Dark

Blood Moon, Texas Shifters Book 1

By: Kat Kinney

Narrated by: Ashley Bodnar

Hayden Crowe fronts an all-girls band down in Austin, Texas. Between tending bar so her sister can stay in school and dealing with the fallout after their addict father skipped town, she hasn't exactly had time to join the social media freakout over the recent outing of vampires and werewolves.

Her world comes crashing down the night she's attacked in an alley after a gig and bitten by a feral werewolf. Unable to return home for fear of hurting her sister, and with a message scrawled across her arm warning HOSPITALS NOT SAFE, Hayden is left with just one option.

Him.

Ethan Caldwell doesn't do relationships. Adopted son of the pack Alpha, he lives a solitary life as a barista and artist. Things three years ago with Hayden Crowe went too far. By pack law, she couldn't be told what he was. Ending it was for her own protection.

But when Hayden shows up on his doorstep, newly changed and in danger, Ethan defies his father's orders to stay away. Someone in the paranormal community is hunting her, and hell if he's going to fail her again.

Dark is part of the Blood Moon, Texas Shifters series. Sizzling hot romance with an ongoing urban fantasy story arc and a guaranteed HEA in each book.

©2019,2022 Kat Kinney (P)2024 Kat Kinney

Snark, Sass and Shifters

This book has a really great overall concept. I liked that there's both born shifters and changed shifters, and that the differences between the two are described very well. The author's descriptions of the scenes and characters provide for a very immersive experience, and it's easy to visualize what is going on in the story. I loved the snarky back and forth between Ethan and Hayden. Ethan's dry sense of humor mixed with sarcasm is spot on and there were several times that I would actually laugh out loud.

The narrator was not very expressive between characters. It was difficult at times to distinguish between characters and I had to rewind and listen to several scenes again in order to catch dialog. The narration was also monotonous and I needed to increase the playback speed just so I could stay in the story.

Overall good storyline and beautiful world building. The characters were described well and the book leaves you both satisfied and excited to find out mor.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Werewolves and secrets

Hayden and Ethan story was quite intense as they both had a painful traumatic past, a lot of insecurities, and couple of misunderstandings and miscommunication, secrets, and problems with trust.
It also had danger and adrenaline, hot moments, snark and teasing, a challenge that keeps growing and that has unexpected ramifications.
I liked the narrator way to bring as into the story, but I had times when it was difficult to differentiate between voices.

good read

Dark is a paranormal romance set in Texas. I love the fact that there are Fun Facts and places in Texas mostly Austin and the book in NOT about Cowboys or Ranches. Hayden is a barista/ band member who gets attacked one night and runs for help into Dark a coffee shop where Ethan works. Ethan realizes what is happening to her and that she was attacked by a werewolf.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Lost Interest

I liked the world of this story. It was interesting and good world building. After an hour or so, though, I began to lose interest- which is unfortunate as I love shifter stories and it's been quite some time since I'd read/listened to a story with a human being changed into something rather than characters that are born shifters.

Narrator Ashley Bodnar did a good job with the female characters, but completely unconvincing with the male characters. I could hardly tell and had to listen to cues sometimes to realize it was a male's POV. This book needed a male narrator for those characters.

Overall: 3 stars
Performance: 3 stars
Story: 3 stars

I wish I would’ve liked it more

Dark (Blood Moon, Texas Shifters #1)
by Kat Kinney

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 ⇝ ★★★☆☆

𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 ↴
I was a bit entertained at the beginning of this book and then after Lacey was introduced and the whole Hayden being hunted kind of just lost me a little bit. I was listening to the audiobook and at times I’d be a bit lost in between POVs. I honestly wish I would’ve liked it more than I did.

🤍 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 📖