Romancing the Weekends: Desperately Seeking Shapeshifter by Jessica Sims

Sara is a werewolf who was bitten, not born.  She was bitten by her abusive ex-boyfriend who didn’t teach her anything about being a werewolf. Due to a set of circumstances that happen in book 1, the ex is no longer around to teach her anything even if she wanted him to.  Now she lives with her human sister and her sister’s boyfriend, Beau, who is the alpha of a were-cougar clan.  Female werewolves are rare, and there is a werewolf pack nearby who wants Sara, against her will, as a mate.  To force Beau to give up Sara the wolves have kidnapped Beau’s sister and are holding her to trade for Sara.Sara decides they will agree to the trade, then as soon as they get Beau’s sister, they will claim Sara has a mate and therefore is unable to join the wolf pack.  She needs a fake mate, so Beau suggests his best friend, a big, scary bear-shifter named Ramsey.  Ramsey is a were-bear that was exiled from his clan when he was 15, and has been with Beau’s Alliance ever since.  He is gruff, a loner, and other shifters fear him due to his size and strength.  He agrees to protect Sara and takes that promise very seriously…

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Desperately Seeking Shapeshifter was absolutely adorable!  I fell in love with Ramsey at first sight – big and strong, loyal, protective, and very inexperienced in the ways of women.  As a heroine, Sara is a very sympathetic character – she’s been living with an abuser for years, and she bears the physical and mental scars from that.  Ramsey is patient with her, helping her with her shifting (she was never taught the proper way) and keeping her out of the hands of a potentially abusive werewolf pack.  I love when he starts to fix up his den for her and she starts to realize that he’s letting her steer the relationship; together, they make a great couple.

This story was so much fun!  There are also some very entertaining side stories happening – Sara and her sister, Bath, run a shapeshifter dating agency, which is kind of neat.  Bath is planning her wedding to Beau, and then there’s also Connor, one of the pack wolves, who has feelings for Beau’s sister, whom he got involved with while she was kidnapped.  There is a whole cast of interesting secondary characters who have potential stories that I would love to read.

Ms. Sims works the romance and plot together well and paces it so that I’m never bored.  There were several spots where I wondered about the worldbuilding, especially in the beginning, but we learned about it along with our heroine, so it was not a problem that I didn’t read the first book before reading Desperately Seeking Shapeshifter.

I absolutely cannot wait until August for the next book, Must Love Fangs.

 

Recommendations

Fans of shapeshifter romance will absolutely love Desperately Seeking Shapeshifter; great characters, interesting worldbuilding, and a nice romance to keep you turning the pages.

 

Other Novels you might like, similar to ‘Desperately Seeking Shapeshifter’:

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn