Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Tanner Groff has been on a mission since his wolf shifter pack was killed by hunters last year.  The former alpha, now lone wolf, has been crossing the country trying to find other shifters to warn them of the danger and prevent another slaughter like the one his pack experienced.  But lately, being a lone wolf has been trying on him.  Tanner wants to feel like he belongs somewhere, as wolves as social creatures.  He hopes to run into another wolf shifter pack or at least a group of shifters willing to let him stick around for a while.  Sensing a storm coming, Tanner decides to stop for a snack before going forward in front of the storm.  While there he scents another shifter at the truck stop.  He decides to follow the van that this shifter gets into.

Van Saunders is a bear shifter from a hidden community of shifters in Colorado.  He and his friend Parker are delivering merchandise that members of his community have made to be sold to the human world.  Knowing that a storm is coming, Van wants to get home for the first snow celebration that happens every year.  Having made a pit stop, Van is eager to get back on the road.  However, an accident further up the freeway and the approaching bad weather force the pair to exit and stop at another truck stop further up the road.  Uneasy with all the humans there, Van decides to take the back roads back home despite the bad weather.  As he gets ready to get into the van, he sees Parker struggling with another man.

Tanner, who had wiped out on his motorcycle, arrives at this truck stop thanks to the kindness of a fellow biker driving in a truck.  Noticing that he found the shifter’s van that he lost due to his accident, Tanner is relieved.  Then he sees the gorgeous bear shifter struggling with a man who appears to be trying to abduct him.  Not seeing Van’s partner anywhere, Tanner shifts to his wolf form and kills the would-be kidnapper.  Now Tanner and Van must work together to find Parker before he is either killed or is tortured for information on the shifter community.  They must also deal with the growing attraction that is building between them and not let it distract them from their mission.

This first book in A J Marcus’s new Hardwood Shifter series strikes all the usual chords when it comes to shifter novels.  You have shifters trying to remain hidden from society while trying to become more modern in their ways.  You have the evil hunters who want to kill all shifters.  And you have mates who fall for each other at almost first site.  The community of Hardwood Valley is somewhat unique in that it features a collection of different shifters that have been living together for over 200 years.  When you throw in the mages that protect the village you have a something that is not seen in most books.  The real treat of the book is Van’s friend Parker.  His shifted form is unusual and his personality fits his animal form.

The cover art by Latrisha Waters fits the book well.  Tanner in his leather jacket along with Van in his bear form are in front of a snowy Colorado mountain.

Sales Links:  Extasy Books | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 82 pages
Published April 15th 2016 by eXtasy
ISBN139781487406950
Edition LanguageEnglish

Series:  Hardwood Shifters

A New Alpha in Town (Hardwood Shifters #1)