Review: Lion’s Share by Rachel Vincent

Posted March 28, 2015 by Lola in Fantasy, My To-Be Read List, Review, Romance / 12 Comments

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Because reading is better than real life

My To-Be Read List is a meme hosted by Because Reading is Better Than Real Life where at the beginning of the month visitors can choose which book I’ll be reading this month. On the first saturday of a month the poll will be up, then on the second saturday of the month I’ll announce the book that won and on the last saturday of the month I’ll post my review of the book.

Lion's shareLion’s Share (Wildcats #1)
by Rachel Vincent

Blurb:
Abby Wade has a dangerous secret.

Two months ago, she disobeyed an order, but instead of kicking her out of the Pride, Jace offered her a job. Since then, she’s been battling a completely inappropriate crush on the young, hot Alpha. But when accepting his job offer seems like the only way to keep her skeletons safely in their closet, Abby doesn’t hesitate.

Jace Hammond has a big problem.

A rogue is slaughtering humans in his territory, and he must eliminate the threat before the entire shifter species is exposed. There could not be a worse time for Abby to accept a job he only offered as a boost to her confidence. Abby is smart, beautiful, and resilient—more than enough to distract any man from the mission. Unfortunately, she may just be the worst enforcer ever to hold the title.

As they hunt the killer, Abby’s secret becomes a threat to Jace’s authority and to her own life. But the real danger is the grip she has on his twice-shy heart.

My Review
I loved Rachel her Shifter, series so when I heard of a spin-off series I had to grab my copy on the day of release, although it took me a bit longer before I got around to reading it. Lion’s Share takes place in the same world as the Shifter series and it was so nice to be back in that world and see all those familiar characters again. And while I really enjoyed this book, there was something missing that prevents me from giving this a 5 star.

After reading this book I can say the prequel novella Hunt makes a lot more sense and it seems a lot more important in the light of what happens in this book. It continues the story from the prequel and expands on it. I did like the plot, it’s the same combination of dark, shifter and drama I’ve come to expect. There are also some aspects I didn’t expect and I though the plot point about the pride made up of shifters that they are lobbying for was an interesting development and I can’t wait to learn more about it in the next book. The plot is pretty fast paced and I easily read this book in a few sittings as I just wanted to keep reading.

The characters are mostly familiar ones and I liked that, it felt a bit like greeting old friends and visiting them again after a long absence. We learn what happened to most of the characters in the gap between these two series and meet some new additions to the cast. This book is told from both Abby and Jace their point of view, which did work for the story and put the focus a bit more on the romance. I liked Abby, she was a great character, although you do see a bit of Faythe in her, she seems more reckless. Although we do get her point of view, she is hiding something from the reader and that was a bit weird. We do find out at the end of the book, but it still annoyed me. There where some hints about what she was hiding, but I only figured it out slightly before the other characters did. Although my first suspicion was close.

Rachel mentioned this book would be more focus on romance, although I can’t say it took over the plot it did got a lot of attention. I also found at times it developed a bit fast, although these characters have ofcourse known each longer then this book only, it still felt like it went a bit too fast at times. Also I didn’t really feel the romance or their connection/ spark. And I was surprised to learn that Abby was engaged to Brian at the start of this book. It did add some extra drama to the romance, but I wasn’t particulary fond of it. And Jace’s behaviour annoyed me at times, I was a bit disappointed her hadn’t changed more, even though he was now a alpha. He already made this mistake once and was fully prepared to make it another time, although Abby did encourage him as well. I still would’ve liked the romance better with Brian completely out of the way.

This book has some world building, for fans of the series most of this is already known, but it isn’t done in an annoying way so I didn’t mind. I do think that you can start with this series if you want as most things do get explained, although I do think you get a more fun reading experience if you read the Shifters series first. Then there are some new developments in this world with the hunters and the new pride they are trying to establish. Overall it was great to be back in this world and there are enough reminders of the councils power and how the Shifter community works.

To conclude: I really enjoyed this book and it was great being back into this world. The character almost feel like friends who I haven’t seen for a long time and it was nice to learn what had changed in the meantime. The story focusses on Jace and Abby and the plot surrounding the hunters and there’s a fair share of romance. I liked the characters, although I liked Abby more than Jace. Jace was never my favourite character in the first series and I didn’t like some of his behaviour in this book. The romance developed fast, but I did like it, it just missed the spark that the shifter books did have. All in all it’s a nice start of this series and neatly sets the stage for the further books in this series.

4-star

You can add Lion’s Share to your to-read list on Goodreads

You can buy Lion’s Share here:
Amazon
B&N
Kobo

Other books I read and reviewed by this author:
– Rachel Vincent – Oath Bound (Unbound #3) – 4 stars
– Rachel Vincent – With All My Soul (soul Screamers #7) – 3 stars
– Rachel Vincent – Hunt (Wildcats #0.5) – 3 stars

What do you think of spinn-off series? Love them? Hate them?

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12 responses to “Review: Lion’s Share by Rachel Vincent

    • I have read a few spinn-off series, but not a lot. The only other one I can think of at the moment is the Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead. That one was great as well, so I think in general I am positive towards them, unless I feel like there’s nothing more to tell.
      Lola recently posted…Review: Lion’s Share by Rachel VincentMy Profile

    • That’s certainly half the fun of a spinn-off series, seeing all the old characters again from another point of view. I hope you get around to reading the Shifters series eventually! The Shifter series is a great series, although the main character can be a bit annoying at times.

    • I would definitely recommend her Shifters and Wildcats series. I think spinnoff series can be a lot of fun, like this one. I haven’t read the Percy Jackson series.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #119My Profile

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