Sera Sinclaire is a New Orleans rarity: a submissive coyote trapped in a town overrun by dominant shapeshifters. Worse, she lacks the willpower to deny the alphas-in-shining-armor who need her soothing presence, even when their protectiveness threatens to crush her hard-won self-reliance.
The only shifter she doesn’t want to push away is Julio Mendoza, a wolf so dominant he’s earned a place on the Southeast council.
Julio doesn’t have the luxury of indulging in the vacation his psychic shrink insists he needs. He can’t turn his back on responsibilities he’s beginning to wish he’d never shouldered. When an obsessive ex endangers Sera, though, instinct drives him to get her out of town. Watching her come to life outside the city makes him feel like he’s finally done something right, and her touch ignites desire he doesn’t want to ignore.
But soon, lighthearted flirting becomes a dangerous game of seduction, where every day spent falling into each other is another day avoiding the truth. Sera’s ex isn’t the only one who’d disapprove of their relationship. There are wolves who would kill to get Sera out of Julio’s life—starting with his own blood kin.
Sera is a coyote and in the shapeshifting world they are like the redneck poor cousin to the wolf shifters. In fact most of the wolves just want to kill them off and be done with it. Sera does have some friends how that she’s left and divorced her controlling husband and moved to New Orleans. She especially likes hanging out with Julio Mendoza. When Sera’s ex shows up she knows she needs to get away and Julio offers her the opportunity to do just that.
Julio hides his emotions well. He’s not recovered from the torture he received (in the last book) but he’s on the council and helping people is what he does. Unfortunately this doesn’t help HIM heal. It’s suggested that he take a vacation and when he decides to take Sera away they both get a break from real life.
Julio and Sera take off in Jackson’s convertible and make no plans. They just drive and stop whenever they want. They end up in Florida in Panama City Beach and meet the alpha down there. They find out just how much damage the previous council had done and the effect it had on the lives of the wolves pack.
The couple, during their time together, find that they are matched perfectly in bed and other ways as well. Sera is a submissive coyote but she also wants to be submissive in bed. Julio, being the dominant wolf that he is is all for that. Sera isn’t into heavy bdsm and Julion’s definitely with the program when it comes to what Sera wants in bed.
During their time away they also run into some problems with Sera’s ex, Julio’s father and figuring out exactly what it will take for Julio to do his job on the council.
This is book 5 in the Southern Arcana series. It was a nice addition to the series but definitely not my favorite. I liked Julio and Sera together but after the last 4 stories I don’t think there was enough conflict in it for me.
Sera and Julio came together pretty easily. They were attracted to each other and they acted on that attraction – something we don’t see all that often in romance any more. Lol There were some issues with Sera being a coyote and that did cause some issues but mostly with others outside of the relationship – it had no effect on Julio at all.
Overall the book was good and I will definitely be reading future books in this series. You gotta love those wolf shapeshifters. 🙂
3.5 out of 5
I have the first few books in this series but have yet to start it. Someday.:) Great review Tracy!
Leslie – I kind of read them all at once (within a month, I think) and I'm glad I did. Sometimes my brain doesn't remember all the details and in this series I think that's a must. 🙂