Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Feral Curse by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Series: Feral (bk. 2) Spin-Off to Tantalize series

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Semi-Dystopian

Subjects: shape-shifters, supernatural, magic

Setting: Texas, near Austin and in a fictional small town called Pine Ridge

POV/Tense: 1st person POV present tense. Rotating between Kayla and Yoshi.

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 255 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Summary/ product description: “The second installment of New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith’s thrilling Feral series delivers danger, romance, and suspense in an all new action-packed adventure.

The adopted daughter of two respectable human parents, Kayla is a werecat in the closet. All she knows is the human world. When she comes out to her boyfriend, tragedy ensues, and her determination to know and embrace her heritage grows. Help appears in the lithe form of sexy male werecat Yoshi, backed up by Aimee and Clyde, as the four set out to solve the mystery of a possessed antique carousel while fielding miscast magic, obsessive strangers, and mounting species intolerance. Paranormal fans will go wild for this rousing second Feral adventure.”





My Review:  Feral Curse is the sequel to Feral Nights, a spin-off series to the Tantalize quartet. This time, the story is told from the perspective of Yoshi, the Asian were-cat who was in Feral Nights, and Kayla, an African American were-cat. Kayla was adopted and wasn’t aware of her were-cat heritage until she hit puberty. Her parents are both human, her father is mayor of the small town of Pine Ridge. The day after she tells her boyfriend Ben that she’s a were-cat, he is mysteriously hit by lightning and dies on a Western Carousel. Weeks later, Yoshi some how ends up in Pine Ridge and meet Kayla.

The author of this book always does a great job with characters. All her books seem very character driven and there’s always some humorous bickering between the characters. I absolutely love Yoshi. He’s so flirty and smirky. He’s a lot like his cat counter part personality-wise, or maybe just a teenage boy. He just wants affection and sexy times. He reminds me of Kenji from Shatter Me for some reason. He’s not very serious, and chases after girls, but never had a long relationship.

Kayla is also an interesting character. She’s very different. She’s uptight and smart and a prude. She wasn’t raised to be okay with being naked and shifting. She’s never met other shifters before. Aimee and Clyde both make an appearance, and both help Yoshi, even if Yoshi is jealous of Clyde being with Aimee.

These books are so much fun. They have a lot of interesting world building. It’s comtemporary, but with a Dystopian-like twist. Basically, the existence of shape-shifters has been know to the general public for maybe about a hundred years or so. It’s common knowledge. There’s a lot of prejiduces against them, but no segregation yet. Upheaval is just starting and as the main story line goes of there’s new reports about suspected shifter killings and new discoveries and protests.

Shifters could lose their right. Some states want everyone to undergo genetic testing and mark the shifters. I suspect the new book will be even more like dystopian books. This book mainly focuses of the paranormal elements. Yoshi and Kayla must reverse a spell that her dead boyfriend invoked. The plot flows well. It’s interesting to see that other shifter pop-up unexpectedly and interact with Kayla.

The book doesn’t have a complete wrap-up. It’s not standalone, and it definitely has a cliffhanger. I can’t wait to see how everything will turn out for Yoshi, Kayla, and the crew. I recommend this series if you enjoyed Tantalize, Eternal, Blesses and Diabolical. Also if you like the Curse Workers series by Holly Black. Or the Other series, Night World series, and anything with werewolves, shape-shifters and other paranormal beings.


Cover Art Review: The title is more interesting this time around. It’s a striking cover and I love the sunset colors.



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