Shift (Shifters #5) by Rachel Vincent

Being the first female werecat enforcer isn't easy. Scars accumulate, but I'm stronger in so many ways.

As for my personal life? It's complicated. Choices worth making always are. Ever since my brother's death and my father's impeachment, it's all I can do to prevent more blood from spilling. Now our Pride is under attack by a flight of vicious thunderbirds. And making peace with our new enemies may be the only way to get the best of our old foe.

With the body count rising and treachery everywhere, my instincts tell me to look before I leap. But sometimes a leap of faith is the only real option...

Type: Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Romance, Shifters (felines, thunderbirds)
Heat: 1 out of 5
Rating: 4 out of 5


Birds! Freaking scary ass birds right out of my nightmares. Regular little ol birds are bad enough. Creepy little things. But human sized ones that shift? That don't seem to have any grasp on logic or willingness to admit they've been duped and are attacking the wrong people? Like I said. Freaking nightmares! I really don't like birds if you hadn't figured that out and turns out I really hate thunderbirds! Thunderbirds are suddenly attacking Faythe and her Pride while they work to deal with both their grief over Ethan's death and the ongoing threat from slimy Malone. The thunderbirds have set out to get revenge against Faythe's Pride because they claim a member killed one of their birds. Faythe has to find proof of her Pride's innocence and who the real culprit is that set them up. If she isn't fast enough someone she loves will die.

The Thunderbirds killed me. They are superior to humans and all other shifters in their opinion. Fine, fine but if so how can they be so incredibly stupid and lack any understanding of logic? They're out for revenge. When they are told they have the wrong Pride and have been manipulated they refuse to listen because they must have revenge!! They won't admit to who their informant was because that wouldn't be honorable. It doesn't matter if their informant is a liar and has no such honor. They want proof but give hardly any time to provide it and are willing to kill an innocent if it's not provided by the deadline. Again, where is the honor in that? I'm all for them avenging their dead but if you are attacking the wrong people you aren't avenging them. How could they not grasp that? I just really did not like them one single bit.

I love this series but it is getting harder and harder to read with the last two books. Half the book, Faythe becoming a leader, really works for me. I love watching her grow into her future role and we get to see a good bit of that in this book. She makes some terribly hard decisions to protect her Pride. She's determined, fierce, brave. The other half, the triangle with Jace and Marc, just leaves me feeling dirty and not in a good way. I really don't like how it's playing out. How Faythe kept Marc in the dark and kept making excuses for not telling him. The way he finally found out. God, my heart just broke for him. You can see how much he's grown over the books with how he dealt with it. Was amazed he was able to control himself so well. I love a good triangle but not when cheating and lying are involved. To me Marc and Faythe had committed to one another. If things with Jace had happened prior to that I wouldn't have minded nearly as much but once commitment is involved it just makes me lose any respect for the cheaters (and that is most definitely what Faythe and Jace are). I'm tired of Faythe's excuses and not liking Jace and his new attitude. Sad since he was my favorite character in book one. Things really change. I know that was a lot of complaints about the book but I really did enjoy it. The writing was great but had me very frustrated with Faythe and the bad guys (Malone and crew) getting away with so much.

Amazon | Goodreads