Shift in Time by @themercyceleste #LGBT #Review

Dana reviews Shift in Time (Out of Time book 1) by Mercy Celeste (Self-published on July 21, 2014, 354 pages)

 

Blurb: True love’s first kiss will not break a curse.

Everyone knows that. Even a Normal like Morgan Monstros knows that.
But Fane Llewellyn isn’t everyone. He’s like no one Morgan has ever met.

Small, fragile and fierce, Fane doesn’t remember who he is or where he came from. He remembers pain and loneliness. Decades of pain and loneliness. And Morgan Monstros. He could never forget Gan. Gan was his from the day he came to the island. And Fane would fight to the death to keep Morgan safe. Even if he has to fight the whole world to do it.

Take one powerless witch, a sassy Siamese familiar, a panther shifter with amnesia, a meddling wolf clan, and a coven of witches hell bent on war, swirl all together and you get the perfect spell for all out mayhem…..oh yeah and there’s chocolate cake too.

Warning: Some blood play due to the nature of the beast. And intense graphic violence to a chocolate cake.

Buy Link: Amazon

My review: I am a big fan of Mercy Celeste. The books I’ve read of hers in the past were more of a contemporary m/m romance. I worried if I would enjoy a paranormal book as much as the others, but I shouldn’t have been concerned. The author did an excellent job creating a paranormal story not like any I’ve read as of yet.

First of all, we have Morgan who comes from a family of witches, while having no power of his own, or so he thinks. Second, there is Fane who came from a family of wolf shifters, but spent the last 150 years cursed into the form of a housecat, unable to shift back into a human or wolf. Though the story isn’t about a fate linking them together, something clearly magical is happening between the two of them. From Fane’s transformation from cat to man; to Morgan’s being able to shift into the same form his lover takes, to the mental communication they share.

As Morgan and Fane start to grow closer, Morgan is reminded of a vow he was forced to make, never to lie with another man. We learn a little about his vindictive grandmother, and the council she belonged to, led by a corrupt witch. When Morgan breaks his promise, trouble arises, and the council comes after him and Fane. Morgan has to find what happened to his magic and the men escape to Fane’s family for protection but they have trouble trusting Fane due to his new human and shifter form.

The story is exciting and fast paced at times, romantic and sexy at others. I loved the visits through history that show what Fane was like pre-curse, and even the shorter history of Morgan was interesting. There were lots of secrets and rightful powers had to be reclaimed by Morgan and Fane in order to save each other’s lives, and a ghost to lay to rest. It was a very interesting story, and well edited. I am excited to find that it is the first book in a series and can’t wait for the next one.

About the author: Mercy Celeste is the pen name and super hero persona of mild mannered MJ Colbert….which is bull, I’m not mild mannered. I was, in fact, raised in a barn–or several. We even had grain silos. My motto growing up, anything a boy can do, I’m right behind him doing it just as well or better. I’ve broken too many bones to begin to count. Scraped, skinned or scarred pretty much every thing that can be scraped, skinned or scarred. How I’m still walking and talking is a miracle.

I’m from Florida but I live in Alabama, I think I’ll just start saying I’m from Florabama and be done with it. I’m a rebel supporting the Florida State Seminoles in the land of the SEC. Roll Tide, just not at my house. I married the love of my life (I say that now next week it might change) when I was 19, I’ve been stuck with him almost 24 years now. We have four kids. My oldest is 21 my youngest is 6. I dabble in furniture restoration and quilting. I attended the University of South Alabama, here in Mobile, for about six years, and never graduated. I studied things like Early Childhood Education and History when I should have been over in the business department. But it wasn’t time wasted. I met my best friend there. I learned how to research. And found out that I have no interest in one subject enough to actually major in it. Jack of All Trades master of none, that’s me. I’ve worked in a sewing factory, as a pizza delivery driver, waited tables and in retail, with a three day stop at Florida State Hospital (the state mental facility) before I hightailed it home in absolute terror.

I spend my non-writing time chasing kids across this city. I have two Maine Coon cats who have no idea that they’re cats. Some days I’m torn on whether they are dogs or human, depending on what they’ve destroyed and how much it meant to me.

I live a small life, but it’s full. Usually full of laughter, and bullshit. But sometimes the bullshit is what makes the laughter. I’d not change a thing, even the bullshit.

So about the writing, well, I don’t really consider myself to be a writer. I’m a storyteller, and when I have a story to tell, it won’t rest until it’s twisted me up and purged itself. The result is at times comical or tragic, depending on the people who live in my head and what they have to say. Most days that’s not a lot of anything. Others I can’t shut them up. They especially love when I’m driving, oh, yeah, a drive across town is a lesson in how not to get myself killed or pulled over for reckless driving. And those are the good days.

Welcome to my crazy world, if it’s boring now, wait five minutes, and don’t blink. Things have a tendency to get interesting around me.