**This blog contains adult language and description of...ahem...adult activities.**
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!!! This is a recap blog which means I read the book and tell you everything that happens so you don't have to read it yourself. Do NOT continue to read unless you want to have the story completely and utterly spoiled.
Book Description: Blindfolded speed dating for shifters, what could go wrong? I spent years fighting alongside some of the best males I've ever known. One mission went wrong and I watched as my twin brother died in my arms. Now, I've settled into a less dangerous job developing new sonar technology for the military. My life looks perfect, but I can't get rid of this feeling I'm missing something. My family and friends keep pushing me to date, hoping I'll finally find someone to keep me busy. I don't want Mrs Right Now...I need my fated mate. My beast drives me to find her, so I keep agreeing to blind dates that end badly. But when a friend shows up on Halloween with an invite to a shifter speed dating event, I can't pass on this chance to find my fated mate.
This book was published in 2020 and this is my first time reading it. The cover says Indiana is a “USA Today bestselling author” which means absolutely nothing, but maybe it will work out in our favor this time. The cover's kind of cool. Does this mean he's a bat? Or are we getting clickbaited?
We begin with our protagonist testing out some sonar technology. It must be dangerous because his beast is trying to emerge to get them to safety. He's on a boat and there's a storm coming in so the water is turbulent. He needs to run the test for 15 more minutes but the storm is making it impossible so he has to quit early and head back in. He's going to upload the data from the sonar and hope that it tells him something.
When he gets back to his house we finally learn his name. It's Felix. His friend Jaden the panther shifter is waiting for him. They became friends while working for the shifter division of the military and now they're more like brothers. Jaden's learned of a special dating event at a shifter bar and he wants to go so they can find their mates. Felix is skeptical. People have been setting him up on blind dates and none of them work out. During the last one, a lizard shifter tried to eat him and that isn't a euphemism. He tries to get out of it but Jaden's already registered him.
Felix reads the flier for the speed dating event and realizes he'll be blindfolded. He wonders how he's supposed to find a mate when he can't even see her.
I mean, that's not usually how it works. Normally in these books the "beast" senses his mate and lets the human know. You don't need to see for that.
I guess he agrees to go, because the next thing I know, we're at the bar. It's ran by bears and Felix doesn't seem to like them much. I think the feeling might be mutual because the bear at the door tells him if he fucks things up he's a dead man. Before he and Jaden can even get inside, two bouncers throw out a fluffy purple unicorn. It turns out to be a man in a fur suit. I guess this event is a 'no furries allowed' kind of situationship.
There are nearly 100 males in attendance and only 5 eligible females. The women have amazing odds - the men not so much. The females are back in the private rooms and the males will be let in one at a time when their number is called.
Jaden and Felix are called together and led to the back by a woman who seems to be in charge of the event. She gives them their blindfolds and explains the rules. They have 15 minutes to talk to each woman. Even if they feel the “mate connection” she must accept them before things can proceed. There are lion shifters watching to make sure nothing inappropriate happens. The blindfolds can only be removed by the female if she accepts them.
Oddly enough, all of the females are human. I was expecting them to be shifters for some reason.
Felix gets into the first room and the woman immediately comments on how hot he is and starts to feel him up. He doesn't like her touch and his beast doesn't seem very interested either. Felix spends the entire 15 minutes trying to dodge her advances.
When he's led into the second room, he can tell the woman is in there but she doesn't say anything. He doesn't know the layout of the room and is afraid to move. He tries to use echolocation but apparently he sucks at it in human form so it does him no good. Finally he speaks to her, saying it's nice to meet her. She responds in a super condescending way and then asks him about his job. When he tells her he does research for the Army she dismisses him as being too uneducated.
In room three, his beast goes crazy. He knows immediately that the woman in this room is his mate and it freaks him out because he only has 15 minutes to convince her. She gets up to lead him to the table and he hears her fall. He can't see her to make sure she's okay and it's killing him. He kneels down just as she gets up and her head slams into his nose. He pushes aside the pain and asks if she's okay and she's touched that he's worried about her when she probably just broke his nose. He reminds her that he'll heal quickly and asks about her again. She says her ankle is sore and asks for help up. He reaches out and grabs a big handful of her boob.
Oops.
She doesn't get mad because he obviously can't see and she knows he didn't do it on purpose. She takes his hands so he can slide his hands up her arms and help her stand. She immediately buckles from the pain so he instinctively scoops her up in his arms. She guides him to a loveseat on the other side of the room and he sits with her on his lap. He loosens his arms so she can get away if she wants but she stays where she is. She asks what his animal is and he hesitates. He's never been ashamed of it before but he's worried she won't think it's impressive enough. He tells her he's a flying fox which is technically a kind of bat. She seems okay with it.
He nuzzles her neck a little because he wants to get his scent on her so the other males will know she's his. She likes it and gets closer, running her hands over his chest and face. He goes to kiss her and then the lion opens to the door to tell them time is up. The woman panics, spinning around to straddle him. She rips his blindfold off and claims him as her mate. The lion grumbles and leaves the room.
They kiss and then introduce themselves. Her name is Luna and she works as a late night DJ. They start to talk but suddenly an alarm goes off. Felix stands with Luna in his arms and heads out to see what's going on. A bear approaches and tells him that this event isn't sanctioned by the shifter council and if they don't get everyone out of the bar, it will be shut down permanently.
Felix wants to take Luna home to start the whole mate-bond thing but she has to go to work. He goes home and turns on the radio to listen to her show. She has a co-host named Apollo that Felix is jealous of instantly. When Luna speaks, he's confused. It doesn't sound like her at all. A minute later, Luna calls him saying she's locked out of the building. She wants him to come help her. He isn't sure what he can do, but he agrees immediately. He grabs the stuff he needs and then shifts to fly over.
Felix lands on a branch nearby and Luna is delighted. She calls him “adorable” and immediately comes over to pet him. He lets her for a bit and then falls backward, shifting into human form before he hits the ground. I guess in this universe they keep their clothes and anything else they're holding so he's not naked in public at least.
Felix picks the lock so she can get back in and then he hangs out in the tree outside in bat form until her shift is over. On the way back to Felix's house, he asks her why it isn't her voice on the radio. She tells him that the show is completely prerecorded by a male and female voice artist because her own voice didn't test well with audiences. She has a degree in media production, though, and she's really good with technology so she runs the show.
Just as they're pulling into Felix's drive, Luna gets a call from her boss and is fired out of the blue. Felix asks her what she'd do if she could pick any job in the world. Pay doesn't matter because he makes enough to support them both. Luna says that she'd like to run more events like the speed dating thing so that all her friends could find their mates. Felix sees the value in that because he has a lot of single friends looking for a mate too.
Unfortunately, when they get to his front door, there's a note taped to it. The note says that events like that are expressly forbidden because the human world isn't supposed to know about shifters. (Luna knew because her sister is married to one.) If the shifter council hears of anyone doing another public event of that kind, they will be arrested. Luna is crushed but Felix points out that the notice didn't say they couldn't have a private event. He wants to complete the mating ritual first, though, so everyone will know that Luna is off the market.
Felix explains the mating ritual to her. First she has to “accept the claiming” in front of another shifter which she did at the club when she claimed him in front of the lion. Then they each have to initiate sex one time which shows their consent and then the third time they have sex will complete the bond.
They get started right away. It's pretty standard stuff, though he does compare her....ahem....essence if you know what I mean to the “nectar from a Spider Flower”. I don't even know what that is.
Oh. I've seen these before. I just didn't know what they were called.
I wonder what the nectar tastes like. Did he compliment her or insult her? We'll never know.
The book ends with Luna getting all excited about carrying Felix's “pups” someday. The author offers an epilogue with more sex but you have to sign up for weekly updates and I just don't care that much. Book two is supposed to be about Jaden but this honestly wasn't good enough or bad enough for me to want to continue the series. It was just kind of 'meh'. The bat shifter aspect was kind of cool. I don't see many of them outside of vampire books. It was a nice change of pace.
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