The Blurb:
Broken heart need mending? Check into Hotel Safari.
Deirdre O’Connell is an Irish nurse who has lost everyone she ever cared about. She runs away to a job at the Hotel Safari Lodge in Kenya, never realizing she’s searching for a new life, a new family, and possibly a new love. While she longs to make friends, she doesn’t know how to trust.
Hans Schmidt is a German lynx on a mission to forget. Leaving behind a fiancée, his job, and the only life he has ever known, he takes the job of jack-of-all-trades at the lodge with no timeframe and no expectations. But when he meets the sassy nurse, his broken heart finds a new reason to mend.
Is friendship with Deirdre enough for Hans? Or will he show her their two injured souls can be perfect together?
This stand-alone short, recommended for ages 18 and up, is a multicultural shifter romance novella with a little bit of spice and a happily-ever-after.
Deirdre O’Connell is an Irish nurse who has lost everyone she ever cared about. She runs away to a job at the Hotel Safari Lodge in Kenya, never realizing she’s searching for a new life, a new family, and possibly a new love. While she longs to make friends, she doesn’t know how to trust.
Hans Schmidt is a German lynx on a mission to forget. Leaving behind a fiancée, his job, and the only life he has ever known, he takes the job of jack-of-all-trades at the lodge with no timeframe and no expectations. But when he meets the sassy nurse, his broken heart finds a new reason to mend.
Is friendship with Deirdre enough for Hans? Or will he show her their two injured souls can be perfect together?
This stand-alone short, recommended for ages 18 and up, is a multicultural shifter romance novella with a little bit of spice and a happily-ever-after.
Writer generously provided ARC in exchange for an honest review:
This was a different sort of read for me. I haven’t read much in the shapeshifter genre, but the ones I have read pay very close attention to detail (including the unsavory details I never wanted to know). But I think that is an important component for this kind of fic-details, both the good and the bad.
To that end, I think it was my biggest hurdle with this storyline. It’s a quick read, but I feel like this story would have been better as a longer fic with more character/plot development. It had the right ingredients to make for a juicy slow burn, but it didn’t quite get there because the pacing was so rushed.
Deirdre basically discovers that Hans is a shapeshifter right away, but the big reveal is...not terribly big?
We get an inward explanation that Deirdre is no stranger to loss and whatnot, but come on! I imagine even trauma survivors would still pee their pants if some dude turned into a lynx in front of them. Deirdre, on the other hand?
“She wasn’t sure she was attracted to Hans but he seemed like a good guy, despite the whole turning-into-a-cat thing.”
The whole “I’m so damaged that this doesn’t even phase me” attitude wasn’t really believable for me. Deirdre is somehow ready to trust Hans despite saying she hasn’t trusted anyone in years. She literally just met him AND he turned into a giant cat. So what does she do? Invite him back to her house, of course.
“Surely there was no harm in sharing another drink with him. In her house. Alone.”
We get the HEA but it doesn’t feel like there was a whole lot of struggle to even get there. Maybe I’m demented. I like a spot of suffering with my HEAs.
This was a different sort of read for me. I haven’t read much in the shapeshifter genre, but the ones I have read pay very close attention to detail (including the unsavory details I never wanted to know). But I think that is an important component for this kind of fic-details, both the good and the bad.
To that end, I think it was my biggest hurdle with this storyline. It’s a quick read, but I feel like this story would have been better as a longer fic with more character/plot development. It had the right ingredients to make for a juicy slow burn, but it didn’t quite get there because the pacing was so rushed.
Deirdre basically discovers that Hans is a shapeshifter right away, but the big reveal is...not terribly big?
We get an inward explanation that Deirdre is no stranger to loss and whatnot, but come on! I imagine even trauma survivors would still pee their pants if some dude turned into a lynx in front of them. Deirdre, on the other hand?
“She wasn’t sure she was attracted to Hans but he seemed like a good guy, despite the whole turning-into-a-cat thing.”
The whole “I’m so damaged that this doesn’t even phase me” attitude wasn’t really believable for me. Deirdre is somehow ready to trust Hans despite saying she hasn’t trusted anyone in years. She literally just met him AND he turned into a giant cat. So what does she do? Invite him back to her house, of course.
“Surely there was no harm in sharing another drink with him. In her house. Alone.”
We get the HEA but it doesn’t feel like there was a whole lot of struggle to even get there. Maybe I’m demented. I like a spot of suffering with my HEAs.
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