This was a good one, Curious One! I took my own advice and did some research. I found a collection of five books, written by individual authors that all centered around shifters. The first book, Wolf’s Bane by Aimee Easterling revolves around two sisters who are secretly fox shifters (kitsune) and a particular alpha wolf who isn’t the leading alpha of the pack. I will try to keep these all a bit shorter than usual too.
Let’s Dig In!
To start, I loved how there were other elements included in the world that Easterling created for us in Wolf’s Bane. It was kind of like reading a suspense or mystery novel with the bonus of some shifter action, the ghost of a mother, soul magic and the judgment from social service workers.
It was honestly incredible and I didn’t want it to end. You are immediately drawn into the tension created by life-and-death secrets. To be a fox shifter is punishable by death and the wolf shifters typically are those who dole out said punishment. So, when they run into a new alpha within the first two pages, you can’t help but tense up!
A Whole Lotta’ ‘Whoa’ in Wolf’s Bane
On top of that, in three pages you are introduced to the news of a murderer in the city, a wolf shifter alpha, mysterious magic from Mai, the secret fox shifters both in Mai and Kira AND the fact that Mai works a second job as a cage fighter! That’s a whole lot of ‘WHOA’ packed into the first chapter. Just saying…
Ma Scrubbs is Mai’s cage fighting career boss who threw fights with Mai because she could. Not to mention the second chapter is all about a cage fight with the unknown alpha from the first chapter and his alpha brother. Two alphas? I was confused there too. Hahah!
So, she throws the fight and the biggest thing I don’t fully understand is how she knows without a doubt that they are wolf shifters, yet they cannot tell that she isn’t. They know she’s a shifter, but they assume that she’s wolf too. It did say that kitsune were supposedly eradicated over a century ago, but I’m still not sure I understand how they wouldn’t recognize a different scent, even if they couldn’t fully identify it. And I wish we got some background into that. Maybe in the next book of the series. There was a lot left unanswered at the conclusion of Wolf’s Bane.
Gunner and Mai – The Drama within Wolf’s Bane
Mai ends up getting fired from her day job as the P.E. teacher for the private school Kira attends. She was taking the kids through a fencing class when Kira started a fight with three bullies. Mai gets fired and Kira is suspended for a few days, pending the clearance of a tuition check for the remainder of the year. They are visited by a social worker later that day and Mai has five days to find a new, steady job to support Kira or they will take her. She ends up working for Gunner, the mysterious alpha, not alpha, wolf.
Gunner is looking for a shifter serial killer that’s using their city as its hunting ground. He believes that Mai is the key to finding him or her and since she just lost her full-time job at the school, she reluctantly takes the job offer.
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Kidnapping Killer
On her second day at the new job, she ditches her werewolf companions and gets to the ring barely with enough time to prepare for her fight that night. Turns out, she is battling Gunner. However, at the end, she gets notified that Kira is missing. Kira obviously wouldn’t just run away, so Mai charges off and makes up a list (only one name) of who would kidnap her sister.
When Mai gets to their apartment, a piece of paper is stuck to the door and it knows who they are. That they are fox shifters and that the kidnapper has their mother’s belongings that Kira sold to help with bills is a shock to Mai and she has to ditch her only ally in order to keep Kira safe because the note said no werewolves.
Mai was collecting their identification and passports and what little money they had left when the social worker showed up again, unannounced and demands to see Kira. Mai ditches him and runs into Gunner who finds out she was planning on running. They get attacked by a pack of rival werewolves and Mai ditches Gunner in order to get to the destination the kidnapper said to save Kira.
Plot Twist
The social worker called the police when he saw the note tagged to their apartment door and cops were swarming the location that Mai was supposed to meet the kidnapper at.
Mai ends up back at the mansion where Gunner and his crew live. Because she ditched him, his crew are less than thrilled to see her and are out for blood. They think she left him to die and she was literally saved by the bell when her phone rings.
Ma Scrubbs (the lady who runs the boxing ring and is the closest thing the girls had to a mother after their died) is calling to say that she kidnapped Kira and gave her to the person who is committing the murders with their mother’s items.
Gunner pays what Ma Scrubbs wants and takes his crew with Mai to the location of the warehouse to get Kira back. They run into more of the rival werewolves and the fighting escalates. Mai slips into the warehouse to find Kira hanging by a fraying rope being recorded and watched by a remote laptop. Kira tells Mai what happens, and we find out that Kira sold her magic ball to Ma Scrubbs to pay their bills and her tuition. The person who is recording Kira though doesn’t know that she can’t shift without the star ball, so Kira is doomed.
How Wolf’s Bane Exposes Mai’s Kitsune Secret
The only way for Mai to save her is to shift into a fox and catch her midair. Too bad Gunner and his crew were now inside the warehouse as well and watching the two sisters as Mai changed into a fox to jump far enough to catch her sister and change back into human to hold onto her before landing on the other side of the catwalk above the warehouse floor.
Right after Kira was safe again, chaos broke out below them as the rival werewolves began fighting with Gunner’s crew. Mai couldn’t just watch so she jumped down the stairs and joined the battle. The police once again mysteriously show up and break up the battle with tear gas and handcuffs. They are released, but Mai is still in debt to Gunner and Kira is still in danger.
Gunner and his older brother Ransom (the true pack leader) interrogate Mai and Gunner is charged with “taking care of them and keeping an eye on them personally” by Ransom.
From Sneaking Out to Fighting it Out
Gunner finds Mai sneaking out of the house and goes with her to the warehouse. They’re on a mission. Mai explained to Gunner that there was a laptop recording Kira. Hopefully they can trace the laptop to the killer/kidnapper. She left her clothes on the catwalk as well. Can’t forget about those!
They separate and she runs into the killer. They have a battle that she fails to find the identity of the killer. Mai uses her star ball and the killer, who now possesses Kira’s star ball are shocked when their magical swords meet. The collision causes Mai to lose her connection to her mother’s ghost and memories. Lots of questions slam into Mai, including the worry that her mother is now slave to the killer. Is her ghost trapped within “his” star ball now? Mai just lost a part of herself and somehow, the killer knew it would happen.
Shocks and Even More Plot Twists!?
I really enjoyed Wolf’s Bane. It held lots of questions, but because of the way it was written, I fully expect each question to be answered and solved throughout the series. I also expect there will be a massive shock when we find out who the killer is! Gunner is suspicious that it might be his brother, Ransom, but I’m not so sure. They sure know a lot more about kitsune then the sisters do and that means something. Especially since they are supposedly extinct and have been for a century now.
There will probably be at least one alpha battle between the brothers and a few familial disputes between the crew. Perhaps Gunner will take on the city as new alpha and Ransom will remain alpha of everything else. So many options! I do know I will put this series on my list to read further into though. It was incredible!
Aimee Easterling – Author of Wolf’s Bane
Aimee Easterling has an incredible website that catches your eye. It’s simple and engaging and I probably spent an hour, easy, looking at her content.
Check out Aimee Easterling at Facebook and insider her incredible blog on her Website!
She’s one of the first authors I’ve discussed here on Time for a Book who still posts on her blog too! She is an incredible writer, and I can’t wait to dive further into her collections!
Each character was well-built and given room for growth throughout the Moon Marked Series and the world Easterling created…just wow…
Fitting Reads for any Young Adult!
I would suggest any of Easterling’s portfolio to any age reader who enjoys the urban fantasy setting. Expect to enjoy more discussions of her work in the future, Curious One, as I dig farther into her worlds.
I hope your year is moving along with smiles, laughter and growth! If you have a shifter series or a shifter book that is a personal favorite, let me know! I would love nothing more than to expand my horizons and join in on a fun world. Especially if it’s a favorite of yours! For now…
…it’s time for another book…
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