Release Day Review ~ Wild Instincts by Ethan Stone

Title: Wild Instincts
Series: Seaside Shifters: Book Two
Author: Ethan Stone
Release Date: March 8, 2017
Category: Paranormal: Werewolves/Shapeshifters, Mystery/Suspense
Pages: 129

GoodReads ~ Dreamspinner ~ Amazon

Police cadet and bear shifter Tyson Dakota looks forward to his on-the-job training in Seaside, Oregon, working alongside his cousin, Chief of Police John Dakota. Their goal is to investigate the growing meth epidemic and identify the kingpin bringing the drugs into their community. All signs point to someone inside law enforcement working with the drug traffickers, and Tyson must find out who before the body count gets any higher.

Along the way, Tyson meets Amante, a charismatic and attractive man in town for reasons he doesn’t want to share. Tyson is drawn to Amante despite his secretive ways and is sure there could be more between them than explosive passion, if he could just get Amante to make his stay in Seaside permanent. But when Tyson’s pursuit of justice puts him at odds with Amante, they could lose more than their fledgling relationship.

They could end up losing their lives.

3 Stars! 

While I am a huge shifter fan and male pregnancy doesn't bother me if done right, I can't say that this book worked for me. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I can't enjoy a story if I don't enjoy the characters. Unfortunately, that was the case here. I did not at all care for Tyson.

From the first bar scene, I was completely turned off by Tyson. I'm not sure if my opinion would be different had I read book 1 but as for this story, I was not a fan of our 18-year-old (yes, this age really did not work for me) male lead. I just was not able to suspend disbelief like I wanted to while reading.

As for Amante, he was okay but in all honesty, I felt zero connection with his character. I could see where had his character been in a different romantic entanglement, he would have been quite interesting. However, when paired with Tyson I didn't feel the chemistry between the men. It felt false to me and that's disappointing when we're dealing with mates and shifters.

Overall, I wouldn't say this was a horrible book, it just didn't work for me. I think there will be people out there who will be entertained by the story and who love the series. I also think this had a great premise and maybe if Tyson had been a few years older or I had felt some sort of connection to him in the beginning, my opinion would've been a lot different.

*Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*