SLOAN'S PROTECTOR

TITLE: SLOAN'S PROTECTOR

AUTHOR: OLIVIA BLACK

Pages: 78

Date: 06/05/2014

Grade: 4-

Details: no. 9 Silver Bullet

            Received from Siren Publishing

            Through Love Romances and More

Own / Kindle  

The blurb:

“Tucker Gage doesn’t spend all his time at the Silver Bullet or with his pack. In his free time, he volunteers at Village de l’Espoir, also known as Village of Hope in downtown New Orleans. His passion is to protect and rescue animals in need. His path crosses with his mate, Sloan McKenzie, when the man needs a guard dog to protect him from his ex-boyfriend turned stalker. Tucker will do anything for his mate, even if that means hiding who he really is by staying in wolf form.

Sloan McKenzie has locked himself away, avoiding his ex-boyfriend and the outside world. The man won’t leave him alone—he shows up to Sloan’s house almost every night and calls nonstop. With his behavior escalating, Sloan’s brother, Matthew, takes him to, Village de l’Espoir, to get a dog for extra protection.

What will happen when Sloan finds out that Tucker isn’t just his guard dog, but a shifter?”

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My thoughts:

This is the ninth book in the ‘Silver Bullet’ series. I didn’t read any of the previous titles and while it is quite possible I would have enjoyed this book more if I had, I can’t say I was conscious of missing vital prior knowledge.

Tucker Gage is a shifter who works as a volunteer in an animal rescue centre. When in wolf form he is able to calm and reassure the dogs they have to retrieve from often abysmal places.

Sloan McKenzie is a virtual recluse ever since his former boyfriend turned stalker and started threatening him. To stop his big brother Matthew from worrying about him Sloan agrees to get a dog to protect and guard him.

When Sloan arrives at the rescue centre to pick his dog, Tucker happens to be in wolf form. Recognizing his mate immediately and determined to protect him Tucker allows himself to be adopted without revealing he’s a shifter rather than a dog.

Sloan feels a connection with his ‘dog’. But will this connection be strong enough when he finds out that not only is Tucker a shifter, he is also his mate? And will Tucker be enough to keep Sloan save from his ex-boyfriend?

I liked this book. It was an easy read with likeable characters. But the real attraction for me was the love for animals in this story. I loved the animal rescue centre and the care they took with the animals they saved. And the whole idea of using shifters to reassure the frightened animals made me wish all rescue centres would have shifters at their disposal.

If I’m perfectly honest I have to admit that Sloan was a bit wishy-washy as a character. He didn’t appear to have much of a back-bone and was overly desperate to be loved. Having said that, he was also rather sweet and adorable and very easy to sympathise with.

I loved Tucker, both as a wolf and as a man. His very strong protective streak was very attractive and I liked that he was allowed his fair share of insecurities.

We get a very nice glance at this world where humans and shifters live more or less in harmony and I’m very tempted to go back and read the earlier books just to find out more. The same is true for the ‘Silver Bullet’ pack, I saw enough of them to make me curious about them and their individual stories. One thing is for sure, I’ll be keeping an eye out for future books in this series. I don’t think one outing with this particular pack was enough for me.

This is a sweet book. Not very deep and maybe everything comes together a bit too easily, but it was a charming story with characters I adored and it was a pure joy to read. Because there are times when all I want is an uncomplicated and non-taxing hour or two with nice characters and a charming story.