! There is the stereotypical evil uncle who wants to supplant the prince, and the endingIm not surewas that a Lion King thing Anyhew, I wanted to like this but contrived circumstances and a whole lot of assumptions without real communication spoiled this for me.
A shame, but I appreciate the authors participation in the LL and the free read! And I will cautiously watch for the next installment of the series and see if some of my issues get fleshed out.
.starsZithembe Kekana, also known as Zee, is an African prince and black lion shifter, He's the future ruler of his pride, He's protected by his best friend and second in command, Ben, and has a lot of his shoulders trying to play the future leader role.
He puts the pride first above all things, runs a wildlife park with little complaint, But there's just one thing, Zee is gay. He know his lion shifter pride would never accept a gay king, So other than his best friend knowing, he hides who he is,
The new groundskeeper, Luka Petrov, is'", blonde and super hot, And a shifter in his own right it's kinda of a mystery that gets solved within the story his animal is pretty hot.
Luka is taller than Zee, different than Zee, . . and Zee's mate.
The story delves into a tried and true plot theme you're my mate, I need to deny it, but damn do I need to jump your bones, no matter our differences or that I'm in the closet.
This story delivered enough of the main characters feelings that I could ignore the short time frame that passed, I usually do when mates/bonded pairs are involved,
This prompt was excellent, And it was given to the right author to breathe life into it, I am so excited from the moment I read the legend/fairy tale prologue,
It was a joy reading this story, What I also found refreshing was that this was not cliche IR that played into stereotypes, And the hot alpha sex nods head slowly and licks lips Smutty goodness, . . biting, mating, hot smexing oh yes. Hint:
There's some minor angst that was expected.
Does love prevail or that yucky closet and its unfair strictures Guess you'll just have to read to find out,
I hope the author does consider carrying on with sequel with Ben as the lead, the other gay lion deserves to have a HEA just as happy as Zee and Luka.
That little teaser at the end has got me anxious,
Major thanks to the author I'll be checking out other works from her, the prompter and the team behind this story! This is definitely one of my favorites from this event.
Well, a little cliffhanger, I really wanna know how ben's story goes, Maybe a sequel. .
Thank you, dear author
Offered for sitelinkFREE from the M/M Romance Group's Love's Landscapes event, Thank you too all the amazing authors who participated!
,starsI was about ready to stop reading at, but I powered through, Skimming most, skipping some, and cringing frequently, Every shitty shifter trope imaginable, including instaejaculation:
"He opened the window, his cock pulsed as he abruptly came in his underwear.
The other man's pheromones hung in the air outside, " That is not sexy,
Although of course the sex was hot, that's all there is to their relationship, They know literally nothing about each other, And good sex isn't enough to hold up the rest of the story, And while I liked the mythology behind how his tribe became shifters, that little twist at the end was ridiculous and unnecessary.
Also, why bother saying Luka's parents are coming if they aren't present in the final showdown, And while I appreciate that you want to set Ben up for the next book, a random aborted masturbation scene is maybe not the best note to end a story on . .