SHIFTER’S CLAIM (The Shadow Shifters # 4) by A.C.Arthur-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 29, 2014

Sebastian Perry, gorgeous shape-shifter, has tremendous guilt. Completely disarmed by his momentary hesitation to save a woman, he has fallen into despair. Sworn as a shifter to protect any female in danger, no amount of status, success, or money, can make him feel right again. Prowling around his domain, Bas aches to feel complete, to feel alive, to feel the love of a female. But what woman could possibly trust a man, shifter or not, that cannot protect her?

Priya Drake is tired of fending for herself. Growing up in a family that had nothing but problems, she’s made it to a top newspaper as a reporter, only to continually get snubbed by her boss. When she accidentally witnesses Bas shift, she knows she’s sitting on the scoop that will make her career. But telling the story isn’t so simple. She needs to get her facts straight, and the mounting attraction between her and Bas isn’t helping one bit. Priya thinks she has everything under control, but as the nights get hotter and danger continues to mount, Priya has to ask herself—can she betray the man she loves?

REVIEW: SHIFTER’S CLAIM is the fourth instalment in A.C.Arthur’s adult, contemporary The Shadow Shifters paranormal romance series focusing on a group of feline shifting jaguars originally from the Amazon. This is millionaire resort owner and jaguar Shadow Shifter Sebastian Perry and newspaper reporter (and human) Priya Drake’s storyline. Although this is the fourth in the series, it can be read as a stand alone but I would suggest reading the series from the beginning to understand all of the lingo etc.

Told from two close third person POVs the focus of the storyline is two fold: Priya is a reporter who suspects that there are shifters among the humans and she has been forced to gather information about their existence. Priya’s involvement has more to do with a threat against someone she loves then revealing the truth about shapeshifters. While Priya looks for answers, Sebastian and his team are called in to investigate a shipment of designer drugs that may be connected to a government facility known as Comastaz Labs, and a rogue band of jaguar shifters. When Priya and Sebastian collide, fur will fly when ‘Bas’, as he is called, denies that Priya is his ‘companheiro’ or mate.

Shifter’s Claim is a detailed storyline that is somewhat dependent on prior knowledge of the series but saying that, it can be read as a stand alone with some minor confusion to previous history. The jaguar shifters have a ruling government not unlike many national political systems and in this the storyline and premise follows a strict guideline of principles and rules. The secondary characters play a major role throughout the story including most of the previous storyline shifters who all have a specific job description. There is a small index at the beginning of the novel that gives some of the definitions and descriptions.

A.C. Arthur pulls the reader into a compelling and imaginative storyline where two people struggle with their attraction to one another. Priya is on a mission to gather information for an unknown source; and Sebastian must stay true to the laws of the shifters and never reveal their existence to human kind. Although Bas’s jaguar knows that Priya is their mate, Sebastian refuses to recognize the call to mate because he knows that he would only bring pain and sorrow to any woman that is connected to him.

Shifter’s Claim is a seductive, intense and spirited storyline of heartbreak and betrayal; family and love; suspense and action. The Shadow Shifter series takes a passionate look at a species whose goal is to survive in a world dominated by human bigotry and specieism, and through it all, each individual shifter will discover that there is someone out there who is the other half to their soul; who must risk love and a happily ever when all around them someone is trying to take them down.

Reading Order
Temptation Rising
Seduction’s Shift
Passion’s Prey
Shifter’s Claim
Hunter’s Mate (2015)

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy