Reluctance by Bailey Bradford

91jMuO8X4EL._SL1500_Title: Reluctance
Series: Southwestern Shifters, #9
Author: Bailey Bradford
Genre: Paranormal Romance / Werewolves
Length: Novella (200 pages)
ISBN: 9780857156600
Publisher: Totally Bound (March 7th, 2014)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: What starts out as a simple assignment becomes everything Keegan ever feared, and everything he ever wanted.

Keegan has served Marcus, his Alpha Anax, to the best of his abilities. After the deaths of several guards a year ago, however, Keegan is afraid he’s going to unravel at the seams. His worry over keeping everyone safe robs him of sleep and any hope of peace.

And people are noticing. Members of the guards he is captain of think he needs to get laid, or at least remember how to laugh. Keegan thinks they need to learn that there are boundaries they shouldn’t cross with him. When he learns of a security breach by Marcus’ brother Aidan, exposing a flaw in the safety measures Keegan has set in place, Keegan is desperate to find someone to make sure the electronics at the shifter compound are break-in proof.

Marcus and Nathan are worried about Keegan. When they find someone to do the job Keegan needs done, they make sure Keegan is the one to take a short trip to Brazil to pick up the security expert, Olin. But when Olin and Keegan meet, they snap and snarl at each other while fighting the mating bond that keeps flaring between them.

Then something happens that forces them to both depend on each other, and if they’re lucky enough, they might even survive the ordeal. But first, they’ll have to escape their would-be captors, and make it through the rainforest, where strange things are bound to happen.

Purchase Link: https://www.totallybound.com/reluctance

Review: Well, I’ll be damned if this wasn’t an awesome instalment to this series. To be very honest I had somehow given up that this series would make that leap and go from flat and bland to something more, but as I said this instalment certainly went beyond my expectations.

That’s not to say there weren’t stereotypes, clichés, and the “fated forced mating” that I so much despise. But – at that is one huge “but” – the story made up for all those in a most exciting way for me. Made me think Ms. Bailey Bradford is getting better and better at her writing and conveying of emotions/feeling through written text. Because there was one hell of a charge and chemistry and electrifying eroticism nearly palpable all over the lines, the kinky stuff were deliciously written, shocking in their introduction, but amazingly developed as the mated bond went deeper and deeper.

And at this point, I’m going to put a full stop and go back a bit as the need to go over the characters is becoming heavy. Keegan; oh my freaking God, loved him. Totally loved him, even as he made one hell of a 180 turn the moment he laid hands on Olin. Did you notice I said hands not eyes? Yup, hands, because he sure fought the bond as much as he could. But who would have thought that Keegan, the control freak out turn so pliant when Shorty went to claim him… Just loved it! It was fun, it was hot, it made sense, and I had a blast reading this story. As for Olin, damn he was all short guys with a chip on their shoulders are. But I liked the fact that the author didn’t magically change him, rather let him slowly learn and accept and adapt to all the changes “Fate” threw his way. That short son of a … made my heart race with his sadistic streak, because yeah, this was one kinky/sadomasochistic read I absolutely adored.

Action wise, well there was intensity and a hell lot of running, but the story is left unfinished giving you the notion that another instalment linked with this one is going to continue this particular story in the future. The villain remains a mystery and a big, scary cat comes in to blur the waters. It is known that in Ms. Bradford world there are no known other shifters beside werewolves, but things are changing and they are damned well enticing. Perhaps this author has more to give in this series after all.

Definitely recommended to fans of the genre and there is that big promise of a change for the future instalment in this one, thus making this book a bit of a necessity in order to catch up with the twist on the path. Enjoy, I sure as hell did.