My Brief Synopsis:
# of Pages (per Amazon): 244

Ana is about to start at a new school after moving from Colorado to Idaho, and she’s determined to not let anyone there know about her worsening heart condition. Despite her purple tinged lips, lack of stamina, and attempt to blend into the background, she catches the attention of Chance Morgan.

The two become inseparable despite both initially believing dating would be nothing more than a hassle they can’t afford right now. They both take solace in nature as well as each other. However, Ana soon begins to question if Chance is hiding something, and his grandfather’s curious obsession with her Thunderbird necklace is unnerving. Similarly, Chance knows Ana is hiding something from him, though he believes it can’t be worse than his own secret.

Each of their truths may be more than the other can handle, if Ana’s heart doesn’t give out on her first.

What is it?
Fledgling is book 1 in The Shapeshifter series

Release Date:
November 30, 2013

How I got it:
On Amazon – it’s currently Free

I actually put this book on my Kindle approximately a year and a half ago and just now read it. I don’t remember, other than the awesome cover. I saw what I have listed as the alternate first, but I honestly can’t decide which one I like more! I mean, come on, how beautiful is it?

I think, despite the description saying it’s a sweet romance, which should include a happily ever after, I was worried it wouldn’t. So, I’ll tell you up front – this is only Book 1, so I can’t speak to the full ending, but it does have a HEA. That’s all I’ll say because I don’t want to say what happens at the end!

That being said – HOLY CRAP BRING A WHOLE BOX OF TISSUES!

I was sniffling before I even started the book because the Brown starts with a note to the reader that she wrote Fledgling following her daughter’s second open heart surgery at the age of four. I love forensics (even though I hate blood), I almost got my Masters in forensic psych, and can watch shows on murders with barely a flinch. I love shifter books, and we all know those aren’t always the sweetest happiest reads. Tell me about a child going through hell and I’m a blubbering mess, and this only got worse after I had my daughter. I hadn’t even hit the page with the words “Chapter 1” and my eyes burned.

There’s a lot going on in this book. Ana, her sister Eva, and their mother Melissa (Mel) are all moving after Mel lost her job in Colorado. Idaho wasn’t anyone’s first choice, but the decision was fortified by the cardiologist saying the lower elevation might put less strain on Ana’s heart. Except it doesn’t. Ana’s getting worse, and she doesn’t want Chance to know because she’s worried he’ll leave – just like she believes her father left because he couldn’t handle her diagnosis.

There are so many feels in this book. Just writing this review they’re coming back they were so strong, and they’re made all the stronger knowing that the author wrote Mel from a point of empathy. At points reading this my eyes burned from how many times I’d wiped them with a tissue.

Before I turn you off from it because of all that, I have a few other points too.

This is Brown’s first novel, and it does show a little bit. There are a number of editing mistakes, and yet nothing bad enough to turn me off from finishing the book. Descriptions of characters could be better as well. I still don’t have the best picture of any of the main characters in my head, but I do have pretty awesome images of the landscape.

With everything he’s facing, Chance changes a bit in the latter part of the book, and I’m not entirely sure I liked it, though I can also understand it.

In a review I saw on Amazon a reader compared it to Bella and Edward from Twilight in that once they found each other, everyone else falls by the wayside, and I kind of have to agree with that point. Ana meets Laura on her first day of school, and she seems pretty cool, but immediately falls into the background of the story. She had a lot of potential that went unfulfilled. Neither Ana nor Chance really interact with anyone other than each other, Ana’s family, and Niyol (Chance’s grandfather).

All things considered, I think this is one of the most memorable books I’ve read in a long time.

Will I continue the series?
Each of the 3 subsequent books are $2.99 each.

I have no idea if I’ll end up reading all of them, but I absolutely plan to read Book 2. I think I need a little time for my heart to recover first, but Prodigy is definitely on my TBR list!

Final Thoughts:
This is a really good debut novel from an author who is intimately aware of the struggles faced by Ana and her family, which draws the reader in from the absolutely beginning. I wish some of the secondary characters were more involved, as others have noted, but overall I really loved this book. You become really invested in both Ana and Chance, and root for them to both come out for the best in the end. I can’t wait to read the next book! Have tissues on hand though!

How to find it:

Amazon
Goodreads (Includes links to other sellers)

Find Natasha Brown:

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