Jaguar Night

In some ways, this reads like a fantasy Western: Meghan Lawrence is like the archetypal plucky female ranch owner (correction: she *IS* the archetypal plucky female ranch owner), while Dolan Trevino is a new take on the drifter who comes along and ends up helping the ranch owner fend off the cattle rustlers or the bandit gang that are harassing her and her property... But in fact, Meghan's mother was a shape-shifter who died protecting an ancient tome hidden carefully on her land from a dangerous cabal known as the Atrum Core and may have passed some of her magic to her daughter, and Dolan is a jaguar shapeshifter working for a magical faction known as the Sentinels, whom he distrusts because his elder brother died in their service, while trying to protect Meghan's mother. Now Dolan is back to protect both Meghan and the tome, but will Meghan accept his presence as well as her own innate talents? There's a heady mix of reticence and attraction between these two lovers and that only adds to the complexity of their relationship and the depths of their personalities.

This is an excellent beginning to a new paranormal series. Durgin's sense of place and sensitive and well informed understanding of horses and the natural world make this story a sensual and intellectual pleasure. I always look forward to what this author tries and this new book does brings off a well envisioned world and some real realized motivations and characterizations on the part of the characters.

I found this book to be extrely interesting and fast paced. The characters were believable, and the conflicts seemed to be based in reality. The additional backdrop of the horse rescue ranch had to touch the hearts of animal lovers everywhere, and bring to light a very real and current problem.

Agents of the Atrum Core arrive near Meghan Lawrence's ranch seeking the evil tome the Liber Nex. Sentinel Jaguar shapeshifter Dolan Trevino also arrives at her ranch to protect Meghan and to insure the evil Atrium Core does not find and take the ancient book. However, Meghan rejects Dolan's offer of protection, as she holds his group culpable for the death of her mother, a Sentinel, two decades ago. In spite of her refusal to accept his safeguard offer, he remains diligent. As they fall in love, she keeps reminding herself her mom a Sentinel died protecting that book while the group failed to keep her safe as they promised. Although the plot feels a bit thin, JAGUAR NIGHT is a terrific urban fantasy romance due to Meghan, who rejects anything Sentinel as her memory is they failed her mother. The story line is totally driven by the lead couple from the moment Dolan comes to Megan's ranch to keep her safe and she tells him to leave. Fans will enjoy his efforts to keep the woman he loves safe and her efforts to keep the man she loves out of her life. Harriet Klausner