A Wolf Reborn: Blue Moon Shifters Book 1, Isha Fang

I was so incredibly confused.  There was so much that distracted from the flow of the story, the characters got in their own way so dang often, the romantic progression was extremely frustrating, the plot didn't feel focused, and the characters weren't compelling on their own.  The potential came from the incredibly unique ideas that were attempted and the implications for the future that came right at the end of this story.  While I wasn't a fan of how everything was integrated, with some objective editing and streamlining, this series could improve immensely and would be worth a second look.

I don't really want this review to seem more like a rant, but there are some glaring issues that bother me enough to feel it important enough to include so as to caution potential readers of possible struggles.  So with that introduction...on to the not-rant!

The pack dynamics were really convoluted with so many links, relationships, hierarchies, and crossovers.  There was a severe lack of clarity that left me trying to accept confusion rather than parse out who was what and why they were important.  Similarly there was a cultural element here that tried way too hard to be poetic and poignant.  The explanations and practices were nice in theory, but poorly executed and served as a confusion as to why so much of that was important because the culture wasn't truly connected to the plot or the MC's despite the blood relation.

Cillin was ... strange?  He seemed older and focused and put-together, but as soon as his mate is discovered, it's like he becomes a different person.  His stunned moments where he internally freaks out are bizarre, his interactions with Conor are baffling, and his inner dialogues with his wolf are a little more codependent than I'm comfortable with.  And what is with the descriptions, explanations, and the scene with his Fbuddy?  Completely unnecessary and just left me feeling icky when we kinda roll back around to the non-building of his relationship with Conor...which is a whole other thing.  Time jumps, holding back, a bizarre heat, unvoiced feelings, drama and trauma, adoptions...what else can we include but not integrate?

There are quite a few threads that are picked up and left to dangle in the wind only to be brought back up with an unsatisfactory integration.  Cillin is supposed to have a lunch with his father? grandfather? someone regarding the Blue Moon shifter thing that we never read about in any way and then during a cultural ceremony with Conor's family it gets brought up in a way that leaves me with more questions than answers, and not in an intriguing way that would bring me back to the series for more.  And the whole thing with Mark's alpha is kind of given a response after the truly crazy is revealed, but there's no real closure there at all.  That whole convoluted mess is too big to be wrapped up with a couple sentences and yet that's what we're given.

And then there's the voice.  Cillin starts off with a sage sounding voice, but then modern slang and vernacular is tossed in which doesn't fit at all with who we meet initially.  They're supposed to be in Boston but no one sounds like they're from Boston.  There are references and languages being tossed around from Ireland and India and it confuses the entire location at every turn.  With no flow in the dialogues it was so hard to want to keep reading.

What's with all the fainting?  I mean, at certain times it's appropriate, and sometimes with being pregnant there's a bloodflow issue at times (I had very low blood pressure with my second so I get feeling faint), but to completely faint as often as Conor does was excessive to say the least.  None of it served any purpose except to make me feel that Conor was weak which did nothing to give me any hope that he'll actually live up to the powers and responsibility he'll have in the books to come.

Ultimately, the end was the best part with making me want to learn more about the powers and implications of the future.  Who else will be Blue Moon, what will they do, how will everything come together?  I didn't love this story, but felt mildly interested in what will come next.  I wish so hard that this was as good as I had hoped it would be, but that was not the case.

*$3.99 on Amazon

An Omega who thinks he's broken and cannot have a mate.
An Alpha who is ready to find his destined mate!

Conor:
An accident turns violent and ends with me in the hospital. I thought nothing else dramatic could happen.
I was wrong.
My doctor turned out to be everything I crave, but everything I’m afraid of.
I’m nothing special, just an omega that can’t shift.
Cillin is an alpha.
I can’t understand why he wants me and yet, he keeps pulling me in.


Cillin:
What was meant to be a normal day at the hospital turned into the most important one of my life. Working in the ER isn’t a glamorous job, but one I love, and treating patients is an everyday occurrence.
Until the patient turns out to be my fated.
Too late to turn back now; I’ve imprinted on him.
Now, I just have to convince him to stay. He may not see it but I know he’s special.

Will they find their way to each other?
Will fate prove the omega is not broken?
Or will they lose each other forever?