Jennifer Ashley – Mate Bond

The seventh book in the Shifters Unbound series, published April 7, 2015.
Genre: paranormal romance
Cover: not so good, if this is our hero, he should be wearing a Collar. And I don’t like the snarling wolves.



To cement the leadership of his North Carolina Shiftertown, Bowman O'Donnell agreed to a "mating of convenience". Two powerful wolf shifters, he and Kenzie keep the pack in order and are adored by all.
Bowman would do anything to protect Kenzie, for in each other's arms they've found far more than friendship. But as strong as their attachment is, they still haven't formed the elusive mate bond - the almost magical joining of true mates.
Now, with a monster ravaging the countryside and threatening the Shiftertown community, some in the pack fear that a pair without a true mate bond isn't strong enough to lead. Bowman and Kenzie will have to rely on their instinctive trust in one another to save their Shifters - and the ensuing battle will either destroy them or give them the chance to seize the love they've always craved.


Bowman and Kenzie are wolf shifters, have been mated for 15 years, they have one cub/pup and they lead their Shiftertown together. Their Shiftertown was made up with different species of shifters, gathered from all over the world. Kenzie’s pack is from the Ukraine, and her uncle Cristian is its Alpha. Cristian is not happy with the fact that the humans made Bowman the town’s leader, after all he had been leading his pack for much longer. The fact that Kenzie and Bowman have never developed the mating bond between them gives him hope that someday his beloved niece will fall for someone else and he can defeat Bowman and take over.
But although Kenzie and Bowman don’t show it, they deeply love each other and have eachother’s back whenever necessary.

Like now, in a bar outside Shiftertown, where some woman poses as a wannabe-groupie. They don’t buy the act, and Bowman tries to chase her off. It takes his mate to calm him down enough not to harm the woman. And then, just when they are blowing of some steam in the woods, some monster appears. It smells horrible, is huge and extremely strong. Bowman sends Kenzie back inside to keep the humans and his shifters safe, but he is no match for the monster. Hurt badly, he comes back inside, and it is Kenzie who organizes the rest of the shifters to fight it. They are outclassed though, and no one knows what it is they are fighting. Then Bowman lures it back outside and tries to run it over with Cade’s monster truck. The monster is hurt and runs off, and then just disappears.
Bowman is hurt even worse, so the next morning it is up to Kenzie to lead the shifters back, and try to find a trace of the monster. Just when they find some answers, the police interferes, interrogating Kenzie. But Gil Ramirez is not an ordinary cop, he wants shifter help to find and catch this monster, and Kenzie actually likes him. Still, something is off here.

To find the monster, and catch the one behind it all, Bowman and Cristian will have to work together. When Kenzie goes missing, they will find out the truth about their bond, feeling the legendary mating bond or not…


I love this series so much! I think this is my favourite shifter series of all those I love to read. I like how Kenzie stands up to Bowman every chance she has. She loves him very much and has from the first time she saw him. They are good together, but the lack of the mating bond makes them insecure. What if one of them suddenly develops that bond with another shifter? Or a human? Will they be left behind with a broken heart? The mating bond is supposed to overcome everything. So they are snarky and fighting a lot, but the mating heat is always upon them as well. Kenzie would love to have a house full of cubs, but so far they only have one son. And Ryan sure is a character! He knows he will be the next leader of the town, and he certainly is alpha enough for that. He is very endearing, he loves his parents and very much needs them, but he also says some things way beyond his age, and that is fun. And of course he is fearless.
Bowman was a wild shifter when he and his pack were rounded up and got collared. He is still very much wild, and always close to shifting. It takes Kenzie to calm him down, and keep him from tearing into people. He is a good leader, even though he never wanted the responsibility. And working together with other shifter species, is just not natural, but he has no choice in that either. To keep the peace with Cristian’s pack, he mated with Kenzie. As he has always been very much attracted to her, that was not really a mating of convenience, she was the only mate he ever wanted. But to tell her that? No way! He loves her deeply and is very much afraid of losing her one day.

It was a great story, and I do love to read about couples who are already mated. There are a lot of hot love scenes in this book, but the emotions between them are so real. I cared for them quickly. The hunt for the bad guy was different en original, and wow he really was a scary character.
And then the mysterious Gil, whom I did not like or trust at all, and who happened to be someone else we already know…

If you haven’t started reading this series and you do like shifters, what are you waiting for? This series is just so good! Even the novella’s in between.

10 stars.

© 2015 Reviews by Aurian