Jul 6, 20237 min read

Shadow Beast Shifters Series Book Review

SPOILER ALERT! I'm not in the business of ruining books, so if you haven't read this book yet, turn back now!

Author: Jaymin Eve

Series: Shadow Beast Shifters Series

Books Reviewed: 1- 3

Category: Paranormal Romance

Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

I decided to combine my review of the Shadow Beast Shifter series, books 1 - 3 since they are about the same couple and storyline. The series does branch out after the first three and focus on other couples, but I'll limit this review to Mera and Shadow's story. Head to the bottom of the page for individual ratings of the books and their Amazon/Goodreads links.

Review

I am way late to the rejected mates bandwagon, but I finally got on board and I'm so glad I did! This series wasn't the first I read with this trope but it was definitely one of the better ones and I am going to tell you why...Mera does.not.settle.

"From the ashes, a phoenix will rise."

The start of the first book takes its time setting up the story of Mera's life in Torma and the abuse that she is desperate to escape. We are introduced to a host of ugly shifters that make it their life's mission to push Mera to her breaking point, but she is far too strong to fully break. Things are not good in the pack, rotten from the top alpha to everyone in between.

It was glaringly obvious that no one, outside of Mera's best friend Simone and her adopted mother of sorts Dani, sees Mera as an actual person, a common theme that carries through once she meets the Shadow Beast. Mera was defiant in all the ways she could be while at the mercy of the pack. I loved her constant sass that got under their skin, a valuable tool to keep her sane in her suffering. Her one-liners got old, but I appreciated her humor and tough-girl act. She did not show true fear, and that was her biggest strength.

While I was surprised Torin the alpha's son, not Jaxson her ex-best friend, turned out to be Mera's true mate, the rejection was brutal. Despite the pain that it caused her, once Mera came to her senses, she knew she absolutely did not want a bond with a monster that could hurt her so much for so many years. She did not forgive or forget.

Finally, the Shadow Beast arrived on the scene, intending to use Mera in his own selfish ways, and the story really picked up.

Mera and Shadow's chemistry was explosive and I adored the push and pull of their relationship, especially the constant tease about when they will finally give in to each other. Their time in the Faerie world and the random sex music debacle was written purely to move their physical relationship along, and while it was maybe a too easy ploy to spice the book up, it did the job.

Mera's fast-growing friendship with Angel was a great element of the book. I loved how supportive they were of each other. Even if it was a bit of an insta-friend situation, Angel was a complex character and necessary to balance out the testosterone of Shadow's gang of psycho friends.

About the only plot point that annoyed me in book one was the virginity bet. I didn't like the emphasis that Mera was not living life fully until she experienced sex. It was supposed to be a fun competition between them, but it was out of character that she would randomly find a man somewhere in the library and have sex with them.

Starved for affection due to her past, this book walked the line of stockholders syndrome and true enemies to lovers. Mera recognized the power that Shadow had over her and while she continued to grow stronger in power, she constantly accepted his slightly nice actions for proof of his feelings for her. In the beginning, Shadow was cruel, point blank telling her that he may kill her if she did not do as he says.

Their relationship grew from enemies to something more like friends, but Shadow continually proved he was willing to sacrifice Mera for revenge in his home world. He may not want to, but he would, and that's all that should have mattered to Mera.

The story ended on a big cliffhanger and I quickly downloaded book two.

Unfortunately, Reclaimed was my least favorite of the three. It was a mismatch of poor decision-making from our formally smart characters and contrived other woman drama.

Mera had been kidnapped by her old pack, and for some reason, now alpha of the pack Torin thought that she would come around eventually to their true mate bond. Considering their last moments together in the first book consisted of him having sex with someone else in front of her....sure dude, forgiveness is within reach.

After a minor freakout about her friend Dani being murdered, Mera loses control and blames Shadow for her loss. While this was a pivotal point in her power breakthrough, I'm not sure why she believed her pack over Shadow. Only one had proven to never lie to her by this point.

I appreciated that Mera didn't forget about her best friend Simone this time, dragging her to the Library of Knowledge and into worlds that she never knew existed. There wasn't much time for the friends to reunite, however, because once the Shadow world door mysteriously opens, Mera and Shadow are off to get his revenge.

And this is where the book takes a nose dive downhill.

Mera learns that Shadow had a true mate, and shocker, she was still alive and kicking after thousands of years since he had been in the realm and wants to cement their bond. Ixana was up to something, but despite voicing concerns, our main characters continue to go along with her plans to visit the Nexus. It was clear very quickly she was going to screw them over but no one thinks to stop telling her vital information or keep an eye on her.

Quickly, Shadow fell back into his old routine of undervaluing Mera to the point of hurting her to save face in front of his true mate. Mera quickly went on the defensive, which for her meant acting like a brat. Seriously, between the scorching sex scenes, the two of them were unbearable for a good portion of this book.

There was a lot of importance in the fact that Shadow gave his first kiss to Mera, which was much more significant in his culture than sex. I've seen variations of this theme in other books and while not original, it served as proof of his feelings for her.

One surprise I did not see coming was Mera's friend Dani, who was not only Shadow's mother but the Mother of Creation, living at the Nexus in the Shadow world. Learning all that Dannie had done to change the Shadow realms imprisonment of her creatures, ie. putting Mera's soul into a shifter which led to her father's insanity and eventual torment for years in the pack, was a bit convoluted. I'm not sure if I still have all the details correct, to be honest.

Of course, there was an epic fight with Ixana, and while our gang came out on top, it seemed a little too easy for them considering the power they were up against.

The end of the book left us with another cliffhanger, this one a doozy. Dani, who ultimately saved the day in the last battle, evolved into a new version of herself. She decided to fix the timeline she messed up when she created Mera so she wiped her mind, sending her back to the pack in a new reality.

WTF? I was less than thrilled with the turn of events, especially since she and Shadow were FINALLY figuring it out together, but I'm in too deep to stop now. On to book three...

Thankfully, the series redeemed itself with the third book and final featuring Mera and Shadow, though the odds looked stacked against them initially.

Mera was back with the pack, but even without her memory of Shadow and the past two years, she was way too smart to be fooled that everything is okay. And doing what she does best, Mera asked questions until she figured out what was going on.

There were chapters and chapters of Mera avoiding or trying to repel Torin and Jaxson, the dumb and dumber twins that couldn't seem to let her go. Mera probably should have been a little less combative considering she was once again at the pack's mercy, but I'm not surprised at the amount of times she attacked those two.

With the help of a new friend Sam, Mera rediscovered she was more than just a shifter and somehow they are able to get back to the Library. It does seem that Mera is able to make a new friend no matter where she goes, but I liked Sam immensely. I wished I made friends so easily.

Finally, the gang was back together with their memories intact and they were off on another quest to save the world. This time, Dani was their target and the battles proved much more deadly. The last two books had strongly hinted at Mera's phoenix connection and it was no surprise that her death was not permanent. Which was a good thing, since Shadow had officially fallen for his mate and barely kept from destroying the world while she was dying.

Then, in act two of killing off characters, Angel was lost. This was where the story took an odd turn, giving Angel a chance at rebirth because of her connection to Mera. I wasn't too mad since I loved the character but definitely lowered the stakes of future fights since it seemed like no one can truly die in this group.

Eventually, we got our happily ever after, or for now, ending with the conclusion of this last battle. Whew, it was a lot.

Overall thoughts

The Mera and Shadow relationship part of the story could have been condensed into two books. Once they got together I got tired of the lovey-dovey possessive looks they gave each other. Seriously, did anyone count how many orgasms Mera had over the three books, my guess is at least 30 on paper.

Books 1 and 3 were much better than 2. I think between the three of them, readers were served up almost all the possible storylines/tropes/one-liners. Some elements of the story were repetitive, and while there always seemed to be a world's destroying threat, I loved seeing the gang battle together as the best anti-heroes ever. As of this post, there are three more books available, each featuring a different couple.

Overall, this series is perfect for those who like shifter and paranormal romances. It has all the things needed for a great story: a strong heroine, a possessive alpha who falls hard, and a bunch of secondary characters that make me want to know more about their own backgrounds.

Tropes and Themes: Shifter, Demon, Rejected Mate, Fated Mate, Magic, Witches, Anti-hero.