Guardian’s Mate by Jennifer Ashley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Title: Guardian’s Mate
Author: Jennifer Ashley
Series: Shifters Unbound, #9
Pages: 320
Publisher: Berkley
Date: September 6, 2016
Summary:
She wasn’t ready to lead…
Chosen as the Guardian of her Montana Shiftertown, wolf Shifter Rae Lyall is facing opposition—for no woman has ever been selected for this powerful position. Still adjusting to the new authority thrust upon her, Rae travels to train with Zander Moncrieff, a Shifter healer, tasked with teaching her about her new role and its responsibilities.
He wasn’t ready to love…
A polar bear Shifter, Zander wears no Collar and follows no rules but his own. Rae finds him arrogant and demanding, yet compelling and intriguing. Zander has no wish to mate but the sassy Guardian is drawing him out of his shell, stirring feelings long suppressed. And when a new threat looms over Rae’s home, she and Zander must race to the rescue, forced closer to danger…and to each other.
Review:
I love Shifter books and I love Jennifer Ashley books, so this series is a match made in heaven for me.
And Rae, Guardian Shifter, and Zander, Shifter Healer, are mates chosen by the Goddess. However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t hard to convince.
Zander is a loner. He has friends, but mostly he stays by himself. It’s necessary for him to recover whenever he heals a shifter. Rae, however, comes from a loving family in a Shiftertown. They are her adopted family and feline where she is lupine, but that doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. She wants and needs to be part of a pack.
So, of course, she ends up dumped on Zander’s boat in Alaska. Did I mention she’s from Montana? At least she’s used to the cold.
He’s angry to have her forced on him. She’s angry that she’s been exiled from her family. So they take it out on each other.
Obviously, they were meant to be mates.
This is not meant to be a humorous book. It is a drama, an adventure, a mystery, AND has some really funny scenes. Just when you think things are getting too intense, Zander will do or say something to lighten things up. I really, really love Zander.
Like all the books in this series, characters from previous books make an appearance. I can’t imagine reading them out of order. If you haven’t read any of them before, you’re in for a treat. I definitely need to do a straight through read of the series again.
One character that we had not met before is Jake. I love Jake. I’m not going to say anything more about him, but he is totally unexpected and integral to the plot.
As you can tell, I love this series. They are not necessarily happy books, but the couples all have a happy ever after. Read them!
This book was sent to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Elaine Reads . . . constantly! 
Ahhh Jake was awesome. Totally with you on him. What a surprisingly fun addition 🙂 Glad you’re loving these too!