Early Review: Mate Bond by Jennifer Ashley (Shifters Unbound #7)

Mate Bond (Shifters Unbound #7)
Jennifer Ashley
Published: April 7, 2015 (Berkley)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Krista

Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars

It’s rare for me to be talking about a book weeks after I have finished it, but Jennifer Ashley’s Mate Bond accomplished just that. It didn’t do it by simply being extremely hot or having an action-packed story line. Instead it was the relationship built between the main characters that had me glued to the page as it developed. How this is any different from any other paranormal romance out there? Well, how many typical romance books out there start with their heroine and hero already having been married for fifteen years?

Kenzie and Bowman O’Donnell have been mated for fifteen years, but have yet to form that “magical all consuming mate bond” that is the foundation of shifter society. For some couples it can take a couple of years, but for most it happens before the mating ceremony. So Kenzie and Bowman are in the tenuous position of knowing that they may lose everything if the other were to choose to try and find the mate bond with someone else.

They originally mated to stabilize the Shiftertown that Bowman leads, but fifteen years later the lack of mate bond is threatening everything they have built. That’s not to say there isn’t a lot of heat between them (the heat is there in every glance and touch), but being Alphas neither wants to admit to their weaknesses. Everything comes to a head when their community is threatened from an unknown source and their family (they have a twelve-year-old son) is directly in its crosshairs.

I can’t fully elaborate on how much I enjoyed this outing in the Shifters Unbound series. Right off the bat, Mate Bond throws standard conventions right out the window. We know that Kenzie and Bowman love each other, but neither is willing to verbally admit it. I was on pins and needles throughout Mate Bond. I was never exactly sure on how Ashley would bring about the happy ending. Honestly, she threw in a few curves that had me doubting whether they would even get there.

Now I am not downplaying the action sections, they definitely lived up to the level the author has shown throughout this series. Ashley puts the reader through the ringer before getting to the happy ending.

I highly recommend Mate Bond for anyone who is already a fan of Shifters Unbound or if you are looking for something new and slightly different than anything else that is out there. This one works as a standalone.

Sexual content: Graphic sex