4.5* Great adventure in this series, but boy do I hope that this is not the end. This series has the potential to go on and on.

The books in this series can't be read as standalones, and tbh, it'd be best to do a series reread before attempting this one. There are new characters, the loss of a character, a new arc to the storyline, new good guys and new bad guys, and the Wes-Hudson family expands in unexpected ways. There's potential for more tales in this excellent series, but as I understand, it may be the final. Though, on the plus side, this tale was so good that I went nosing about the author and she has a sizeable back catalogue of books, yay!

A lot happens here: one character's past comes back to haunt him and puts him and his nearest and dearest in danger. And that the same character finds a family member, loses a family member and then realises that he has a family already, and that there's room for more. Wes comes into his god powers and has the perfect eureka! moment at the very right moment to save the day. Hudson buries his past and becomes a leader of sorts, and various paranormals ally to take out what/who is causing the deaths that are plaguing Toronto shifters.

I wanted more *for* so many characters, and wanted more *of* them: Evan, the baby vamp/Priya, Hudson's niece who's more than meets the eye/Iskander who changes and struggles and then finds a new life/the vamps and weres who came together at the end/Don the bartender-polar bear shifter... Though the tale ended in a good place, part of it felt a little incomplete, because some people were left a little bereft. The Priya storyline started to hint at more for her and Hudson, but nothing actually happened. Evan started off in a better place than in the previous tale but he ended up in a darker place and I'm not sure that the support of his sire will be enough for him. In my book, pun intentional, he deserved a book of his own and a HEA of his own. I needed to know more about Sam and whether she settled in the countryside or came back to Wes and Hudson, or possibly to the fox shifters. I wanted to know more about Lexi's powers and how the human Li would blend into the family... Seriously, this family has expanded so much and there's so much potential for so many characters to have books in this series/world where they're the focus rather than Wes and Hudson...

As an aside, Brit-me thought that the character of Priya (an Indian name, weirdly, though she was Hispanic) was particularly well done - she was British and the author hit all the right notes with her. Slight spoiler - if you like the Morgan Kingsley books by Jenna Black, you'll recognise similarities with Priya, in the best of ways, and you'll get why I want to read more about her.

Like I said, I really hope that this isn't the end of this series. It's one of the freshest that's come out of PNR in a long time, and one that will work even if there's no romance for any other characters.

ARC courtesy of Carina Press and NetGalley, for my reading pleasure.

** spoiler alert ** I was given an ARC of Graveyard Shift by Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. I’d also like to thank Ms. Burke for letting folks know that the ARC was available!

I didn’t know that this was the planned last book in the series until I read some of the other reviews, and I’m really disappointed that this is it. The ending fits logically, and given Ms. Burke’s tight plotting, this comes as no surprise. Her plotting and characterization skills are the reasons why she’s one of my top 3 MM Paranormal Romance authors. She’s also responsible for vindicating my Readers’ Advisory professor who, in library school, told me that I would indeed read romances, all of my protestations to the contrary.

Like other readers, I devoured this book in one sitting. I’m sure I’ll go back to it since I’m also an aspiring author, but I’d been waiting for this book since I discovered the previous two back in May when I discovered the genre.

**Vague Spoilers ahead:

The first thing that really impressed me with this book was that it didn’t shy away from a plot arc that’s was evident since the first book (in retrospect for me: I enjoy my reading enough to not get overly critical until a re-read, so I can be relatively clueless) – Wes discovers himself and what he’s truly meant to be. I’ll even guess that the unasked-for sacrifice of one of his followers led to this as it provides *the* moment of clarity.

I’m also very happy with getting to see what Wes has to do to set himself up with a new identity. This is one of those things that never goes into enough detail for me, despite being something that occurs frequently for immortals in Fantasy books. The closest author to Ms. Burke on this point is Tanya Huff, whose Blood Novels characters allude to the process, but never quite go into detail.

Am I happy that Wes and Hudson get their happy ever after? Fuck yes! I started reading MM Paranormal Romance for two reasons – one, I’d like to write something in the genre; two, I went through a particularly painful breakup at the beginning of April, and encountering characters that reminded me of me and my ex- (and, oddly enough, through different authors and series) helped me get my head on straight. So this series has been cathartic in that sense.

One fanboy’s suggestion: If you’re not bored with the characters yet, Ms. Burke, consider a spinoff series with Ethan. He’s got a lot of potential…