Title: Secret Chemistry
Series: Shifters 01
Author: Chris T. Kat
Genre: Paranormal, Shifters
Length: Novel (220pgs)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (11th January 2013)
Heat: Explicit
Heart: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: Not all werewolf societies are created equal. The one Tim Evans grew up in detests those not of “pure blood”—so when Tim discovers his mate is Jay, a male fox-wolf hybrid ten years his junior, it shocks him, to say the least. Too young to claim his mate and too weak to protect him from the rest of the pack, Tim fears for Jay’s life. When a human gets hold of Jay, Tim believes he has lost him forever.
The next eighteen years are hell. Tim devotes his life to his family and running their stable, but anger and depression threaten to consume him. Then fate brings Jay back into his life. Tim knows Jay feels the same attraction he does—mates always do. So why won’t Jay act on it?
Purchase Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3520
Review: Tim is thirteen when he first discovers his mate, but the pull is too much to ignore and against the orders of his mother and brother he seeks him out. Tim gets the shock of his life, when he discovers his mate is still a cub of only three and that he is also a wolf/fox hybrid. But, the danger his mate is in forces him to try to protect him, because Tim’s pack is on the hunt… for hybrids. Eighteen years of struggling to cope without his mate takes its toll on Tim, until one day his mate turns up looking to buy a horse. But, although he seems attracted to Tim, he doesn’t seem to have an idea about shifters or mating… just what is Tim supposed to do?
This story is split into two parts, 1993 when Tim is thirteen and first finds his mate and 2011 when he meets him for the second time. Thirteen year old Tim risks his life to protect the wolf/fox cub that is his mate. He knows that if any of his pack finds them, then Jay won’t have a chance of survival. But, in the process of saving the cute cub, he lands in the hands of humans and Tim thinks he may never see him again. When they meet again eighteen years later, Tim is over the moon, but he quickly realizes that Jay has no clue of the world they live in or the danger that he is in… including from Tim’s own father, the Alpha of the pack.
I really enjoyed this story and was pleased with how quickly it moved along. During the first part of the story you can feel Tim’s torn feelings on having disobeyed his family, but also his confusion and elation of having found his mate. You get the fear of having to run to protect his mate and the devastation of having to leave him in the hands of humans. Jay is an absolute sweetheart as a cub and you will fall in love with the little cheeky cub, and it is heart breaking when Tim and Jay are torn apart. During the second part of the story we have them meeting as adults. Tim struggles to contain his wolf and not to just mate Jay in front of the world, while Jay is confused by the powerful attraction he feels for a stranger. Tim has to explain everything concerning the shifter world to Jay, in-between hot bouts of sex and then Tim has to protect Jay when his father discovers Jay is a hybrid.
I have to say that this story was interesting with its shifter world. The fact that they could recognize mates from an early age and that while they have fast healing they still receive scars and that there are some injuries that can’t be healed was more realistic than some shifter stories. It was also really interesting seeing the way the pack ranking worked or rather how they tried to force it to work, and I am hoping that there will be a book for Robin (Tim’s brother), because he is such a great character that he deserves his own happiness. All the characters are great in their own way and Tim’s family is as interesting as the main characters are, and the main characters Tim and Jay are brilliant.
I will recommend this to those who love shifters, tension, conflict, attraction, pining, danger, escapes, really hot sex and a happy ending.