The Tiger’s Love by Emilia Hartley

Category: Paranormal Romance
Publication date: 06/03/2019
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Cliffhanger: I dunno

Oh, Lord. (*Deep, world-weary sigh*) I did a dumb thing. Again. I was looking for paranormal romance, so I just typed that into the Amazon search bar and clicked on the first book that had a not-scary cover and a slew of decent reviews and started reading. I should’ve just downloaded a sample, or dug a little deeper into the reviews, but...I didn’t.

via GIPHY

Plot overview: Desperate single mom Sadie is forced to accept help from grumpy, scary shifter alpha Dante when she discovers that her young son is actually a shifter.   

I had several problems with this one that made me DNF at 24%: 

1. First of all, if I walk into my kitchen and find a bear cub, I’m not going to automatically assume that the bear cub is actually my kid when I had no idea he was anything other than a normal human. And when I DID realize it was my kid, I kind of doubt I’d calmly take him to school and head off to work when he changed back into a kid. Seeing your kid shift into a bear MIGHT be cause to stay home that day. Just sayin’. The whole thing tripped my bullshit meter because that’s NOT how a mother would react, and also, wasn’t she at all worried that the kid might shift at school and bite the other kids? Talk about irresponsible parenting!
2. If my teenage daughter who I hadn’t given any money to suddenly had a bunch of money, I’d be asking LOTS of questions and pinning her down pretty quickly. But because Sadie was so tired and stressed out, she pretty much let it go. Again with the irresponsible parenting! That girl could be turning tricks for all you know, dumbass! How about you do some actual adulting and fix things with your kid, huh, Sadie?
3. Dante is the alpha shifter and in the 24% I read, he spent the majority of his time growling and hitting people for no apparent reason. A shifter would ask him a simple question and get a fist to the jaw for their time. Great guy.
4. Speaking of the growling, I briefly considered making a drinking game of the book and taking a shot every time a shifter growled. But I would’ve had alcohol poisoning and died within an hour, so I thought better of it.    
5. Sadie, who knows nothing of shifters other than the fact that they exist, is super quick to point out all the ways in which she thinks Dante is doing a bad job leading/controlling his people. Dante thought this made her “feisty”. I think it made her sound like a total idiot. What she did was really no better than having some old white guy who has never read a romance novel mansplain the genre to me. How about you stick to what you know, Sadie, which seems to be limited to how to be a bad parent and counting change at the bank?

 
So it was with a heavy (and annoyed) heart that I DNF’d and got this book off my Kindle posthaste. I won’t be venturing back into this world anytime soon.

via GIPHY

Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
This book is Mayor McStigma of Stigma town, in the county of Stigma.

Other reading suggestions

Quirky paranormal romance heroines who are far from normal (in a good way)

Crazy-talented paranormal romance indie authors you should be reading

Our all-time favorite wolf shifters