Customer Reviews

Anchor: a Northern Shifters novel

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Jorrie Spencer has created a very fascinating world---starting with various types of paranormal elements made believable, and adding more layers with each outing. Her world is populated by shifters--primarily wolf but also some cats as well as 'minders'--humans with psychic abilities to manipulate others. In this story she adds in a 'dream wraith', a human who can affect others while asleep, and in this case is tied to wolf shifters somehow.

She writes interrelated characters in her series--both under the pen name of Jorrie Spencer (for more traditional male/female relationships) as well as the name Joely Skye (tend to be spicier and feature m/m relationships). The characters and the story lines have overlap but for the most part are stand alones (Anchor is one that benefits from having read the previous ones...coming in cold would be more confusing).

Anchor is about 3450 Kindle locations (e-version only so far, so no page count). In a shorter format it is a lot more difficult to really show the characters and motivations and this is one book I think would have benefited by having more pages. I loved the updating and/or involvement of older characters--always a plus. I just wish it had all been longer so I could get just a better 'feel' for the main characters and have having the attraction develop a little more. Some of her stories are much higher on the angst scale, and this too would have been fun to see more of for these characters.

For new readers looking to start with her stories (which I do recommend) I would not suggest starting here. I would recommend also reading the Joely Skye stories as well as the integrated whole makes for a better experience. Start with The Strength of the Pack: a Northern Shifters novel and/or Monster. (Eventually the two series have converging characters).

Also, pay attention to the publisher's descriptions--some of the books are quite graphic which may or may not appeal to some readers. This one has one 'scene' and is pretty straightforward.

In any case, I am a fan of this series and would not miss this title--very much enjoyed it!

JTG

top things to like...

1. dream wraith lead female character. she is adream warrior cued to help wolves.

2. lead male who is the mayor of wolf town. he was responsible and a nice guy.

3. bad guy was believable as in a bullying masochistic alpha.

things not to like...

1. plot was simple.

2. romance was rushed into 1 sex scene.

3. not enough exploration of the wraith concept.

4. the wolves were mainly ordinary people who happen to go furry at will.

this is a light romance read that i wished had more romance and supernateral elements. it was well written and was easy to follow and understand.

This is fourth in the Northern Shifter series.

The female lead had a unique paranormal ability, and in a PNR-saturated market, that's fairly amazing. Even better, Spencer integrates it smoothly into the storyline, neither overwhelming nor underplaying it. We have the rich family dynamics that I have quickly come to expect from this author. I had fun guessing which characters were bound for their own stories. The villain is pure pro forma, no motivation offered for his actions; he's just the spur to move the story along. There are only two love scenes: one three quarters of the way through, and a small one at the end. The first one is jarring, almost as if she wrote the book without it, then the publisher said Insert Sex Scene Here. The ending was a little abrupt.

More importantly, the reason I enjoyed this book so much was the hero: I LOVE ANGUS! In Spencer-world, the Alpha is not about Dominance, but about Caretaking - and Angus takes care of everybody. I SO want a series on just this guy.

Try this one.

This was a fantastic book. I loved the paranormal elements, I loved both the heroine and the hero, and I loved the plot. But there was no romance. There was one sexual encounter before the end, and even that wasn't really very romantic. There were no emotions involved. I'll read more from Ms. Spencer but I'll go into it thinking I'm reading a fantasy book, since essentially that's what this was.

Mixed with mystery, paranormal abilities, and some steamy romance Anchor is definitely a lovely read. Right from the start I was caught up in the mystery and suspense wondering who the wolf that she had to save was. The heroine had a rough life because of her ability. Even after all the trouble her ability causes she still tries to do all she can to help others using this ability. Will Angus be the one to finally except her for who she is and will she be able to help her new found friends find the unknown woman from her visions before she is killed? You will have to read it to find out.

Mala has had realistic dreams nearly all her life of violence. It's destroyed her life and made keeping a job nearly impossible. She dreams of people in trouble, and has learned to manipulate the dream in order to protect them. She's always thought they were just dreams, until one day she sees something that tells her they may be real. Driven to find the truth, she goes to wolf town to find the boy she helped in her dreams, and maybe find that is wasn't just a dream after all.

The characters are well written and I found myself hoping that Mala could find herself and get stronger, after the way her life has gone so far. Angus is a wonderful hero, strong but not willing to give up all his common sense once he meets his mate Mala. What I particularly liked about this story was that Mala didn't immediately get strong and able to fight everything on her own, it all wasn't solved overnight, and people didn't believe her at first. That seemed more real to me than some stories that makes it appear that overnight the heroine or hero gets vindication.

I enjoyed reading this story and when other stories from this series comes out, I'll be sure to pick it up.