Ami's Hoard

Kate Sherwood is one of those "I believe in her books" authors for me. Duly noted, I haven't read ALL of hers, I choose to stay away from her popular Dark Horse series because it features threesome, but I usually find her books solid.

This is another winner from Sherwood for me. Feral is a character driven book, where both main characters (plus a cute dog) progressed throughout. Right from the beginning, when Shane Black bring his young puppy, Dodger, to the clinic and discovers that Dodger is poisoned, I was hooked.

I loved the progress of Shane and Noah (he volunteers at the clinic) relationship. This was a slow-burn one -- mainly because of the differences between the two young men. Shane has been living on the streets. Noah, on the other hand, comes from good family. Shane knows the darker side of the city, Noah pretty much innocent of such situation.

But it doesn't mean that Noah is helpless. Noah can be very protective of Shane and when he is determined to be in the partnership -- as Shane has been hired by the vet to help spread information about the service for homeless people and their pets -- Noah doesn't back down from challenges. Even when they discover that Dodger might not be the only victim of the poison and things get a little bit dangerous for the two.

In their partnership, Shane learns to trust Noah (and others), while Noah learns to be more strong-willed, especially regarding his no-good ex. The ending feels Happy For Now, but I'm still satisfied because it feels a natural and believable ending.

PS: For those of you smut lovers, this book has no sex. Shane and Noah's first kiss came around 80%. But also take note, Kate Sherwood said that she wrote Shane character with asexuality in mind, even if she didn't use the term. As an asexual myself, I was happy with his characterization EVEN WITHOUT the term.