Review: Shift by Karina Espinosa

Shift (Mackenzie Grey #1) by Karina Espinosa

Release Date: February 10, 2015

Genres: Paranormal - Werewolves, Romance

Pages:342

Source: E-Book,Author provided review copy

Goodreads Description:

It's hard enough being an undergraduate student, an intern at Downtown Manhattan's police station, and a bouncer at a local bar. Add her now ex-boyfriend who recently dumped her for the school's resident bimbo—oh, and she's a werewolf.
Mackenzie Grey meets her match when she is kidnapped by the Brooklyn Pack and tossed between Sebastian and Jonah—the Alpha and the Beta. Being a lone-wolf in the city is dangerous, and now that the Pack has found her, so can every supernatural being in the Tri-State area. And not even her sarcastic, smart mouth can get her out of this.
When a string of kidnappings involves Mackenzie in supernatural politics, she questions her new acquaintances and finds unlikely allies. Can she escape Pack law and keep her freedom—or will she be condemned to an unwanted path?


 My Review

I absolutely LOVED this book! I only wish I had started it on a Friday night. Then I could have read it in one sitting. But I had to put it down a few times to go to sleep so that I could get up to work the next morning.

I haven’t read a lot of books about shifters/werewolves. The majority of the books with shifters that I have read, have had shifters as a side character instead of the main character. After reading Shift, I find that I really like books about shifters and definitely want to read more.

I loved Mackenzie’s character! She is determined and knows what she wants to do with her life.  She has a potty mouth, but man she doesn’t take shit off no one! Her mouth does get her in trouble some though. But that’s part of what makes this book great.

Then there’s her devoted and loyal best friend Amy. I hope we get to know more about Amy in future books. We’re told that Amy is a smart cookie, but as she’s a side character we don’t get to know too much about her.

Then there’s the men of the book - Jonah, Sebastian, and I’m going to include Jackson. I will have to say that when we’re first introduced to the trio (I’m not counting the first scene where Mackenzie has the run-in with Jonah), I was confused about the relationship between the three. I guessed they were the other werewolves of the book. But I thought they were all brothers (only Jonah and Jackson are brothers). As you continue to learn more about the trio, it’s easy to see why I thought this. They were practically raised as brothers.

There are many more interesting characters - Lucian, Ollie, Blu, and Bernard to name a few -- that we are introduced to throughout the book that could make good side books.The book has a lot of strong and interesting characters.

Then there’s the action. It is spectacular! It is full of action from the very start. Mackenzie causes some of the action by not knowing when to keep her mouth shut. But it brings some interesting turns in events. I have to say that I went into the book thinking the romance among the werewolves would be the main theme of the book. But it’s not. There’s a whole story line and the romance/attraction is brought in as part of the story line. I appreciate that. There were some events that I didn’t see coming.

I normally dislike love triangles because I have difficulty choosing between men. But with this book, I was pretty much able to favor one man over the other. I always like it when the main characters are drawn to each other by some supernatural connection. I think that is part of why I liked this book so much - Mackenzie was drawn to Sebastian and Jonah because of her wolf.

Sebastian and Jonah were a bit over protective of Mackenzie almost to the point of being annoying. But instead I actually liked their protectiveness. I think maybe I was ok with it because Mackenzie was such a strong character and not weak. I enjoy a story that includes a man who will go to great lengths to make sure the woman is comfortable, safe and happy; but also includes a woman strong enough to tell the man when he needs to back off because she’s capable of protecting herself.

I am glad that I didn’t read this book when it was released as it ends in somewhat of a cliffhanger. It would have been a cliffhanger that I could have dealt with. I just wouldn’t have liked waiting for the next book. Lucky for me I don’t have to wait! I received review copies of both Shift and Caged from the author in exchange for my reviews. Although I would like to warn against reading the synopsis for Caged while in the process of reading Shift. It does give away some of the ending of Shift. I made the mistake of doing this and wished I hadn’t.

I’m off to start reading Caged now!