Elemental Mating

Publisher's Summary

Their existence was a secret the government stumbled upon. In exchange for continued autonomy, the paranormals entered an alliance with the government. Now they are A.L.F.A.: Alpha League Federal Agency, sworn to protect and serve humanity.

Brilliant scientist Melinda Caster has discovered a new strain of the Zika virus that stimulates synaptic growth in embryos, causing neuron development beyond normal human levels. Way beyond, like ESP-levels of cognitive abilities. When the lab is broken into, Melinda realizes that someone has been keeping tabs on her research and wants it for themselves. A happy accident destroys critical data before it can fall into the wrong hands, but unfortunately that makes Melinda and her perfect memory a target.

A.L.F.A sends in jaguar-shifter Agent Parish Hamel to discover who is after the virus and why. The beautiful scientist acts like catnip to his senses and throws his mating instincts into overdrive. And then she disappears along with the only sample of the virus.... Now Parish must canvas the darkest areas of the supernatural underground to rescue Melinda, and what he discovers is beyond a paranormal's worst nightmare.

©2017 Milly Taiden (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

so hot!

On fire! I really love how it goes from a female to male in narration during the POV changes. SEXY SEXY SEXY

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

WOW

Very different, good, steamy , weird in some but so totally different kind of book. It's hard to explain. You just have to read it. Great characters, great narrators. The reason for the 4 stars is because it ended too soon after the conflict or angst part of the story. I hate when authors do that.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good story!

This book was well written and preformed. The storyline is is fast moving but pretty complex. I think this is best enjoyed when you have the time to pay attention to the details that the author has created for us to enjoy . The characters are well developed and likeable. I look forward to reading the next book.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I loved this book it was very well narrated so I'm giving it 5 ⭐

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

another interesting paranormal gem

Milly Taiden has a talent in creating paranormal love stories that keep you on the reader/listeners toes.. This was worth the credit/money.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Remember whose reality you're in. ;)

This series is different from many of Milly Taiden's other stories in that shifters are a secret to the general public. The government has agreed to deny the existence of shifters in return for their help whenever the need arises, creating the A.L.F.A. team. In many situations of this sort, it feels like one party or the other is being exploited, but I don't feel that way so much in this series. The fact is, everyone on the A.L.F.A team volunteered for it (such as Frank from book 2, Mating Needs), wanting to be on the team. There might be recruiting going on, but I didn't get the feeling people were forced to be on the team against their will. Additionally, the people in charge of the team seem to do their best to not let any of the shifters on it burn out by letting them retire and bringing in new, younger shifters. Being on this team is a point of pride to the shifters, not some sort of indentured servitude.

Some of the concepts in this book were absolutely fascinating. The most probably being the Underworld: it is whatever you want it to be. Parish wasn't able to see the castle until he opened himself and believed. I really loved Wilson. He was just so entertaining and sweet and literal. Taiden's repeated description of the demons as large floating raisins was hilarious, as was Wilson's first attempt at giving himself a face. The introduction of the Underworld aspect in and of itself was great, adding another dimension to Taiden's books.

I also very much enjoyed the relationship that is built between Melinda and what she comes to see as her guardian cat (Parish in his jaguar form, unbeknownst to her). She bonds with the cat in a way she didn't with other humans. It also gave Parish the opportunity to be near her and kind of get to know her a bit while being able to protect her, though letting her continue to believe the cat is an actual jaguar (as opposed to a shifter) might be considered morally reprehensible.

I really enjoyed having both a male and a female narrator for this book (and series).

I'm so bored I won't even wait for a hot scene

I can't tell if this book is more annoying or boring.
Loosing brain cells
Maybe the end is great but I can't take the pain to find out🤷

Ok, probably wont finish the series

Neither of the narrators correctly pronounces Uganda. I found it very distracting, which was unfortunate because I was already trying to ignore the fact that the author has clearly never been there.

Weird twist

I won’t spoil it, but the twist halfway through was unexpected and unlike Milly Taiden. I found myself laughing at parts that were supposed to be serious because it was soo far outside of what she writes about typically. Felt out of left field. But still an enjoyable listen with good narrators.

Shifters and Witch Doctors and Demons...eh???

***Caution: spoilers*** I am usually a fan of Milly Taiden. I think her stories are sweet and sexy, fun reads that serve up exactly what I'm looking for when escaping reality. I just found that this one tried to do too much - like WAY too much. There were enough plot lines here for at least three series. The story is of a woman who is a brilliant but standoffish scientist who discovers a rare virus that causes ESP (plot 1). In comes her fated shifter mate who works secretly for the military (plot 2). They discover that demons want the virus (plot 3), are helped by a witch doctor whose grandson happens to be a very convenient character (plot 4). All while fighting her attraction because of past heart ache (plot 5). I really had trouble making it through the last 1/3 of the book, not just because the story took too many wild tangent rides, but also because I found the heroine annoying in her complete inability to be reasonable. Narration was great, but this story needed editing. I still love Milly Taiden, just not Elemental Mating.