Laura Diamond

I absolutely loved Shifting Pride. From reading the book description I knew I was going to like it from the start.
Nickie’s father had gone missing a year ago and although people thought he was dead she knew he was alive and wanted to get proof so people would believe her.
Xavian moved into the neighbourhood and he was always there when something happened, when Nickie was threatened in some way. Pretty much like an annoying Guardian Angel (in Nickie’s eyes).
Nickie started getting cravings for tuna, now this would not be strange except she hated tuna. Still she thought it was something to do with grieving for her father (who loved tuna) and that was why she was wanting it.

I loved Nickie and Xavian’s relationship, she couldn’t work him out but there was something about him. He would do anything to protect her and once Nickie fell in love with him, she too would do anything to save him.
The book was full of werecats, adventure, mystery, suspense and a fantastic love story. It was brilliant.… (plus d'informations)

I loved this book, and I was sad when I read the last words. Diamond has created such an interesting world, complete with complex pack politics and an engaging mystery, and nestled it so neatly within our own. I feel like I could walk out my door and find a new shifter friend, or enemy. What I appreciated most about Shifting Pride is the care Diamond takes in interspersing shifter info and lore into the story, be it with a book Nickie finds or folklore other shifters share with her. Diamond is very thorough in her world-building and it definitely adds to the overall realism of this shifter tale.

Diamond does a fantastic job keeping the pace snappy. She gives us just enough information without overloading the reader or making her plot predictable. With each new revelation, I was anxious to see how she manipulated the information and was not disappointed. I kept hanging on to each word, each sentence, each paragraph, each page, hoping right along with Nickie that she would soon be reunited with her dad.

Shifting Pride is a must-read for anyone who enjoys an engaging story. Even if one strips away the shifter element, we’re still left with a great book about a daughter who will stop at nothing to bring her missing father home.… (plus d'informations)

Tsavo Pride is a companion short story to Diamond’s novel Shifting Pride and brings the story of the Tsavo lions, the shifters Nickie Leone briefly reads about as she’s learning about her true shifter nature—“For example, the lions of Tsavo, Africa, were frequently thought to have been shape-shifters gone rogue, former kings taking revenge on European invaders.”

That is exactly the story Diamond gives us. Though it’s brief, it’s also powerful and tragic. Diamond quickly tosses us into the mix as we watch the British, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Patterson, construct a railroad through the heart of Santamo’s territory. As the alpha of a two-man pack, Santamo takes it upon himself to figure out a way to stop Patterson. All the while, his brother and beta, Legeny, craves blood.

Diamond does an excellent job of getting the reader to crave more. Santamo’s dark imagery and defiance are palpable as we get the story from his first person viewpoint. He and his brother are not kind, yet there’s still a likeability to the alpha that keeps the reader invested in his revenge plot, even though in the end, it costs him everything he loves.

Readers who’ve loved Diamond’s intelligent and sometimes gritty world of shifter political intrigue would love Tsavo Pride, especially considering how this story helps shape our understanding of just how powerful the Leone line of black panthers truly is. By itself, Tsavo is able to stand on its own four paws as a beautifully tragic tale of how grief and anger and revenge can rob a person of what he desires most.… (plus d'informations)