Title: SKIN DEEP
Series: The DARKWORLD Series
Volume: 1
Genre: NA Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: 28 April 2013
Format: eBook
ISBN-10:
1484836707
Publisher: Infinite Ink
Pages: 390
Rating: 4/5 Stars
DESCRIPTION:
Panther
Shape-shifter Kailin Odel just wants to be normal. Leaving her clan, and her
Alpha responsibilities, to live with her grandmother in Chicago had been the
best thing for her. Only then did she discover her ability to track and kill
the soul sucking undead creatures called Wraiths. Now she protected the humans,
and had something to be proud of.
But,
when she discovers the body of a murdered shape shifter, Kailin has to come to
terms with the reality that her own kind are just as vulnerable as the humans.
The
closer Kailin gets to the killer the more she has to face the intricacies of
her people. When the time comes can she accept who and what her real purpose
is?
Skin Deep is the first book that I have read from T.G. Ayer and let me tell you, it was fantastic!!!!! It was nice to dive back into a paranormal book since I haven't had the chance to read one in a while. Skin Deep was very action-packed. The females in this story, especially Kai, are no damsels in distress. This story was also full of romance, suspense and mystery. I was coming up with all these wild guesses of what was going on and who was in on it. Boy was I wrong. Skin Deep isn't a predictable story and that is what I loved about it. I was on the edge on my seat the entire time waiting to see what happened next. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.
Kai was a panther shifter. She has always felt alone so she left her colony even though her family didn't want her to go. This is where she got in the wraith hunting business and she was really good at it. When Kai witnesses a body of a dead walker being dump, she becomes their next target.
The romance was perfect for this story. It wasn't too much to overshadow what the story was about. We all know I love my romances, but what the author did was perfect. I also loved how she switched up the POVs in this story. Skin Deep was mostly Kai's story but every once in a while, I would be in Logan's head and the bad guy's head. That was a nice change. I wouldn't have wanted it like that the whole time so was grateful it was just some pieces of the story.
I adored the characters from this story. I loved Kai!!!! She is character that anyone can easily relate to. She was always putting others before her. I loved how she pretty much did what she want without asking or waiting on others. She was independent and had a smart mouth. Logan was lovable all on his own. His protectiveness over Kai was very endearing. He was also very powerful. I can't wait to see what he is capable of. Anjelo was a character I fell in love with. I loved what a scared little cat he was, but when it came to protecting Kai and Lily, he would do what he had to do.
Skin Deep was a riveting story that definitely left me wanting more. I have so many unanswered questions, and yes, there was a cliffhanger. I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel. I definitely recommend this story to everyone!!!!
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Excerpt
Icy pain sliced through my bones,
the muscles of my arms, and the flesh of my back. My spine and thighs rippled,
shifted. Changing.
Damn. Too fast.
I spared a rueful glance at my
new leather pants. And ran faster.
Had to make it to the Rehab
Center a few blocks away. I ran, my speed super-human, my need super-charged,
covering ground fast enough to make it to safety before my Panther took over.
I took the corner of the street
behind the Center at breakneck speed, and headed for the nearest of the gaping
holes pockmarking the rusted fence.
The wind changed before I stepped
off the curb. My ears peaked and I skidded to a halt, panting slightly, my
backpack thumping against my side. The scream of tires on blacktop echoed on the
night air, shattering the silence as it grew ever louder.
Closer.
Followed in tandem by the whining
wail of sirens. A battered sedan scorched down the street, suspended on the
turn on only two wheels. The angry whip of charred rubber spiked the air. Horizontal
again, the car jumped the curb and skidded sideways, avoiding a collision with
the fence by mere inches.
I shrank into the shadows at my
back, expelling a long, stale breath. My Panther, still confined within my
body, bucked and jerked, craving release.
I let her surface.
A little.
For now, super-sight would be
welcome. Unlike the ability to run like the wind while still in my Human skin,
tapping into my Panther's sight required a partial transformation—a risk I
needed to take as my gut screamed danger.
Adrenalin surged, different again
from the calm fervor of my wraith hunts. I blinked. Heat nipped at my corneas
as I released my Panther sight—enough to give my eyes feline vision.
Sight, which sliced deep into the
black nothing hugging the sidewalk, transformed my eyes into a solid Panther
emerald. For the moment, plain old Kailin Odel was back to being Kailin of the
Clan Panthera.
My cat sight adjusted, focused.
The blackness surrounding the darkened vehicle changed depth and color, became
lighter, clearer.
Someone shoved the rear door
open, and I cringed as it creaked and complained. The occupants remained
shrouded in the shadows of the vehicle's interior. Something large, long and
heavy hit the ground with a dull thunk. Then the sedan revved as unseen sirens
drew closer, louder, and it spun around and skidded off the curb.
The battered car roared off, a
police cruiser close on its tail with sirens screaming blue murder. It didn't
take a genius to figure out the parcel had to be awfully incriminating, for
them to chuck it into the garden in such a flaming hurry.
My nostrils twitched at the
stench of exhaust smoke, and my heart thumped as I waited to cross the street.
I flicked a furtive glance at the dull red glow of taillights disappearing into
the darkness. A breeze skimmed the sidewalk, ruffling my hair, and I hurried
across the street as the sounds of sirens faded in the distance. I paused a few
meters from the bundle, released my Panther's nose and sniffed. Whatever I'd
expected to scent on the air, it wasn't the tang of copper drifting toward
me—strong, rich and intoxicating.
Blood. Fresh blood. A luscious
odor, laced with tendrils of the familiar.
I moved closer, my mind warring
with my emotions. This was no bundle of rags, or some stolen junk those thugs
had thrown away, but a living being. The blood surely meant the person now
lying on the sidewalk needed medical attention.
I stood over the bundle, the
cloying odor of the blood filling my nostrils, and hesitated in a moment of
doubt and fear.
Now or never.
I took a deep breath and crouched
beside the silent form. My hand quivered as I reached out and touched the
scratchy, ragged fabric covering the shoulder of the silent figure. At first it
resisted my tug, stiff against my touch, but one more gentle urging turned him
toward me.
I gasped, my throat closing on
the sound. My heel caught as I pulled away, and I staggered backward as hot
horror burned through my veins. The face glistened, bloody and mangled. Raw
muscles and ligaments lay exposed, bare. A low moan of horror echoed around me.
Chills streaked up my spine when I realized the stricken sound had originated
from my own throat. The familiar richness of him clouded my mind, clogging my
throat and drugging my senses.
A Skinwalker.
My throat spasmed, silencing a
shriek as he stared at me. His breath whispered—shallow, irregular, the sound
ragged as he labored in his final moments. He gripped with desperation to the
disappearing threads which held him to this mortal earth.
His face held my gaze, and somewhere
behind ribs of ice my heart clenched, threatening to implode. My own face
stared back at me, reflected from within eyes as blue as oceans. Eyes filled
with excruciating pain and desperate fear. He didn't speak, just studied me for
a few moments with those glorious eyes.
Recognition. Gratitude. Relief.
Then... release.
Life flickered and sputtered out
of his beautiful eyes—eyes unable to close even after his soul departed his
mortal body. Eyes stark and ghastly within a face flayed of every inch of its
skin.
Mere seconds had passed, although
I would have sworn it had been hours. Screeching tires again interrupted my
horror, and the sedan skidded beside me before I could do much more than
scramble away from the body. The killers had managed to lose the cops, and now
they'd returned to retrieve the body.
They hadn't bargained on having a
witness.
The cold-cocking of guns set my
body on fire.
It also did something worse. With
mortal fear gripping me, my imminent Change refused to take second place anymore.
My body churned the fear and my Panther grasped at the visceral power of the
adrenalin in my veins.
I ran.
A gunshot echoed around the
garden, the sound ping-ponging off the aging brick walls of the surrounding
apartment buildings.
I gasped as a blast of searing
pain slammed into me, as a bullet buried itself deep within my shoulder.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I have been a writer from the time I was old enough to
recognise that reading was a doorway into my imagination. Poetry was my first
foray into the art of the written word. Books were my best friends, my escape,
my haven. I am essentially a recluse but this part of my personality is
impossible to practise given I have two teenage daughters, who are actually my
friends, my tea-makers, my confidantes… I am blessed with a husband who has
left me for golf. It’s a fair trade as I have left him for writing. We are both
passionate supporters of each other's loves – it works wonderfully…
My heart is currently broken in two. One half resides
in South Africa where my old roots still remain, and my heart still longs for
the endless beaches and the smell of moist soil after a summer downpour. My
love for Ma Afrika will never fade. The other half of me has been transplanted
to the Land of the Long White Cloud. The land of the Taniwha, beautiful Maraes,
and volcanoes. The land of green, pure beauty that truly inspires. And because
I am so torn between these two lands – I shall forever remain cross-eyed.
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