Rating: 4
Steam: 3
PoV: dual, 3rd person
Series: Evergreen Council #2
Genre: paranormal romance, MM
Main tropes: shifters, mystery, opposites attract
“C’mere, babe.” His voice came out husky, threaded with need. “I can’t comfort you when you’re standing over there as prickly as a cactus.”
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into Claw’d as I haven’t read the first book in the series, but I ended up really enjoying this paranormal mystery romance!
The mystery plot was introduced right at the beginning of the story, as the vampire Sorley tried to break into the wolf shifter Gethin’s house. They quickly figured out that Sorley had been enchanted, and when there were more attacks on both supernaturals as well as humans, these two had to try and figure out who was behind the attacks.
There were a lot of great and unique characters here, and I especially loved how grumpy and prickly Sorley was – Gethin definitely had his hands full with his sassy vampire! I was really intrigued by them and their backgrounds, and it was easy to fall for their dynamic and banter. I loved the back and forth between them, and I had a lot of fun at their interactions throughout the story.
Even thought they got involved pretty quickly, Sorley and Gethin’s feelings and relationship had more of a slow burn to them. It took them a little time to get used to the idea of a vampire / shifter pairing, and Sorley had some hang-ups he needed to work through. It was sweet to see them react to each other as the fated mates bond developed, and how affectionate even the prickliest vampire could be sometimes.
While there was a lot of things going on in the book, I couldn’t help but feel like it was a little too long, and the pacing felt a little unbalanced at times. I mostly liked the slower pace though, as it gave the chance to get to know the characters and to see their friendships and relationships more in-depth.
Overall, Claw’d was an enjoyable story with some impressive world building and characters, and a couple of twists I didn’t see coming! I’m very intrigued by this series and I’d love to see more of the characters that were introduced here, especially Alec and Edwin.
“You’re going to be a brat for eternity, aren’t you?” Gethin chuckled and lay down on the runner. “I’ll make you pay for that remark later.”
Book links:
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