Winter Blue, Guardian of the Shaw Pride, has sworn to protect the beautiful and stubborn Nova Raines. His panther knows that she is his mate, but Winter’s refusal to touch her causes him to almost destroy their fragile relationship when she is attacked by a human male and left for dead behind the bar that she owns.
The wolves are still on the loose, and when a rogue panther comes forward with information, the pride soon realizes that the male who assaulted Nova is a wolf and will stop at nothing until he kills her. The panthers assemble with a plan, ensuring that the pack of wolves are destroyed so that the pride can live in peace.
When Nova’s ability to protect herself is questioned, Winter has to make the decision to change her into what he is to save her life or leave her vulnerable to his enemies. His reasoning for keeping her human could also be the one thing that takes her life for good when the last remaining wolf returns to finish off the job.
Sexy shifters and their feisty mates who aren’t shy about loving each other – so, this is an adult, 18+ reader tale.
Titles in the Rise of the Pride series include: Talon – Winter – Savage – The Birth of an Alpha – Ranger
Title: Winter
Series: Rise of the Pride #2
Author: Theresa Hissong
Published: August 10, 2016
My Rating: 4.5 stars
In the lore for Rise of the Pride, shifters know and discover their mate by touch. One touch can give all the answers ever asked. When one person is human, it’s a bit different but the human usually feels a strong attraction to the shifter. Once that touch is made, any other male who touches the female will cause her unbearable pain that only their mate can ease.
Winter was a made panther, not born. His panther knows instinctively that Nova is his mate. Yet he refuses to touch her to find out for certain. Yes, Nova is attracted to him, their bantering, arguing ritual is well formed now but still he holds back. The other member of his pride will tease and taunt him but he is determined to not touch her. Winter was once human and he refuses to allow “fate” to dictate who loves him back. Yes, he wants Nova, loves her on some levels but it’s not love if she does’t have the right to choose him back but be under some “fated influence” to be his. No, he’ll get her to love him, then he’ll touch her. And while that might make perfect sense to Winter – it will put Nova in grave danger from an enemy that is out to destroy everything they are.
Winter is a fast paced, sexy, intriguing story. While it is a complete story of Winter and Nova, it also continues the threaded mystery and life with the pride that was started in Talon. The members of the pride that we’ve met before, and some new faces, continue their lives adding more information and the hints of stories yet to come. Winter gives us an intense romance, and also moves the stories of the other members of the pride along with developments that happen in this story.
I’m enjoying this series very much. Not only for the really good story line and characters, but also for the thought provoking idea of the power of touch. While reading these stories I’ve tried to imagine a world where the most casual of touches would cause intense pain to a woman who has found her one love. It might at first glance sound romantic that only her man’s touch can be tolerated, yet it’s given me much to think about with this particular introduction of lore into the shifter world.
I would recommend this story and series to any Paranormal Romance or Shifter Romance reader. You’ll find a provocative story, interesting characters, danger, sexy moments and a group of people that you’ll soon be quite comfortable with. I do have one strong thought – because of the woven threads in this series I do not believe it can be read out of order. Events flow from one story to the next and if you hop around you’ll miss some important aspects of the series. In my opinion.
I own a copy of this story.
Available for the Kindle
