The Snow Leopard's Christmas Surprise, Emilia Hartley

I really liked the idea of this book because I'm all about big cat shifters, especially the kind that are a little more elusive in real life.  And the fated mate plus a baby surprise are also tropes I enjoy.  The way this came together was not exactly my favorite.  There were stellar moments, like the protectiveness with the middle of the night scare, the playfulness in the snow, the discovery of the son's first shift, the moment of declaring the claim...all of those were moments that made me have faith in the couple and their future happiness.  Unfortunately, all of those moments were short and the predominant feel of the book was that of Ellie never being supported or understood or even respected.  Sure at the very end Nolan did something that made her think he knew her and her goals but that was a little out of left field because his comments and actions up to this point didn't speak to that at all.  The disconnect was unfortunate.

The romance was kind of there but because I didn't see them connecting and coming to any kind of satisfying equality or understanding of one another I din't really believe in their romance.  I felt like there was lust and a draw toward one another, but love and anything else wasn't being built.  Especially because Ellie was constantly undermining Nolan's efforts, talking herself away from him, being prideful to the point of pig-headed and inflexible rather than just stubborn.  Nolan did a lot of work to show his commitment but there's only about a week of time passing so while I don't actually doubt his commitment to sticking around, I do doubt their relationship and the veracity of their feelings.

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