Mmm, yeah, this didn't work for me on many levels.

The entire novella feels choppy; it honestly reads more like a rough draft (that the author sometimes was in a super hurry on). I feel like a good story could have been here, had it been developed properly, but it wasn't. Uncommon words were often repeated in the same paragraph, which is always a bit jarring to me when reading.

I usually have a problem with most romance novellas, because it almost always feels like the love story is rushed (and yes, I know that's kind of the point, but...I still have issues with it) unless the two characters have known one another for a while already. But this one really takes that to a whole new level. Granted, they have known each other for something like two years, and at this point Brian is saying to himself that he loves Derek, but they've never gone out or even expressed any signs of being more than coworkers until this point. They manage to get one date squeezed in, and all of the sudden, they're in love with one another and they're going to be together forever and Brian is his mate, etc, etc. What. I feel like the author skipped over a LOT of story here.

The story is theoretically set in Seattle area, but I never got a feel of the city. It literally could have been situated in any town in any state in any part of the country. I'm not saying that I need page after page of flowery descriptions of a city's scenery (and that annoys me even more unless they're done EXTREMELY well), but I like to get a small taste of what life is like in that city. All I really know about Seattle is that it's in Washington and it rains a lot and they have a football team called the Seahawks. Where's a popular place to eat? What is the weather like in a particular season? Do they have spectacular autumns when the leaves change? &c. But there is none of that here.

Speaking of which, I don't really know about the animal control laws in Seattle, but I am pretty sure that someone might have something to say about seven, many of which are large breed dogs and one cat living in a house. In Denver, for example, you can only have three dogs in any one residence. I can only imagine that Seattle has animal control laws that are at least a bit similar, and I would expect an animal control officer and a veterinarian who works at animal control would KNOW this (I'm not saying that they would necessarily FOLLOW the law, but they'd probably at least have a conversation about it at some point).

I don't really understand the point of having Brian be in a prior abusive relationship. It was kind of built up as something that might be a huge stumbling block in their relationship, and then it was never addressed again, and Brian apparently stopped having any and all ramifications from that abuse at about the same time. That's...not how it is supposed to work.

Also, Derek is kind of hyped up as someone who has animal instincts and animal senses, but he somehow misses the fact that some weird shapeshifter is stalking/tracking him and Brian, even though the creature is in VERY CLOSE PROXIMITY to Brian and his house multiple times, although their DOGS somehow figure it out in their own way (they figure out, by smell, that the creature that attacked them and Brian is similar to the creature that Derek is). Umm...

Finally, I will say it loud and proud, I have read a shit ton of shifter stories (many of which were from the Supernatural fandom, which I will also say loud and proud), I'm talking into the high hundreds, and this is the VERY FEW I have ever read where the "alpha" (if in a relationship with another shifter creature) or "shifter" (if in a relationship with a non-human) would not only use his "mate" as bait to set a trap but encourages his reluctant mate to do so. Like, one of the very bases of this subgenre is how an alpha/shifter will always protect his mate above all else, including himself. So...I mean, if I thought the author was trying to subvert the trope, I might be able to ride with that, but I don't feel that is the intention at all, so it doesn't work for me at all. Do not like.

The funny thing is, even though I gave this a fairly low rating, I'm still going to continue with the series, at least for now. I feel like there is a lot of potential in this world, and I want to see if the author gets a handle on it or not. ( )