Karin Shah

~ 3 Chimera Stars ~

In Like a Lion is book one of the Chimera Chronicles by Karin Shah. As first books in a series goes this one is a decent start. I was pulled into reading this book by its cover and the blurb.

Anjali Mehta our human scientist/heroine hired to work with Jake Finn our prisoner was hard to relate too and at some points I got frustrated with her self-pity attitude. I never was able to like her.

Jake Finn our murder (our the evil villain wants us to think) is also something more. I enjoyed learning about the different parts of his nature and watching him grow into himself. I felt for him and was rooting for Jake along the way.

In Like a Lion has an interesting premise with the duel-natured chimera’s and the supernatural character’s introduced to us. I enjoyed the chimera aspect, learning about their nature, and how they need a mate or something bad will happen. Lots of characters where mentioned or introduced and this opens the book up for more in the series. As for the story it felt slow at the begging, some things did’t seam believable at times, maybe a little to easy for our leads and then the world rules were a bit confusing at points. The sex scenes where ok, not heated enough for my liking, and they felt flat and lacking emotion. Last it was to easy to pick out who the villein was and he was not villainy enough for my taste.

Overall, In Like a Lion was a good read and enjoyable. I just felt like it had the potential to be much more than what it was.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy free of charge from the author with the sole purpose of an honest review. All thoughts, comments and ratings are my own.

… (altro)

I went into this book with no expectations, and was surprised that I liked it as much as I did. If I were to go by the books cover and the back cover blurb, I might have put it back down. The book had been recommended to me by one of my GoodReads peers, but still I resisted getting it. Luckily for me an opportunity arose to read the book for an honest review - so here it is.
In Like a Lion, is a book filled with intrigue, danger, romance, learning to trust, finding & overcoming ones nature. The myth of the chimera as shared in the book was excellent and I really enjoyed it and was glad it was provided. This book presented many first for me, two of those being:
1) I have never read a book where the central lead character was a chimera
2) I have never read a book where the heroine was of East Indian decent, and cultural elements played a role in the story.
Seeing Jakes plight, and feeling his pain as he has come to think he is losing his mind, is sad, but once Dr. Anjali Mehta comes on the scene things start to heat up and the action starts. Long story short, Jake is free d in an escape plan cooked up by Anjali, unable to run without her due to his deep feelings for her, they have many an adventure while on the lam, and end up bonding in the process. I did found that this part of the book a bit long and drawn out to me – for me it could have been shorted.
The parallel story line about Jakes’ brother Ky searching for the 5 remaining brothers, left some gaps for me, I also do not know who was sleeping or in stasis in Ky’s upstairs room. I felt that additional time could have been spent expanding this part of the story as I feel it will have a purpose in the follow on book. I also want to know how Ky has avoided going over the edge as he is 30 years old or more and had not mated.
All in all an enjoyable book, the writing is well done, there is plenty of action and intrigue to satisfy, the love story is soft , youthful and tender, and the personal discoveries our H/h make well worth the read
I was given this book by the author for an honest review
… (altro)