“Charm” and “cobra” are not words I’d expect to appear in the same sentence, so I was curious to find out how a story with a “charming cobra” would work and make sense. Set in an undisclosed location in the Libyan desert, with shifters held captive by a heartless and cruel collector, I was pulled in from the start. To have a cobra shifter suffering worse than any of the others because he doesn’t even have friends among his fellow prisoners, made me mad on his behalf within the first few pages. But it got worse!

Jiri has been held captive for many years, and he has lost the will to fight. Everyone else thinks he is a dangerous predator, but he is the collector’s “special boy toy” and abused regularly. He doesn’t even remember being free, and would have nowhere to go even if he did manage to escape. None of the “prey” shifters want to be friends with him, and even the other predators fear him, so he is all alone. What a horrible existence.

Miksa is the newest addition to the “collection”. He is a honey badger, a fierce fighter, and he has no fear. Whether he faces a lion in the arena or a bunch of cowardly hyena guards who beat him up, he does not submit, cower, or give up.

Honey badgers and cobras are natural enemies, but Jiri and Miksa are more than their animals, once they take a deep breath and switch their brains back on. It’s a good thing they are attracted to each other, but things still aren’t easy for them. And with Jiri too afraid to run, and Miksa determined not to stay, things don’t look good for the longest time.

If you like stories about enemies turning into lovers, if you want to see two fundamentally different men in captivity figuring out how to survive, and if you’re looking for an unusual read with lots of heartache and a very satisfying ending, then you will probably like this novella as much as I do. It’s entertaining, suspenseful, and a great love story.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review. ( )