Why I read it: I was gifted this one.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) In “True Colors”
Alice Clark, a Wyr and schoolteacher, has had two friends murdered in as many days, and she’s just found the body of a third. She arrives at the scene only minutes before Gideon Riehl, a wolf Wyr and current detective in the Wyr Division of Violent Crime–and, as Alice oh-so-inconveniently recognizes at first sight, her mate.
But the sudden connection Riehl and Alice feel is complicated when the murders are linked to a serial killer who last struck seven years ago, killing seven people in seven days. They have just one night before the killer strikes again. And every sign points to Alice as the next victim.
In “Natural Evil”
Claudia Hunter is on a road trip through the Nevada desert when she sees the body of a dog on the side of the highway. Pulling over to investigate, she quickly determines that the enormous animal is clinging to life. While working to save him with the help of the local vet, Claudia realizes there’s something about the creature that seems “more.” Other. “Wyr.” Which makes this case of animal cruelty attempted murder.
Too injured to shape shift, Luis Alvaraz is reluctant to tell Claudia what he knows about his attack, afraid it will only make her a target. But the sheriff is corrupt, and his attackers know Luis is alive and vulnerable. To make matters worse, a sandstorm is sweeping into town, and if they’re going to survive the night, Luis will have to place all his trust in Claudia.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I’ve actually bought all the novellas in digital format but apart from the latest trio of novellas featuring Dragos, Pia and Peanut, I haven’t actually read any of them. Bad Kaetrin. I found it easier to slip the novellas into my listening and, as Sophie Eastlake is a favourite narrator, I knew they’d be worthwhile. I’m really happy that all the novellas are available on audio and are produced with such high quality.

True Colors starts off right in the middle of a murder investigation. Alice Clark has discovered the body of her good friend and, when a large, angry, stranger enters the apartment, she hides. It turns out that the stranger is Gideon Riehl, a fellow Wyr and a member of the Wyr Division of Violent Crime. He is trying to track down a serial killer and was about an hour too late for Alice’s friend. Unfortunately, it seems Alice is next on the killer’s list. To complicate matters (but in a good way), Alice and Gideon both recognise each other as “mate”. I liked the way Ms. Harrison indicated that they would still need to spend time getting to know one another and that there would be some inevitable clashes – just because they are mates doesn’t mean everything is sunshine and roses all the time. That said, they both were attracted to one another and had things in common too so I figure they’d be very happy together. I enjoyed this quite a bit – it had the right mix of suspense and romance for me.

Natural Evil‘s big plus for my money was that Claudia gets to be the kickass one. Even though Luis is a shapeshifter and bigger than Claudia, he is too injured to protect himself at first and it is Claudia who is the “white knight”. I freaking LOVED that.

In terms of the romance, that was a little less successful for me. The ending is a bit ambivalent – a kind-of happy-for-now but with nothing really settled. The big issue between them is that Luis is a young Wyr – his lifespan is way longer than Claudia’s. Claudia is around 40 and is human so her lifespan is way shorter and she will feel the effects of aging far more quickly than he will. Luis doesn’t care but Claudia does. I didn’t feel the resolution sorted that out sufficiently well.

However, the rest of the story was great. I loved that Claudia was front and centre and I enjoyed the “High Noon” wild West vibe of it. I would have liked a little more clarity at the end but it was still a lot of fun.

What else? The narration is very good. Sophie Eastlake tends to have very similar hero and heroine voices so too much all together can sound a bit samey. Although, in Natural Evil, Luis has a faint accent so that helped differentiate him from Gideon. What I mainly love about Sophie Eastlake’s narration is that she delivers the emotion and characterisation without overdoing it and, to top it all off, she had a voice which is pleasant to my ear. I can always rely on a good listen from Ms. Eastlake and things were no different here.