Shifters!

How do you feel about paranormal books?  What's your favorite "kind?"  For me, I think it's a toss up between vampires and shifters.  Not werewolves, at least not the traditional kind.  I like wolves, but I'm more partial to bears and tigers, oh my!  *grin*  I'm not extremely fond of traditional werewolves, but there are some stories based on that angle that I've enjoyed - Kathy Love's My Sister's A Werewolf comes to mind.

Today I read a book about a polar bear shifter, Polar Bared (heh, see what they did there?) by Eve Langlais, and it carved a place in my heart and favorites when the MC reveals his polar bear status to his love interest, and she reacts EXACTLY how i would react in that situation.  LOVE IT!!  

The first book I remember reading with shifters or Weres was Sherrilyn Kenyon's Night Play.  Bride was the first "plump" heroine I'd ever read about, and Vane was a different kind of werewolf.  And he loved that she wasn't skinny.  ; )  Also, the idea of "mates" was super intriguing to me, and I absolutely loved their story.  For a while, Sherri was the only author I knew of writing these kinds of stories, and I devoured every one I could get my hands on (and her Dark-Hunters, as well, but we'll focus more on them in another post!).  Unleash the Night, featuring Maggie & Wren (a white tiger/snow leopard Were, oh MY!), is another of my all-time favorites.  : )  

One day a few years ago, after I'd rediscovered my love of reading (and, specifically, my love of paranormal romance), I came across the super-interesting-sounding Pride Mates by Jennifer Ashley.  Here was a whole new world of Shifters, and their rules and reactions and descriptions were completely different from the Weres in Sherri's books, yet had a similar vibe.  I loved Liam & Kim so much that I immediately started looking for more of this series once I'd finished their book.  : )  (And later, Tiger Magic came out, I won a signed ARC of the story, and I discovered even MORE love for tiger shifters!)(I still bought the trade PB when it came out bc the cover art is FABULOUS!)

Another day, I was looking through the PNR (paranormal romance) section & came across a title that caught my eye - Eat, Prey, Love by Kerrelyn Sparks.  This was about a black panther shape shifter, and it pulled me in right away!  I wanted to read the about the other people in that universe, and realized the Love At Stake series was about not only shifters but vampires as well, and the premise and level of humor in THIS series was completely different from either the other series about shifters - and it was amazing!  Is amazing - none of these series mentioned have ended - and they are all auto-buys for me!  

A main theme in all of these - other than the obvious shifting into animal form! - is the bond that is forged between mates.  It's supernatural and binding and instinctual.  There's no BS prancing around denying feelings (well, there is some of that in EPL, but it doesn't last long) - the shifter men (and women) recognize their mate & immediately go into "claiming" mode.  I love the alpha-badass-ness of those stories!  

So, tell me - what other Shifter stories are out there that I should check out? 

ttfn!