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Shifting Circle #2
Still Life with Shape-Shifter
Melanie Landon and her half-sister share a unique bond. For her entire life, Melanie has hidden the fact that Ann is a shape-shifter. The never-ending deception is a heavy weight to bear, but Melanie is determined to keep Ann’s secret and protect her from a world that simply wouldn’t understand.
For months, Melanie hasn’t seen or heard from Ann, in either of her forms. When a man shows up saying he’s there about her sister, Melanie fears the worst. But Brody Westerbrook doesn’t have information about Ann—he’s in search of it.
A freelance writer, Brody intends to include Ann in a book he’s writing about the existence of shape-shifters. While Melanie is immediately drawn to the stranger on her doorstep, she denies his claims, knowing that trusting him isn’t an option.
But when Ann finally appears looking thin and sick, Melanie realizes exposure is the least of their worries. Protecting her sister has always been such an enormous part of Melanie’s life, but as Ann’s health rapidly deteriorates, Melanie must come to grips with the fact that saving her may mean letting go…
For months, Melanie hasn’t seen or heard from Ann, in either of her forms. When a man shows up saying he’s there about her sister, Melanie fears the worst. But Brody Westerbrook doesn’t have information about Ann—he’s in search of it.
A freelance writer, Brody intends to include Ann in a book he’s writing about the existence of shape-shifters. While Melanie is immediately drawn to the stranger on her doorstep, she denies his claims, knowing that trusting him isn’t an option.
But when Ann finally appears looking thin and sick, Melanie realizes exposure is the least of their worries. Protecting her sister has always been such an enormous part of Melanie’s life, but as Ann’s health rapidly deteriorates, Melanie must come to grips with the fact that saving her may mean letting go…
343 pages, Hardcover
First published November 6, 2012
About the author
Sharon Shinn
59 books2,230 followersI’ve been writing stories and poems since I was eight years old. My first poem was about Halloween: "What is tonight? What is tonight?/Try to guess and you’ll guess right." Perhaps this inauspicious beginning explains why it took me till I was in my thirties to sell a novel. It occurred to me early on that it might take some time and a lot of tries before I was able to publish any of my creative writing, so I pursued a degree in journalism at Northwestern University so I’d be able to support myself while I figured out how to write fiction.
I’ve spent most of my journalism career at three trade and association magazines—The Professional Photographer (which, as you might guess, went to studio and industrial photographers), DECOR (which went to frame shop and art gallery owners), and BizEd (which is directed at deans and professors at business schools). My longest stint, seventeen years, was at DECOR. Many people don’t know this, but I’m a CPF (Certified Picture Framer), having passed a very long, technical test to prove I understood the tenets of conservation framing. Now I write about management education and interview some really cool, really smart people from all over the world.
I mostly write my fiction in the evenings and on weekends. It requires a pretty obsessive-compulsive personality to be as prolific as I’ve been in the past ten years and hold down a full-time job. But I do manage to tear myself away from the computer now and then to do something fun. I read as often as I can, across all genres, though I’m most often holding a book that’s fantasy or romance, with the occasional western thrown in. I’m a fan of Cardinals baseball and try to be at the ballpark on opening day. If I had the time, I’d see a movie every day of my life. I love certain TV shows so much that knowing a new episode is going to air that night will make me happy all day. (I’m a huge Joss Whedon fan, but in the past I’ve given my heart to shows all over the map in terms of quality: "Knight Rider," "Remington Steele," "Blake’s 7," "Moonlighting," "The Young Riders," "Cheers," "Hill Street Blues," "X-Files," "Lost," "Battlestar Galactica"...you can probably fill in the gaps. And let’s not forget my very first loves, "The Partridge Family," "Here Come the Brides" and "Alias Smith & Jones.")
I don’t have kids, I don’t want pets, and all my plants die, so I’m really only forced to provide ongoing care for my menagerie of stuffed animals. All my friends are animal lovers, though, and someone once theorized that I keep friends as pets. I’m still trying to decide if that’s true.
I’ve spent most of my journalism career at three trade and association magazines—The Professional Photographer (which, as you might guess, went to studio and industrial photographers), DECOR (which went to frame shop and art gallery owners), and BizEd (which is directed at deans and professors at business schools). My longest stint, seventeen years, was at DECOR. Many people don’t know this, but I’m a CPF (Certified Picture Framer), having passed a very long, technical test to prove I understood the tenets of conservation framing. Now I write about management education and interview some really cool, really smart people from all over the world.
I mostly write my fiction in the evenings and on weekends. It requires a pretty obsessive-compulsive personality to be as prolific as I’ve been in the past ten years and hold down a full-time job. But I do manage to tear myself away from the computer now and then to do something fun. I read as often as I can, across all genres, though I’m most often holding a book that’s fantasy or romance, with the occasional western thrown in. I’m a fan of Cardinals baseball and try to be at the ballpark on opening day. If I had the time, I’d see a movie every day of my life. I love certain TV shows so much that knowing a new episode is going to air that night will make me happy all day. (I’m a huge Joss Whedon fan, but in the past I’ve given my heart to shows all over the map in terms of quality: "Knight Rider," "Remington Steele," "Blake’s 7," "Moonlighting," "The Young Riders," "Cheers," "Hill Street Blues," "X-Files," "Lost," "Battlestar Galactica"...you can probably fill in the gaps. And let’s not forget my very first loves, "The Partridge Family," "Here Come the Brides" and "Alias Smith & Jones.")
I don’t have kids, I don’t want pets, and all my plants die, so I’m really only forced to provide ongoing care for my menagerie of stuffed animals. All my friends are animal lovers, though, and someone once theorized that I keep friends as pets. I’m still trying to decide if that’s true.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews
January 14, 2013
This is a sad, sad book, beautiful and absorbing but melancholy, emotionally intense, almost heart-rending. I cried in the end.
I hesitate to pigeonhole this tale to a genre – it transcends genres. As a love story, it might be categorized as romance, but it’s so much more. Published by Shinn’s lifelong publisher Ace Books, a traditional fantasy publisher, it’s a fantasy on the surface. After all, it deals with shape-shifters, but when I look deeper, inside the allegory of shape-shifters, this novel tells an utterly human story of being different.
Melanie’s beloved half-sister Ann is a shape-shifter. To protect Ann from the world’s unfriendly scrutiny, Melanie has been keeping Ann’s secret for all 20 years of Ann’s life. Now, a charming reporter Brody shows on Melanie’s doorstep. He is going to write a book about shape-shifters and he suspects Ann is one. What is Melanie to do? Her dilemma deepens, when Ann is afflicted by a mysterious sickness. Could Melanie take the risk to expose Ann’s true nature by consulting a doctor? Or should she keep the secret and risk Ann dying? Could Melanie trust Brody to help them? Could she trust her own heart, which is falling in love with Brody? Twisted with uncertainties and assaulted by guilt, Melanie tries to maintain as regular a facade as she can, but life puts her through the grinder of impossible choices.
By telling Melanie’s story, Shinn explores the theme of being different from various angles. How hard it’s to be different. How hard it is to love someone who is different. What sacrifices we are wiling to endure, what difficult decisions we are willing to make for those we love. What does it mean to accept your difference and live with it without losing your dignity? Or your humanity? (An apt question for shape-shifters)
The novel also touches on a connected theme: the devastation of secrets. Secrets take over people’s lives; sometimes they destroy families, but no matter how hard one tries, secrets have the tendency to come out eventually. Secrets are poisonous, but what if there is no choice?
The characters of the novel are alive, real, living among us and grappling with the same problems we do. Although not always sympathetic, they are inevitably true to their backgrounds and situations in life.
The plot is seemingly slow; it’s definitely not an adventure flick, despite its shape-shifters mystique. It’s a novel of contemplation and inner growth, where most of the action takes place inside the characters’ minds and hearts. And inside the reader’s mind and heart as well. I read it and I couldn’t stop thinking, putting myself in the heroes’ shoes. What would I do if I had to struggle with such adversity? Would I be good enough? Could I cope?
My reflections, as I read the book, also took a form of musing on a tangent. Some people, especially teenagers, often want to be different, to stand out. Or they think they do. They pretend in any case by wearing unconventional clothes, or talking nonsense, or joining some outrageous clubs, or dyeing their hair pink, or what not. But all those attempts to impress their peers are just posing, for show. These poor misguided youngsters don’t have a clue how hard it is to be different.
Many of those who really are different – because of their ethnicity or religion, illness or talent – have been trying the opposite throughout human history and fiction: to camouflage themselves as normal, to blend in. Their attitude is best described by this snippet of conversation from the novel. One of the characters in the book asks her lover, a werewolf:
Nobody wants to be a freak, when it’s for real. Unfortunately, some of us don’t have a choice. The only choice we do have is how we handle our abnormality: with gentle elegance or with self-pitying spite. The former – I bow to them with deep admiration for their courage. The latter – they are those who pick up a gun and shoot innocents.
A sad association for a simple fantasy novel, isn’t it?
I hesitate to pigeonhole this tale to a genre – it transcends genres. As a love story, it might be categorized as romance, but it’s so much more. Published by Shinn’s lifelong publisher Ace Books, a traditional fantasy publisher, it’s a fantasy on the surface. After all, it deals with shape-shifters, but when I look deeper, inside the allegory of shape-shifters, this novel tells an utterly human story of being different.
Melanie’s beloved half-sister Ann is a shape-shifter. To protect Ann from the world’s unfriendly scrutiny, Melanie has been keeping Ann’s secret for all 20 years of Ann’s life. Now, a charming reporter Brody shows on Melanie’s doorstep. He is going to write a book about shape-shifters and he suspects Ann is one. What is Melanie to do? Her dilemma deepens, when Ann is afflicted by a mysterious sickness. Could Melanie take the risk to expose Ann’s true nature by consulting a doctor? Or should she keep the secret and risk Ann dying? Could Melanie trust Brody to help them? Could she trust her own heart, which is falling in love with Brody? Twisted with uncertainties and assaulted by guilt, Melanie tries to maintain as regular a facade as she can, but life puts her through the grinder of impossible choices.
By telling Melanie’s story, Shinn explores the theme of being different from various angles. How hard it’s to be different. How hard it is to love someone who is different. What sacrifices we are wiling to endure, what difficult decisions we are willing to make for those we love. What does it mean to accept your difference and live with it without losing your dignity? Or your humanity? (An apt question for shape-shifters)
The novel also touches on a connected theme: the devastation of secrets. Secrets take over people’s lives; sometimes they destroy families, but no matter how hard one tries, secrets have the tendency to come out eventually. Secrets are poisonous, but what if there is no choice?
The characters of the novel are alive, real, living among us and grappling with the same problems we do. Although not always sympathetic, they are inevitably true to their backgrounds and situations in life.
The plot is seemingly slow; it’s definitely not an adventure flick, despite its shape-shifters mystique. It’s a novel of contemplation and inner growth, where most of the action takes place inside the characters’ minds and hearts. And inside the reader’s mind and heart as well. I read it and I couldn’t stop thinking, putting myself in the heroes’ shoes. What would I do if I had to struggle with such adversity? Would I be good enough? Could I cope?
My reflections, as I read the book, also took a form of musing on a tangent. Some people, especially teenagers, often want to be different, to stand out. Or they think they do. They pretend in any case by wearing unconventional clothes, or talking nonsense, or joining some outrageous clubs, or dyeing their hair pink, or what not. But all those attempts to impress their peers are just posing, for show. These poor misguided youngsters don’t have a clue how hard it is to be different.
Many of those who really are different – because of their ethnicity or religion, illness or talent – have been trying the opposite throughout human history and fiction: to camouflage themselves as normal, to blend in. Their attitude is best described by this snippet of conversation from the novel. One of the characters in the book asks her lover, a werewolf:
“If you could control it [the change] completely, would you ever choose to be a wolf again?”
“No,” he said.
“You’d be ordinary? Instead of extraordinary, which is what you are?”
“I think anyone who isn’t ordinary wishes he was,” he said quietly. “No matter what makes him different, he wants to be the same as everyone else.”
Nobody wants to be a freak, when it’s for real. Unfortunately, some of us don’t have a choice. The only choice we do have is how we handle our abnormality: with gentle elegance or with self-pitying spite. The former – I bow to them with deep admiration for their courage. The latter – they are those who pick up a gun and shoot innocents.
A sad association for a simple fantasy novel, isn’t it?
July 27, 2013
Best Sharon Shinn ever. Coming from a Twelve Houses fan. Still Life with Shapeshifter was unexpectedly moving and bittersweet and human. This is magical realism more than urban fantasy because Shapeshifter hinges on a visceral event located in every person's life: letting go of a loved one. That's Shapeshifter's theme. No adventure. So I'd relate this to something like My Sister's Keeper more than, say, Moon Called. I waffled between four or five stars because this could have been even stronger, perhaps without the supernatural. Five stars, though, ultimately for wringing so much sorrow from me, enough that I was dying to finish the book just so that I wouldn't have to come back to the sadness, for the understanding of human nature and the insights that inspired a "Yes! That's exactly what it's like!" response, and for the beautiful prose:
PS. Points for portraying the reality of babies, which is mostly fussing most of the time. Unlike Hollywood's convenience babies, available at your local Walmart, LOL.
"You would not have believed there could be so many variations on the same basic color, from the regal emerald of the firs to the shy lime of the willows. And when the flowering trees are in bloom, as they are now, it's like a Seurat painting, pointillist clusters of brilliant color stretching across the woven canvas of branch and sky."An insight:
"I learned to not care if I made people mad or hurt their feelings when I did something didn't want me to do. I learned that I could ignore what they said, and the world wouldn't end, as long as I didn't mind if they were upset. My sisters call this my stubborn streak. I call it a survival skill."Oh, yes, and a nice romance as well. Brody's a lovely man, and it's nice to see some wooing in romance, some patience and healthiness rather than brooding, tortured souls in antagonistic relationships all the time, not that those don't have their place, LOL. But if anyone's talented enough to write the "ordinary," it's Shinn.
PS. Points for portraying the reality of babies, which is mostly fussing most of the time. Unlike Hollywood's convenience babies, available at your local Walmart, LOL.
December 2, 2012
4 1/2 stars for me. I loved it.
The follow-on to The Shape of Desire is not as claustrophobic as the first book. And I think that's because the major storyline focuses on a young woman trying to protect her shifter sister, not a lover. Melanie seems a bit more mentally balanced than Maria, the heroine of the first book. And young Ann, the shifter sister, is a down-right bon vivant.
There are plenty of cross-over characters; we get to see Maria, Dante and baby Lizzie. Ann's lover is Dante's brother William. And reporter Brody Westerbrook returns. One of the joys of the book is watching Brody grow. As he comes to fall for Melanie (and she for him) and to know Ann better, he loses that obnoxious edge that he had in the first book.
There is also a third storyline that focuses on another young girl, Janet, and her love for a young shifter, Cooper. Janet and Cooper's story at first seems to have no connection with Melanie and Ann's. But Shinn manages to tie everything together nicely by the end of the book.
Keep the tissues handy.
I really enjoyed Shinn's take on shapeshifters; they have a genetic quirk, not super-powers. And it can never be said that she glamorizes their lives--rather the opposite. As for the totally human people who come to love shapeshifters, she paints a vivid picture of the joys and terrors that come with loving someone who is 'other'.
The follow-on to The Shape of Desire is not as claustrophobic as the first book. And I think that's because the major storyline focuses on a young woman trying to protect her shifter sister, not a lover. Melanie seems a bit more mentally balanced than Maria, the heroine of the first book. And young Ann, the shifter sister, is a down-right bon vivant.
There are plenty of cross-over characters; we get to see Maria, Dante and baby Lizzie. Ann's lover is Dante's brother William. And reporter Brody Westerbrook returns. One of the joys of the book is watching Brody grow. As he comes to fall for Melanie (and she for him) and to know Ann better, he loses that obnoxious edge that he had in the first book.
There is also a third storyline that focuses on another young girl, Janet, and her love for a young shifter, Cooper. Janet and Cooper's story at first seems to have no connection with Melanie and Ann's. But Shinn manages to tie everything together nicely by the end of the book.
Keep the tissues handy.
I really enjoyed Shinn's take on shapeshifters; they have a genetic quirk, not super-powers. And it can never be said that she glamorizes their lives--rather the opposite. As for the totally human people who come to love shapeshifters, she paints a vivid picture of the joys and terrors that come with loving someone who is 'other'.
November 22, 2012
Still Life with Shapeshifter was much better than the first book in Shinn's Shifting Circle series, The Shape of Desire, but it still pales in comparison with her Samaria or Twelve Houses books. I give Shinn props for showing the downside of being a shapeshifter - unlike many paranormal romance novels, the shapeshifters aren't all-powerful sex gods, but beings whose animal lives are fraught with danger and whose lifespans are shortened by the strain of the constant changes. The terrible downside of this life is poignantly portrayed in the relationship between primary narrator Melanie and her shapehsifter half-sister Ann. She also creates a nice romance between Melanie and journalist Brody.
But when I read a sentence like "At times it seems to me that I didn't start to live until I met him," spoken by secondary narrator Janet about Connor, the shapeshifter she met and loved from the age of 16, I have to wonder what is going through Shinn's mind. From the author who gave us such strong, independent female characters as Senneth in the Twelve Houses series, reading something that could have come from the mouth of Twilight's Bella is a complete letdown. Fortunately, the relationship between Janet and Connor is much more interesting than the one between Maria and Dante in The Shape of Desire because it has a forward progression, and Janet has some goals in life other than being with Connor, but her utter dependence is depressing.
Setting this series in modern day reality allows Shinn to juxtapose the magic with the mundane but I still miss the magic settings of her previous novels. Shinn has built up so much respect and goodwill in my mind over the past 15 years that I will likely continue to read future novels in this series (if there are any), but I won't approach them with the same level of excited anticipation as I did when faced with the prospect of a new Samaria or Twelve Houses novel.
But when I read a sentence like "At times it seems to me that I didn't start to live until I met him," spoken by secondary narrator Janet about Connor, the shapeshifter she met and loved from the age of 16, I have to wonder what is going through Shinn's mind. From the author who gave us such strong, independent female characters as Senneth in the Twelve Houses series, reading something that could have come from the mouth of Twilight's Bella is a complete letdown. Fortunately, the relationship between Janet and Connor is much more interesting than the one between Maria and Dante in The Shape of Desire because it has a forward progression, and Janet has some goals in life other than being with Connor, but her utter dependence is depressing.
Setting this series in modern day reality allows Shinn to juxtapose the magic with the mundane but I still miss the magic settings of her previous novels. Shinn has built up so much respect and goodwill in my mind over the past 15 years that I will likely continue to read future novels in this series (if there are any), but I won't approach them with the same level of excited anticipation as I did when faced with the prospect of a new Samaria or Twelve Houses novel.
January 26, 2013
According to Wikipedia, the first story of men turning into wolves were written hundreds of years ago. In the Satyricon, written about 60 C.E. by Gaius Petronius Arbiter, a character transformed into a wolf.
Europe has many legends of the were-wolf while North American Indians had tales of shape-shifters. The fear of werewolves and the evil they do is a fairly well known part of the legend. It is commonly thought that were-wolves have super human strength and speed, being only harmed by special "silver" bullets, and were able to heal themselves of injury. The were-wolf is thought to be most vulnerable as a human than as a wolf.
Sharon Shinn's Still Life with Shape-Shifter comes at the story of were-wolf's from a completely different angle. Her shape-shifters, are almost all old before their time, scrawny, malnourished and die by 50 if they are lucky. Although some are cute little dogs when children, they eventually are almost uniformly abandoned by their families, who either cannot accept a werewolf or cannot live with one. They cannot control their transformation and so live troubled lives. Cannot go to school if you turn into a wolf every two weeks. How do you hold down a job. Its hard to meet others of their kind. But most importantly, Shinn imagines that the process of becoming a werewolf puts tremendous stress on the body. Although the actual transformation is magical and glowing, the were-wolves's organs are affected by the sheer fact that the body is transformed from small to large size. And if this story was more about were-wolves and the problems they face it might have held more interest.
But that's just a subtext.
Instead this is really a story about the power of love and fear-both the love of a woman for a man and the love of a woman for her child, and how the fear of dealing with our love's lives can transform all of us -- sometimes in good ways, and sometimes in bad ways.
Melanie Landon is hiding from life in a small town called Dagmar. She lives in an old beat up house with a huge lot right in the middle of two big housing projects. She refuses to sell her house for big bucks because she is afraid for her half sister Ann, a shapeshifter -- who is "her whole life". Melanie raised Ann and cares for her like a parent, but lives in perpetual fear that Ann will be hurt or killed in her other shape or that the secret will come out. Melanie is paralyzed. But when Ann returns to Melanie its like the dawn of a new day. Grumpy Melanie's life is transformed into happy unscared Melanie.
Then Brody Westerbrook appears. An ex-reporter, who witnessed the transformation of a wolf into a man, he wants to write a book about shape-shifters and believes that Ann is a shifter. Handsome, articulate and smart, Brody starts to win over Melanie's heart, while her brain and her fear for her sister try to keep him away. Its a battle for Melanie's soul. Melanie and Brody are good characters and have their moments, and Brody promises to stay away from the story of Ann. Meanwhile Ann has found a fellow shape-shifter who has noticed that Ann seems to be ill.
But before we can explore these issues, boom, Shinn shifts to another story set in the novel -- a story we learn that runs parallel temporarily to this story. Its the story of Janet and Cooper. Janet, who lives with trying parents befriends Cooper, a young shape-shifter artist and learns to love him. Cooper would like to be human all the time, but cannot, and soon also feels the affects of his shape shifting process.
Meanwhile in the Brody, Melanie, Ann triangle, Melanie must learn to let go of her Ann and live.
I found myself skipping pages. The Janet - Cooper story was boring in parts, and so was the Ann, Melanie, Brody story. If Brody was so gung ho to write a story - why did his life seize up and stop as well. Besides the exploration of what it means to be a werewolf the story was really about what it means to be in a relationshp with one. In Melanie's case her life was a still life. Her sister was her whole world, and in Janet's case, she was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice merely to spend a few short months with her lover.
I wanted a grittier urban fantasy. I got something else. And it was disappointing.
Europe has many legends of the were-wolf while North American Indians had tales of shape-shifters. The fear of werewolves and the evil they do is a fairly well known part of the legend. It is commonly thought that were-wolves have super human strength and speed, being only harmed by special "silver" bullets, and were able to heal themselves of injury. The were-wolf is thought to be most vulnerable as a human than as a wolf.
Sharon Shinn's Still Life with Shape-Shifter comes at the story of were-wolf's from a completely different angle. Her shape-shifters, are almost all old before their time, scrawny, malnourished and die by 50 if they are lucky. Although some are cute little dogs when children, they eventually are almost uniformly abandoned by their families, who either cannot accept a werewolf or cannot live with one. They cannot control their transformation and so live troubled lives. Cannot go to school if you turn into a wolf every two weeks. How do you hold down a job. Its hard to meet others of their kind. But most importantly, Shinn imagines that the process of becoming a werewolf puts tremendous stress on the body. Although the actual transformation is magical and glowing, the were-wolves's organs are affected by the sheer fact that the body is transformed from small to large size. And if this story was more about were-wolves and the problems they face it might have held more interest.
But that's just a subtext.
Instead this is really a story about the power of love and fear-both the love of a woman for a man and the love of a woman for her child, and how the fear of dealing with our love's lives can transform all of us -- sometimes in good ways, and sometimes in bad ways.
Melanie Landon is hiding from life in a small town called Dagmar. She lives in an old beat up house with a huge lot right in the middle of two big housing projects. She refuses to sell her house for big bucks because she is afraid for her half sister Ann, a shapeshifter -- who is "her whole life". Melanie raised Ann and cares for her like a parent, but lives in perpetual fear that Ann will be hurt or killed in her other shape or that the secret will come out. Melanie is paralyzed. But when Ann returns to Melanie its like the dawn of a new day. Grumpy Melanie's life is transformed into happy unscared Melanie.
Then Brody Westerbrook appears. An ex-reporter, who witnessed the transformation of a wolf into a man, he wants to write a book about shape-shifters and believes that Ann is a shifter. Handsome, articulate and smart, Brody starts to win over Melanie's heart, while her brain and her fear for her sister try to keep him away. Its a battle for Melanie's soul. Melanie and Brody are good characters and have their moments, and Brody promises to stay away from the story of Ann. Meanwhile Ann has found a fellow shape-shifter who has noticed that Ann seems to be ill.
But before we can explore these issues, boom, Shinn shifts to another story set in the novel -- a story we learn that runs parallel temporarily to this story. Its the story of Janet and Cooper. Janet, who lives with trying parents befriends Cooper, a young shape-shifter artist and learns to love him. Cooper would like to be human all the time, but cannot, and soon also feels the affects of his shape shifting process.
Meanwhile in the Brody, Melanie, Ann triangle, Melanie must learn to let go of her Ann and live.
I found myself skipping pages. The Janet - Cooper story was boring in parts, and so was the Ann, Melanie, Brody story. If Brody was so gung ho to write a story - why did his life seize up and stop as well. Besides the exploration of what it means to be a werewolf the story was really about what it means to be in a relationshp with one. In Melanie's case her life was a still life. Her sister was her whole world, and in Janet's case, she was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice merely to spend a few short months with her lover.
I wanted a grittier urban fantasy. I got something else. And it was disappointing.
February 18, 2013
Ouch. So much sadness. This is a beautiful, well-written novel and though it is not as oppressively sad as the first in the Shifting Circle series it is still ultimately a pretty bleak read. I love Sharon Shinn, but this much loneliness is a bit much for me right now. Her books set in worlds she created herself are often full of connection, friendship, love and adventure, but this series set in our world, dealing with shapeshifters and the people who love them is an altogether less hopeful place, one where love and grief walk hand in hand. Shapeshifters live on the edges of society, in homeless shelters and state parks and the people who love them have to make enormous sacrifices to keep their secrets hidden. All our POV characters are human, people who have given up everything to love shapeshifters, to raise them, to marry them, to look after them, the shifters themselves are alien and unknowable, no matter how beloved they might be. The support people are our main characters, and in this book they start to form a community, to help each other out, to claim some life and love for themselves, but still their role seems to be that of endless suffering and it was all a bit much. I need to find something happy to read now!
November 6, 2021
This is the best one of the series. It's a sad one, though. Like my reread of the first book, I'm seeing way more of a commentary and criticism on American socioeconomics than I ever did before reading these books (and I've read them all a handful of times). Most shape-shifters can't hold down jobs or exist in the way American society is structured, and it's up to the few people who love them to hold down the fort. A very interesting--and unusual for urban fantasy--exploration of love. Definitely not super escapist fiction, as the relationships, both romantic and nonromantic, are fraught with resentment and pain - but again, I find it all very realistic and predictably well-rendered by Shinn.
I get the feeling that Shinn's publisher became less supportive of her work during the time this series and the Elemental Blessings books were coming out (which is weird, because Troubled Waters is definitely one of her most popular novels). The photography of the covers was never brilliant, but The Shape of Desire had a lovely design on the hardcover, with a matte finish and a shiny foil for some designs of leaves and vines (I like it when books do this xD). The hardcovers for Still Life with Shapeshifter and The Turning Season have none of those nice touches; neither do the Elemental Blessings books. I also remember Shinn announcing that the last few Elemental Blessings novels would not be released in paperback, b/c the publisher thought ebooks were going to be a more successful sell for ppl who wanted easy portability with their books. And then, most damning, after these series concluded, Shinn announced she was between publishers, and her next books were published through Amazon. I'm just very curious as to what would make a publisher let go of a long-standing and consistent writer with a very loyal fanbase. Why did you do this, Ace books?????
I get the feeling that Shinn's publisher became less supportive of her work during the time this series and the Elemental Blessings books were coming out (which is weird, because Troubled Waters is definitely one of her most popular novels). The photography of the covers was never brilliant, but The Shape of Desire had a lovely design on the hardcover, with a matte finish and a shiny foil for some designs of leaves and vines (I like it when books do this xD). The hardcovers for Still Life with Shapeshifter and The Turning Season have none of those nice touches; neither do the Elemental Blessings books. I also remember Shinn announcing that the last few Elemental Blessings novels would not be released in paperback, b/c the publisher thought ebooks were going to be a more successful sell for ppl who wanted easy portability with their books. And then, most damning, after these series concluded, Shinn announced she was between publishers, and her next books were published through Amazon. I'm just very curious as to what would make a publisher let go of a long-standing and consistent writer with a very loyal fanbase. Why did you do this, Ace books?????
March 5, 2013
Originally reviewed here @ Angieville
As you know, Sharon Shinn is an auto-buy author for me. Ever since the unparalleled experience that was me reading Archangel, I have been an unabashed fangirl. I have my favorites, but I read everything she writes because I love her ways with words and her way with worlds. Which was why I was so intrigued and excited to hear she was working on an urban fantasy series. She's done sci-fi, she's done high fantasy, she's done YA. It only makes sense she should find her way to one of my very favorite fantasy sub-genres and make her mark there. I read The Shape of Desire, the first book in her Shifting Circle series, right when it came out last year, and I've essentially been mulling it over ever since. And while my feelings for it were complicated and many, I knew I would be reading the companion novel either way. Because, as is always the case, the world she has created won't leave me alone. But before we go on, a word on the covers for this series. I love them. They are dark and still, frozen moments captured between shifters and their humans. And they seem to strike a particularly chilling note once you've read their stories.
Melanie Landon exists in survival mode. She just wants to get up, go to work, come home, check in with her sister Ann, and get through the day. And any day in which no one asks too many questions is a good one. Which is why she has a full-blown panic attack when she finds Brody Westerbrook on her doorstep full to bursting with questions. Formerly a local television reporter of some note, Brody recently quit his job to write a rather unusual book. And he's pretty sure Melanie can help him with the subject matter. You see, Brody wants to write a book on shapeshifters and he appears absolutely convinced Mel's sister Ann is one. Without thinking twice, Melanie does what she has done her entire life and shuts this persistent intruder out. Ever since she was ten years old and the adults in her life virtually checked out, she has known it was her job and her job alone to protect Ann. And up to this point, she's been successful. No one has been able to get behind that shield. But when Brody refuses to give up and Ann refuses to hide, Melanie's life takes on another level of complexity. Faced with the possible annihilation of the world as she knows it, she is torn between reaching out for the human contact she's always been deprived and clutching the one person she loves to her with every ounce of strength she has.
All of Shinn's worlds stick with me, but this one--this eerie version of our own--haunts me. This is not urban fantasy as you've come to expect it. It is not sassy. It is not swashbuckling. And it is not a non-stop, action-packed thrill ride. What it is, is quiet. Quiet and intelligent and disconcertingly real. So real that when it is grim, it is almost incapacitating in its grimness. So real that when the characters' emotions spill over, I feel precariously close to losing control of my own. In other words, Shinn's skill and subtlety do not make for what you might call comfortable reading here. Though they do wash over you with an almost surreal grace.
I appreciate that with these books Ms. Shinn chose to make her protagonists ordinary in every way but one: they are (in one way or another) intimately connected with someone who is a shapeshifter. And that small, unsettling detail reshapes the way they lead their lives in every particular. And yet, by virtue of the nature of the shapeshifters in their lives, these women spend unimaginable amounts of time alone. And my but how Shinn doesn't shy away from those interminable hours. Those days and weeks of loneliness, of wondering, of fear that are a direct result of this basic fact of their lives. There is nothing glossy about Melanie Landon or her monotonous life. Like Maria Devane before her, Melanie revolves around her shapeshifter. In this case, her much younger half sister. And like Maria, I really liked Melanie. More than that, I worried about her, about what would happen to her should she lose her purpose. I desperately wanted some small outside channel of happiness to find its way past her tall walls. Together, Brody and Ann (both as filled with humor and whimsy as Melanie is sober) make inroads in that direction. But for every step toward happiness, there is a separate but equal step toward loss. Sometimes the degree to which Melanie devoted herself to Ann felt unhealthy. Sometimes the stifling quality of her small world made me long for some sassy swashbuckling to bound in and save the day. But the thing is, that single minded devotion also felt natural. If I didn't necessarily feel as though it was how I would react, it certainly felt like a more-than-plausible reaction for Melanie. And if I step back and put myself in her shoes, in the suffocating situation in which she lives, I really don't know how differently I would operate. So while the books in this series are not easy ones to read (they are, in fact, exhausting at times), they are riveting and raw. And I find that sometimes it's good to read a book that doesn't conform to expectations, that discomfits even as it entertains. Don't you?
As you know, Sharon Shinn is an auto-buy author for me. Ever since the unparalleled experience that was me reading Archangel, I have been an unabashed fangirl. I have my favorites, but I read everything she writes because I love her ways with words and her way with worlds. Which was why I was so intrigued and excited to hear she was working on an urban fantasy series. She's done sci-fi, she's done high fantasy, she's done YA. It only makes sense she should find her way to one of my very favorite fantasy sub-genres and make her mark there. I read The Shape of Desire, the first book in her Shifting Circle series, right when it came out last year, and I've essentially been mulling it over ever since. And while my feelings for it were complicated and many, I knew I would be reading the companion novel either way. Because, as is always the case, the world she has created won't leave me alone. But before we go on, a word on the covers for this series. I love them. They are dark and still, frozen moments captured between shifters and their humans. And they seem to strike a particularly chilling note once you've read their stories.
Melanie Landon exists in survival mode. She just wants to get up, go to work, come home, check in with her sister Ann, and get through the day. And any day in which no one asks too many questions is a good one. Which is why she has a full-blown panic attack when she finds Brody Westerbrook on her doorstep full to bursting with questions. Formerly a local television reporter of some note, Brody recently quit his job to write a rather unusual book. And he's pretty sure Melanie can help him with the subject matter. You see, Brody wants to write a book on shapeshifters and he appears absolutely convinced Mel's sister Ann is one. Without thinking twice, Melanie does what she has done her entire life and shuts this persistent intruder out. Ever since she was ten years old and the adults in her life virtually checked out, she has known it was her job and her job alone to protect Ann. And up to this point, she's been successful. No one has been able to get behind that shield. But when Brody refuses to give up and Ann refuses to hide, Melanie's life takes on another level of complexity. Faced with the possible annihilation of the world as she knows it, she is torn between reaching out for the human contact she's always been deprived and clutching the one person she loves to her with every ounce of strength she has.
All of Shinn's worlds stick with me, but this one--this eerie version of our own--haunts me. This is not urban fantasy as you've come to expect it. It is not sassy. It is not swashbuckling. And it is not a non-stop, action-packed thrill ride. What it is, is quiet. Quiet and intelligent and disconcertingly real. So real that when it is grim, it is almost incapacitating in its grimness. So real that when the characters' emotions spill over, I feel precariously close to losing control of my own. In other words, Shinn's skill and subtlety do not make for what you might call comfortable reading here. Though they do wash over you with an almost surreal grace.
"Sit down, sit down," Ann says, still acting as hostess. "Brody, would you like some cookies? They're just store-bought, but they're pretty good."
"No, no dessert, thanks. Unless you have pie," Brody says, sinking to a seat. The rest of us arrange ourselves around the table though no one actually relaxes. I have the notion that William has gone into some kind of feral high alert, like a hare trying to oustmart a wolf. Brody, who is leaning casually against his chair back, is clearly still sorting through his memories, looking for a match. Ann is bouncing around like a child who's eaten too much candy, and I'm as tense as a violin string. If you ran a finger across my forearm, you'd wake a low G.
I appreciate that with these books Ms. Shinn chose to make her protagonists ordinary in every way but one: they are (in one way or another) intimately connected with someone who is a shapeshifter. And that small, unsettling detail reshapes the way they lead their lives in every particular. And yet, by virtue of the nature of the shapeshifters in their lives, these women spend unimaginable amounts of time alone. And my but how Shinn doesn't shy away from those interminable hours. Those days and weeks of loneliness, of wondering, of fear that are a direct result of this basic fact of their lives. There is nothing glossy about Melanie Landon or her monotonous life. Like Maria Devane before her, Melanie revolves around her shapeshifter. In this case, her much younger half sister. And like Maria, I really liked Melanie. More than that, I worried about her, about what would happen to her should she lose her purpose. I desperately wanted some small outside channel of happiness to find its way past her tall walls. Together, Brody and Ann (both as filled with humor and whimsy as Melanie is sober) make inroads in that direction. But for every step toward happiness, there is a separate but equal step toward loss. Sometimes the degree to which Melanie devoted herself to Ann felt unhealthy. Sometimes the stifling quality of her small world made me long for some sassy swashbuckling to bound in and save the day. But the thing is, that single minded devotion also felt natural. If I didn't necessarily feel as though it was how I would react, it certainly felt like a more-than-plausible reaction for Melanie. And if I step back and put myself in her shoes, in the suffocating situation in which she lives, I really don't know how differently I would operate. So while the books in this series are not easy ones to read (they are, in fact, exhausting at times), they are riveting and raw. And I find that sometimes it's good to read a book that doesn't conform to expectations, that discomfits even as it entertains. Don't you?
October 24, 2014
I was one of the people who really, really disliked the first book in Shinn's shape-shifting series. I feel that Shinn's particular brand of romance doesn't work in a modern/real-world setting the way it does in fantasy or science fiction; reading about women or men who will die if they can't be together makes me roll my eyes. So I went into this book expecting little to nothing, after the dissatisfying tale of Maria and Dante and a relationship I thought bordered on the emotionally abusive.
I'm delighted to say how wrong I was.
The story of Melanie and Ann, sisters who are equally devoted to each other, was wonderful. Yes, there was romance that went a bit too far for my liking, and a plot point (leftover from the first novel) that made me shake my head and wonder if Shinn had forgotten where she'd taken us the first time around. But the book was touching, and I adored the protagonists. And in this book, I feel like she's branching out and finally touching the wider world of shifters. The first book didn't feel like a set-up to a series, but this one does. I almost wish this one had come first.
I'm delighted to say how wrong I was.
The story of Melanie and Ann, sisters who are equally devoted to each other, was wonderful. Yes, there was romance that went a bit too far for my liking, and a plot point (leftover from the first novel) that made me shake my head and wonder if Shinn had forgotten where she'd taken us the first time around. But the book was touching, and I adored the protagonists. And in this book, I feel like she's branching out and finally touching the wider world of shifters. The first book didn't feel like a set-up to a series, but this one does. I almost wish this one had come first.
February 18, 2013
HERE'S THE THING. I love Sharon Shinn. I've read every single book she's ever written, and there really aren't that many authors I can say that about. I love her brand of fantasy/sci fi, I love the characters she creates and writes about, I love the way she tells stories.
AND HERE'S THE THING ABOUT THAT. I liked this book? But I do not like this series. Everything that I love about her just does not work for me when placed in a modern contemporary setting.
THAT SAID, I really liked Melanie, Brody is a fantastic character, Ann made me weep, and I liked the way she connected this story to the first book. Janet's storyline made me weep harder than Ann's did.
So I liked this, but I really hope that she goes back to her fantastical settings soon.
AND HERE'S THE THING ABOUT THAT. I liked this book? But I do not like this series. Everything that I love about her just does not work for me when placed in a modern contemporary setting.
THAT SAID, I really liked Melanie, Brody is a fantastic character, Ann made me weep, and I liked the way she connected this story to the first book. Janet's storyline made me weep harder than Ann's did.
So I liked this, but I really hope that she goes back to her fantastical settings soon.
April 24, 2020
Although the three books in the Shifting Circle trilogy are loosely linked, I highly recommend reading all three, as each builds upon the story in the other.
I was disappointed in the ambiguity of the first book The Shape of Desire (my review) but I'm so glad I continued reading because this book is, hands-down, one of the most affecting stories I've ever read! I can't remember the last time a book hit me this deeply. I'd give it all the stars in the sky if I could!
Melanie Landon has raised her beloved half-sister Ann since she was ten. Her step-mother was unreliable, never told their family about her true nature, and eventually abandoned them; and when her scientist professor Dad saw his infant daughter turn into a puppy in her crib, his mind broke and quickly decayed, manifesting in the Alzheimer's that led to his death when Melanie was fresh out of college.
Ann always takes the form of a beautiful blue-eyed white husky, the same dog Maria sheltered in the first book. As a human, she is blond, bubbly and mischievous - and the light of Melanie's life. But Ann's absences are growing longer, and Melanie can't help but worry what that means.
When reporter Brody Westerbrook (fleetingly introduced in the first book) appears at Melanie's door one day, asking to interview her about Ann for the expose on shape-shifter's he's writing, Melanie's understandable reaction is instant panic and denial. She has gone to great lengths to keep Ann's special nature hidden for years, terrified someone would hurt her little sister. Ann is too carefree to protect herself, so Melanie has become her guardian.
But Brody is insistent, and charms his way into Melanie's life against her will, and soon after into her heart. The banter between Brody and Melanie as they dance warily around each other, and eventually learn to trust and then love each other, is an absolutely joy to read, and incredibly funny too!
But their new-found happiness turns to sorrow when Ann becomes seriously ill. Shape-shifting is too hard on the human body: it shortens lifespans. Although Ann has fallen deeply in love with William Romano, Dante's shape-shifting brother, and has everything to live for, she is rapidly running out of time.
Melanie's story is alternated with that of Janet, a young girl who falls in love with a shape-shifting wolf named Cooper. Despite many challenges, she dedicates her life to the search for a shape-shifting cure. Her story ultimately connects with Melanie's in an amazing way.
This is a story about love - both familial and romantic - and loss. It's about what it really means to be human, despite the shapes we take.
A masterpiece and a marvel, and a book I can't recommend highly enough! I laughed and I cried. I feel richer for having met these characters and followed their journey.
Heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure.
I was disappointed in the ambiguity of the first book The Shape of Desire (my review) but I'm so glad I continued reading because this book is, hands-down, one of the most affecting stories I've ever read! I can't remember the last time a book hit me this deeply. I'd give it all the stars in the sky if I could!
Melanie Landon has raised her beloved half-sister Ann since she was ten. Her step-mother was unreliable, never told their family about her true nature, and eventually abandoned them; and when her scientist professor Dad saw his infant daughter turn into a puppy in her crib, his mind broke and quickly decayed, manifesting in the Alzheimer's that led to his death when Melanie was fresh out of college.
Ann always takes the form of a beautiful blue-eyed white husky, the same dog Maria sheltered in the first book. As a human, she is blond, bubbly and mischievous - and the light of Melanie's life. But Ann's absences are growing longer, and Melanie can't help but worry what that means.
When reporter Brody Westerbrook (fleetingly introduced in the first book) appears at Melanie's door one day, asking to interview her about Ann for the expose on shape-shifter's he's writing, Melanie's understandable reaction is instant panic and denial. She has gone to great lengths to keep Ann's special nature hidden for years, terrified someone would hurt her little sister. Ann is too carefree to protect herself, so Melanie has become her guardian.
But Brody is insistent, and charms his way into Melanie's life against her will, and soon after into her heart. The banter between Brody and Melanie as they dance warily around each other, and eventually learn to trust and then love each other, is an absolutely joy to read, and incredibly funny too!
But their new-found happiness turns to sorrow when Ann becomes seriously ill. Shape-shifting is too hard on the human body: it shortens lifespans. Although Ann has fallen deeply in love with William Romano, Dante's shape-shifting brother, and has everything to live for, she is rapidly running out of time.
Melanie's story is alternated with that of Janet, a young girl who falls in love with a shape-shifting wolf named Cooper. Despite many challenges, she dedicates her life to the search for a shape-shifting cure. Her story ultimately connects with Melanie's in an amazing way.
This is a story about love - both familial and romantic - and loss. It's about what it really means to be human, despite the shapes we take.
A masterpiece and a marvel, and a book I can't recommend highly enough! I laughed and I cried. I feel richer for having met these characters and followed their journey.
Heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure.
December 17, 2015
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales
Quick & Dirty: I really had mixed emotions about this story about a woman who is willing to ruin all her own personal happiness to keep an eye on her younger sister, while another woman is willing to ruin her life just to be with the one she loves. I enjoyed this story in the end, I just had a hard time with the morality of the characters and the life decisions that they choose for themselves.
Opening Sentence: I’m sitting at one of the three stoplights in Dagmar on Monday morning when Kurt Markham strolls down the crosswalk in front of me so slowly that he’s only halfway across the street before the light turns green.
The Review:
Still Life with Shape-Shifter is the follow up to The Shape of Desire in the Shifting Circles series. This series is about shape-shifters with their incredibly short life span and the lengths that people will go to in order to keep them a secret. Still Life with Shape-Shifter could be read as a standalone in the series but it does tie in with characters from the first book in the series and some clues from the first book are also revealed that tie them together.
Melanie Landon lives every day for her sister. She waits impatiently for her sister, Ann, to appear at the end of the day. If Ann doesn’t appear Melanie collapses in a fit of despair and loneliness. You see, Ann is a shape-shifter and she often spends weeks at a time away from home. Melanie often worries that Ann is hurt or dead and she would never know because Ann is out in the world all alone. Melanie is ten years older than Ann and has been Ann’s surrogate mother after Ann’s own mother disappeared in her own world of being a shape-shifter and their father lost his memory. Melanie has completely thrown her own happiness out the window. She is only happy when her sister shows back up at home. So she is horribly devastated when Ann shows back up at home and declares that she is in love. The last thing Melanie wants is to share Ann with someone else.
Melanie’s life is forever changed when Brody Westerbrook enters her life in a whirl of happiness and smiles. Brody informs Melanie that he knows her sister is a shape-shifter and he wants to write a book about her. Melanie will not confirm that her sister is a shape-shifter but after breaking down in Brody’s arms he invited her on a date in order to make her feel better. He even agrees to not talk about shape-shifters if she will go on said date. Melanie just believes he is trying to ingratiate himself into her life so she will eventually slip up and tell him that her sister is actually a dog in her other form.
After Melanie’s sister is revealed to be sick, Melanie just doesn’t know what she will do to continue on. Brody is an outlet but she still thinks he’s after her knowledge of shape-shifting. Ann wants to make sure her sister is happy in life and I loved what Ann does for her sister. I do think Melanie’s decision is a tough one but one that had to be made. It was kind of obvious though with how that story was going. This story was very heart-wrenching.
Still Life with Shape-Shifter also follows another story. Janet is a girl who learned about shape-shifters when she was sixteen and met a wolf that also changes the course of her life for good. Cooper reveals himself to Janet after she helps him with a wound and gives him some food. After that point, Janet and Cooper are pretty much inseparable, even when Cooper is in wolf form. Janet sleeps on the back porch of her home. Everything that Janet does in her life is decided upon by how Cooper can follow and how he can get by with both sides of his life. Janet makes the boldest decision that I don’t entirely agree with. I think she was quite selfish. Janet was the one person who was trying to help the shape-shifters and her decision just kind of infuriated me when I would think about it after reading the book.
The two stories do tie together in a heart-wrenching way. Shinn does set up a bleak and weary world with the shape-shifters. I will say this is not my favorite world at all just because of the fact that they have incredibly short and terrible lives. This does seem to be a realistic version if shape-shifters were currently hiding out in our society today.
Overall, I’m just mixed about this series. I want to like it but it is kind of too world weary and depressing after the fact. I didn’t like the choices made and I just felt entirely sad for everyone involved. There are some really touching moments and I do feel like I came away with a message after reading it. I’m still not entirely sure I want to read the third book if it is still as depressing as this one was. I want a happy ending not a ‘this is just how life is’ ending.
Notable Scene:
“And you’re a reporter for a TV station?”
“Used to be,” he says around a mouthful of food. “Now I mostly do freelance writing and editing.”
Ann’s gaze is absolutely limpid, her voice innocent as a child’s. “And I understand you’re writing a book? What’s it about?”
For a moment, the silence at the table is absolute. My stomach has clenched so hard and so fast that I’ve momentarily lost in the ability to breathe. I can’t even summon the will to glare at Ann as she deserves. God, for a girl as fresh-faced, as happy as she is, to be so bent on self-destruction. She would run headlong to disaster and be laughing the entire way.
Brody swallows, sets down his fork, and takes a drink of water. Then he smiles at both of us. “Ah, let’s not talk about boring work stuff,” he says. “Tell me some more fun stories about when you were kids.”
It’s a moment before I realize that, given Ann’s wayward sense of humor, this topic could be just as dangerous. That’s because all my brain cells are coping with my sense of shock that he would so kindly and deftly turn the subject away from the one I dread above all others. It’s deliberate, too; he’s made me a promise, and by this action, he is demonstrating that he’ll keep it. He is trying, without much fuss or flourish, to prove to me his is someone I can trust.
FTC Advisory: Ace/Penguin provided me with a copy of Still Life with Shape-Shifter. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
Quick & Dirty: I really had mixed emotions about this story about a woman who is willing to ruin all her own personal happiness to keep an eye on her younger sister, while another woman is willing to ruin her life just to be with the one she loves. I enjoyed this story in the end, I just had a hard time with the morality of the characters and the life decisions that they choose for themselves.
Opening Sentence: I’m sitting at one of the three stoplights in Dagmar on Monday morning when Kurt Markham strolls down the crosswalk in front of me so slowly that he’s only halfway across the street before the light turns green.
The Review:
Still Life with Shape-Shifter is the follow up to The Shape of Desire in the Shifting Circles series. This series is about shape-shifters with their incredibly short life span and the lengths that people will go to in order to keep them a secret. Still Life with Shape-Shifter could be read as a standalone in the series but it does tie in with characters from the first book in the series and some clues from the first book are also revealed that tie them together.
Melanie Landon lives every day for her sister. She waits impatiently for her sister, Ann, to appear at the end of the day. If Ann doesn’t appear Melanie collapses in a fit of despair and loneliness. You see, Ann is a shape-shifter and she often spends weeks at a time away from home. Melanie often worries that Ann is hurt or dead and she would never know because Ann is out in the world all alone. Melanie is ten years older than Ann and has been Ann’s surrogate mother after Ann’s own mother disappeared in her own world of being a shape-shifter and their father lost his memory. Melanie has completely thrown her own happiness out the window. She is only happy when her sister shows back up at home. So she is horribly devastated when Ann shows back up at home and declares that she is in love. The last thing Melanie wants is to share Ann with someone else.
Melanie’s life is forever changed when Brody Westerbrook enters her life in a whirl of happiness and smiles. Brody informs Melanie that he knows her sister is a shape-shifter and he wants to write a book about her. Melanie will not confirm that her sister is a shape-shifter but after breaking down in Brody’s arms he invited her on a date in order to make her feel better. He even agrees to not talk about shape-shifters if she will go on said date. Melanie just believes he is trying to ingratiate himself into her life so she will eventually slip up and tell him that her sister is actually a dog in her other form.
After Melanie’s sister is revealed to be sick, Melanie just doesn’t know what she will do to continue on. Brody is an outlet but she still thinks he’s after her knowledge of shape-shifting. Ann wants to make sure her sister is happy in life and I loved what Ann does for her sister. I do think Melanie’s decision is a tough one but one that had to be made. It was kind of obvious though with how that story was going. This story was very heart-wrenching.
Still Life with Shape-Shifter also follows another story. Janet is a girl who learned about shape-shifters when she was sixteen and met a wolf that also changes the course of her life for good. Cooper reveals himself to Janet after she helps him with a wound and gives him some food. After that point, Janet and Cooper are pretty much inseparable, even when Cooper is in wolf form. Janet sleeps on the back porch of her home. Everything that Janet does in her life is decided upon by how Cooper can follow and how he can get by with both sides of his life. Janet makes the boldest decision that I don’t entirely agree with. I think she was quite selfish. Janet was the one person who was trying to help the shape-shifters and her decision just kind of infuriated me when I would think about it after reading the book.
The two stories do tie together in a heart-wrenching way. Shinn does set up a bleak and weary world with the shape-shifters. I will say this is not my favorite world at all just because of the fact that they have incredibly short and terrible lives. This does seem to be a realistic version if shape-shifters were currently hiding out in our society today.
Overall, I’m just mixed about this series. I want to like it but it is kind of too world weary and depressing after the fact. I didn’t like the choices made and I just felt entirely sad for everyone involved. There are some really touching moments and I do feel like I came away with a message after reading it. I’m still not entirely sure I want to read the third book if it is still as depressing as this one was. I want a happy ending not a ‘this is just how life is’ ending.
Notable Scene:
“And you’re a reporter for a TV station?”
“Used to be,” he says around a mouthful of food. “Now I mostly do freelance writing and editing.”
Ann’s gaze is absolutely limpid, her voice innocent as a child’s. “And I understand you’re writing a book? What’s it about?”
For a moment, the silence at the table is absolute. My stomach has clenched so hard and so fast that I’ve momentarily lost in the ability to breathe. I can’t even summon the will to glare at Ann as she deserves. God, for a girl as fresh-faced, as happy as she is, to be so bent on self-destruction. She would run headlong to disaster and be laughing the entire way.
Brody swallows, sets down his fork, and takes a drink of water. Then he smiles at both of us. “Ah, let’s not talk about boring work stuff,” he says. “Tell me some more fun stories about when you were kids.”
It’s a moment before I realize that, given Ann’s wayward sense of humor, this topic could be just as dangerous. That’s because all my brain cells are coping with my sense of shock that he would so kindly and deftly turn the subject away from the one I dread above all others. It’s deliberate, too; he’s made me a promise, and by this action, he is demonstrating that he’ll keep it. He is trying, without much fuss or flourish, to prove to me his is someone I can trust.
FTC Advisory: Ace/Penguin provided me with a copy of Still Life with Shape-Shifter. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
December 7, 2012
Still Life with Shape Shifter is the second book in the Shifting Circle Series. Even though it features shape-sifters it is really a story about love, love in all of its forms. I always call Sharon Shinn’s stories gently stories. Don’t look for non-stop action, a lot of sex, or over the top stories. She writes in a very down to earth style with a lot of character development that builds the story.
Several of the characters for A Shape of Desire are in Still Life. Dante and Maria are side characters here but William is one of the main characters. Still Life follows two women,, Janet and Melanie. Both love a shape-shifter but in very different ways. For the most part their lives are separate but both face loving and losing the person they love. This is the story of how they face that impending loss.
There are other characters that play a major part in the novel. Brody is almost too good to be true. He meets Melanie and has to work hard to win her trust. Melanie’s best friend, Debbie is just the kind of best friend everyone wants to have. Janet also has friends that supply a support for her.
Each woman’s story is separate and unique but in the end they meet in a sad but true way. There is room for future stories in this universe and I hope more are written.
Several of the characters for A Shape of Desire are in Still Life. Dante and Maria are side characters here but William is one of the main characters. Still Life follows two women,, Janet and Melanie. Both love a shape-shifter but in very different ways. For the most part their lives are separate but both face loving and losing the person they love. This is the story of how they face that impending loss.
There are other characters that play a major part in the novel. Brody is almost too good to be true. He meets Melanie and has to work hard to win her trust. Melanie’s best friend, Debbie is just the kind of best friend everyone wants to have. Janet also has friends that supply a support for her.
Each woman’s story is separate and unique but in the end they meet in a sad but true way. There is room for future stories in this universe and I hope more are written.
December 2, 2012
A lovely, bittersweet story about ordinary people with ordinary lives--they work at middle class jobs, they worry about paying their bills, they love their families. The difference in their lives is, some of them are shape-shifters.
There aren't any villains in this novel. No vampire councils, no wolf packs, just people like Melanie and Brody. Melanie's spent her life protecting her half-sister Ann, a shape-shifter who turns into a white husky. Brody's a free-lance writer (introduced in The Shape of Desire) working on a book about shifters, and he wants information from Melanie about Ann.
Melanie and Brody's relationship grows in a slow, thoughtful fashion that seems quite real, and as Melanie realizes Ann is changing in a way where Melanie won't be able to protect her anymore, Brody and her friends are there for her.
I thought I was burned out by paranormal books, but Shinn gives us something more with the characters, a depth and maturity missing from many other novels. They're reminiscent of Maggie Stiefvater's books and will be appreciated by readers who enjoyed her Shiver series.
There aren't any villains in this novel. No vampire councils, no wolf packs, just people like Melanie and Brody. Melanie's spent her life protecting her half-sister Ann, a shape-shifter who turns into a white husky. Brody's a free-lance writer (introduced in The Shape of Desire) working on a book about shifters, and he wants information from Melanie about Ann.
Melanie and Brody's relationship grows in a slow, thoughtful fashion that seems quite real, and as Melanie realizes Ann is changing in a way where Melanie won't be able to protect her anymore, Brody and her friends are there for her.
I thought I was burned out by paranormal books, but Shinn gives us something more with the characters, a depth and maturity missing from many other novels. They're reminiscent of Maggie Stiefvater's books and will be appreciated by readers who enjoyed her Shiver series.
December 4, 2012
3 1/2 stars. I stayed up late finishing this, and it made me cry a few times, but I still finished it feeling -- as with the first book -- ultimately unsatisfied. I just can't seem to get the point of these stories, which all seem to be about obsessive love for shapeshifters who lead very sad, difficult lives. This story adds a twist in that the main character's love is for her shape-shifter sister -- her actual romance with a nice, normal guy seems totally anticlimactic. There's also a secondary romance, also featuring an obsessive lover.
I searched for a metaphor. Does these scenarios represent caring for a special needs child? Do they represent caring for someone with a serious illness? Both readings are possible but not necessarily plausible.
I guess I'll keep reading this series, if there are more books... but I hope at some point I can figure out what the hell they're suppose to be about.
I searched for a metaphor. Does these scenarios represent caring for a special needs child? Do they represent caring for someone with a serious illness? Both readings are possible but not necessarily plausible.
I guess I'll keep reading this series, if there are more books... but I hope at some point I can figure out what the hell they're suppose to be about.
January 8, 2013
This is a sequel to The Shape of Desire, and again it's not an action-packed urban fantasy, but a realistic story of what it would actually be like to live with shapeshifters in the real world. The main character, Melanie, has bent her whole life to taking care of and watching over her shapeshifter half-sister Ann. The secondary story is about Janet, whose life comes to revolve around a shapeshifter lover. The Shape of Desire was about love and obsession and lust, but this book is more about what you do for love, what you give up for it, and when to give it up. Or if you can give it up.
Some of the many things I enjoyed most about this book is the friendship between female characters, finding out more about how shapeshifting works in this world, and the whole feel of magic fitting into and woven around everyday life.
Some of the many things I enjoyed most about this book is the friendship between female characters, finding out more about how shapeshifting works in this world, and the whole feel of magic fitting into and woven around everyday life.
January 11, 2013
This one didn't go where I thought it would. I thought it would be the standard boy meets girl, or shapeshifter meets girl, they have a romance, there are issues, but they get their HEA. So not this book! Instead it is a book about love and how far you would go too keep your loved one safe.
I thought both Melanie and Janet made some hard choices, but they were the right ones. I feel sorry that Janet's choice, sorry that her community would loose a great resource, but understood why she made it.
I really loved how the characters from the first book connected to those in this book. I thought that Melanie and Maria's conversations were ones that brought them both peace of mind.
I thought both Melanie and Janet made some hard choices, but they were the right ones. I feel sorry that Janet's choice, sorry that her community would loose a great resource, but understood why she made it.
I really loved how the characters from the first book connected to those in this book. I thought that Melanie and Maria's conversations were ones that brought them both peace of mind.
August 31, 2015
I loved this book. I've said it before but I'll say it again. Sharon Shinn has a way with words. I swear I could believe this is real and not fantasy because it feels so real. Like The Shape of Desire, this book is quiet and you hardly know what is happening or where it is supposed to end, or how you even know when you get there. It pulled me in completely. I'm dying to get the next one right away because I know the library has it but I think I need my emotions to settle back down before I destroy them again. This is a great series if you are looking for something a little different in the urban fantasy genre. Nothing flashy here. Just a fantastic story about people whose lives revolve around the shapeshifters they love.
July 24, 2015
I have had this book in my to read pile for a while now, why did I not read it sooner. Wow, what a read. I got sucked into that one. I had many good cries at the end. (I love a book that can make me cry) That was really well done. I loved Janet's story. That was unexpected and really well told. I think it was much better than the first book. I am intrigued to see what happens in the next one. :)
Shelved as 'tbr-queued'
November 23, 2012Can i just say "Squeee! Two Sharon Shinn books in one year!" Does the happy jig :D
September 25, 2012
4.5
Read my review here: http://www.rtbookreviews.com/book-rev...
Read my review here: http://www.rtbookreviews.com/book-rev...
December 31, 2012
Review originally posted here: http://thebookpushers.com/2012/11/28/...
Publisher: Ace
Publish Date: Out now
How I got this book: ARC from the publisher
Melanie Landon and her half-sister share a unique bond. For her entire life, Melanie has hidden the fact that Ann is a shape-shifter. The never-ending deception is a heavy weight to bear, but Melanie is determined to keep Ann’s secret and protect her from a world that simply wouldn’t understand.
For months, Melanie hasn’t seen or heard from Ann, in either of her forms. When a man shows up saying he’s there about her sister, Melanie fears the worst. But Brody Westerbrook doesn’t have information about Ann—he’s in search of it.
A freelance writer, Brody intends to include Ann in a book he’s writing about the existence of shape-shifters. While Melanie is immediately drawn to the stranger on her doorstep, she denies his claims, knowing that trusting him isn’t an option.
But when Ann finally appears looking thin and sick, Melanie realizes exposure is the least of their worries. Protecting her sister has always been such an enormous part of Melanie’s life, but as Ann’s health rapidly deteriorates, Melanie must come to grips with the fact that saving her may mean letting go…
This blurb came from Goodreads.
I reviewed the first book of Shinn’s Shifting Circle series The Shape of Desire earlier this year. While that wasn’t my favorite of Shinn’s body of work, the world she built and the storyline were interesting enough that I was willing to read and review the second book. When I finished reading it after reaching for a few tissues all I could think that is Shinn has done it to me again. You do need to read the first one because several key characters are introduced there. This is a fantasy with romantic elements because the romance isn’t at the forefront. What is at the forefront is the relationship of family both by blood and by choice and what people will do out of that love regardless of how badly it hurts personally. Still Life with Shape-Shifter actually has three main couples. Two of which are followed closely while the third was already established and plays a major role in the development of the plot.
Melanie is a very determined woman. She has spent most of her life caring for her younger sister since she felt that her father and stepmother wouldn’t be able to do a good job. She has extended that care to include refusing to sell their childhood home to a local developer so Ann can find her way home. She also has a local job with flexible hours again allowing the ability to spend time with Ann when she is around. It was fascinating to see Melanie’s relationship with her best friend and other locals while contrasting that with her relationship with Brody. Melanie also had to make some extremely hard choices and I really felt for her as the story continued. Yet Shinn made sure to leave me with the hope that Melanie would heal emotionally and perhaps spread her caring to others she hasn’t yet met.
Brody, first introduced in The Shape of Desire as an obnoxious (well I found him that way) reporter had gone through some interesting learning lessons before this novel started. His treatment after breaking the story on shape-shifters and the research he did on his own gave Brody a new perspective. As a result I gradually started overcoming my initial dislike of him so that by the end of the book he was one of my favorite characters. I liked how he insisted on considering Melanie’s feelings about his actions before he continued his interactions with Ann. At first I couldn’t quite understand why he was being so considerate but when he told Melanie the point that he fell in love with her I could completely understand. He was so gentle with both Ann and Melanie while continuing to find out information that I could see how he was able to get information from other people. I have to admit I was worried about what he was going to do with everything he learned despite his stated intention to not include any identifying information in his novel but his character ended up truly wonderful.
Melanie and Brody’s interactions and growing relationship is interposed with one between Janet and Cooper. Janet and Cooper are the second relationship that is really followed almost in alternating chapters. While I was reading I did wonder what their significance was but Shinn pulled everything together at the end. I can’t reveal what that is because it is a major spoiler. Janet is human and Cooper is a shape-shifter she encounters one night. Their relationship ends up changing the path of her life with very drastic results. They also provide a lot of interesting information about shape-shifters and add to the world building. Shinn was able to keep me engrossed in both couples despite the alternating chapters or making me think I was reading two completely separate stories. That technique can be difficult to pull off without confusing the reader and it is a measure of Shinn’s skill that she was able to use it effectively.
Threaded though everything is Ann’s relationship and life with William. William is another shape-shifter. He played a key role in the first book and seemed almost feral there. It was amazing what a change love made in his personality. Not just love for Ann but love for his family. I think it also made a difference that Melanie was so accepting of her sister. It was also good to see the couple from the previous book again and find out how William’s baby niece was doing. Their inclusion was natural continued to build the sense started in the first book that shifter family groups are actually rare and need to be anchored by a full-human. Shinn also uses the couples in this story to point out how hard it is on that human, not just worrying and protecting their loved ones from discovery but also from some of the health issues caused by shifting.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this book is that Shinn anchored it in real-life and included humor. I got a kick out of the gatherings at the local eating places, the birthday party, and how wonderful grandmothers can be. Ann also had me cracking up at times as she acted the younger sister anxious for her older sister to be happy. If happiness meant Melanie in a relationship with Brody than Ann was going to do what she could to encourage it. The humor was needed because some of the issues included are serious and resulted in tissues. I also liked how all of the main characters showed growth throughout the story.
Shinn has proven once again why I have had her on my auto-buy list since I first discovered her years ago. I was sucked into this story and found that with the majority of the world-building completed her deft ability with characters came back to the forefront. This isn’t your typical shape-shifter world or books and I enjoy the differences. I do continue to recommend that you do not start this series with this book because of the complex world and the previous character development.
I give Still Life with Shape-Shifter a B.
Publisher: Ace
Publish Date: Out now
How I got this book: ARC from the publisher
Melanie Landon and her half-sister share a unique bond. For her entire life, Melanie has hidden the fact that Ann is a shape-shifter. The never-ending deception is a heavy weight to bear, but Melanie is determined to keep Ann’s secret and protect her from a world that simply wouldn’t understand.
For months, Melanie hasn’t seen or heard from Ann, in either of her forms. When a man shows up saying he’s there about her sister, Melanie fears the worst. But Brody Westerbrook doesn’t have information about Ann—he’s in search of it.
A freelance writer, Brody intends to include Ann in a book he’s writing about the existence of shape-shifters. While Melanie is immediately drawn to the stranger on her doorstep, she denies his claims, knowing that trusting him isn’t an option.
But when Ann finally appears looking thin and sick, Melanie realizes exposure is the least of their worries. Protecting her sister has always been such an enormous part of Melanie’s life, but as Ann’s health rapidly deteriorates, Melanie must come to grips with the fact that saving her may mean letting go…
This blurb came from Goodreads.
I reviewed the first book of Shinn’s Shifting Circle series The Shape of Desire earlier this year. While that wasn’t my favorite of Shinn’s body of work, the world she built and the storyline were interesting enough that I was willing to read and review the second book. When I finished reading it after reaching for a few tissues all I could think that is Shinn has done it to me again. You do need to read the first one because several key characters are introduced there. This is a fantasy with romantic elements because the romance isn’t at the forefront. What is at the forefront is the relationship of family both by blood and by choice and what people will do out of that love regardless of how badly it hurts personally. Still Life with Shape-Shifter actually has three main couples. Two of which are followed closely while the third was already established and plays a major role in the development of the plot.
Melanie is a very determined woman. She has spent most of her life caring for her younger sister since she felt that her father and stepmother wouldn’t be able to do a good job. She has extended that care to include refusing to sell their childhood home to a local developer so Ann can find her way home. She also has a local job with flexible hours again allowing the ability to spend time with Ann when she is around. It was fascinating to see Melanie’s relationship with her best friend and other locals while contrasting that with her relationship with Brody. Melanie also had to make some extremely hard choices and I really felt for her as the story continued. Yet Shinn made sure to leave me with the hope that Melanie would heal emotionally and perhaps spread her caring to others she hasn’t yet met.
Brody, first introduced in The Shape of Desire as an obnoxious (well I found him that way) reporter had gone through some interesting learning lessons before this novel started. His treatment after breaking the story on shape-shifters and the research he did on his own gave Brody a new perspective. As a result I gradually started overcoming my initial dislike of him so that by the end of the book he was one of my favorite characters. I liked how he insisted on considering Melanie’s feelings about his actions before he continued his interactions with Ann. At first I couldn’t quite understand why he was being so considerate but when he told Melanie the point that he fell in love with her I could completely understand. He was so gentle with both Ann and Melanie while continuing to find out information that I could see how he was able to get information from other people. I have to admit I was worried about what he was going to do with everything he learned despite his stated intention to not include any identifying information in his novel but his character ended up truly wonderful.
Melanie and Brody’s interactions and growing relationship is interposed with one between Janet and Cooper. Janet and Cooper are the second relationship that is really followed almost in alternating chapters. While I was reading I did wonder what their significance was but Shinn pulled everything together at the end. I can’t reveal what that is because it is a major spoiler. Janet is human and Cooper is a shape-shifter she encounters one night. Their relationship ends up changing the path of her life with very drastic results. They also provide a lot of interesting information about shape-shifters and add to the world building. Shinn was able to keep me engrossed in both couples despite the alternating chapters or making me think I was reading two completely separate stories. That technique can be difficult to pull off without confusing the reader and it is a measure of Shinn’s skill that she was able to use it effectively.
Threaded though everything is Ann’s relationship and life with William. William is another shape-shifter. He played a key role in the first book and seemed almost feral there. It was amazing what a change love made in his personality. Not just love for Ann but love for his family. I think it also made a difference that Melanie was so accepting of her sister. It was also good to see the couple from the previous book again and find out how William’s baby niece was doing. Their inclusion was natural continued to build the sense started in the first book that shifter family groups are actually rare and need to be anchored by a full-human. Shinn also uses the couples in this story to point out how hard it is on that human, not just worrying and protecting their loved ones from discovery but also from some of the health issues caused by shifting.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this book is that Shinn anchored it in real-life and included humor. I got a kick out of the gatherings at the local eating places, the birthday party, and how wonderful grandmothers can be. Ann also had me cracking up at times as she acted the younger sister anxious for her older sister to be happy. If happiness meant Melanie in a relationship with Brody than Ann was going to do what she could to encourage it. The humor was needed because some of the issues included are serious and resulted in tissues. I also liked how all of the main characters showed growth throughout the story.
Shinn has proven once again why I have had her on my auto-buy list since I first discovered her years ago. I was sucked into this story and found that with the majority of the world-building completed her deft ability with characters came back to the forefront. This isn’t your typical shape-shifter world or books and I enjoy the differences. I do continue to recommend that you do not start this series with this book because of the complex world and the previous character development.
I give Still Life with Shape-Shifter a B.
January 29, 2018
Up until about 75% of the way through this book, I thought I was going to rank it a little lower due to seeming as if it was two pretty good stories that didn't connect at all. But I clearly did not have enough faith in Sharon Shinn, because they DID INDEED CONNECT, and it was absolutely beautiful, and definitely propelled this book to one that I liked considerably better than the first in the series!! And made me really excited for the third book (which I'm enjoying a lot so far!!).
I still vastly prefer Sharon Shinn's secondary world fantasies to her real world ones, but this one is a little more relatable in terms of an all-consuming love for a sibling rather than a lover, and I liked Mel's personality a lot; she seemed a little more accessible than Maria, and all of the other personalities in the book were so vivid, too! It was great to see the slightly wider world of the shapeshifting community (and to see Maria and Dante again! and I had sort of guessed Ann would be William's girlfriend, so that was delightful), and to see Brody in a more positive setting. I liked him a lot and I liked his and Mel's chemistry, and how neatly he came to fit into her life. The arc of the story itself was heartbreaking, but executed beautifully, and the ending felt very real and lovely.
I actually liked Janet's story even better, though Mel's was a little more accessible; it had a lot more intriguing practical applications of the shifting community, and it was so interesting to see what Janet went through to try to figure out how to control or even prevent the shifts. I was delighted by the setup for the next book, and I got really invested in Janet and Cooper's story. And the end, of course, is just A Lot overall.
On the whole, I just don't think I'm ever going to like these modern books more than the proper fantasy ones, but this one was great, engaging and funny and sweet and heartbreaking, and I can't imagine it won't be my favorite in the series.
I still vastly prefer Sharon Shinn's secondary world fantasies to her real world ones, but this one is a little more relatable in terms of an all-consuming love for a sibling rather than a lover, and I liked Mel's personality a lot; she seemed a little more accessible than Maria, and all of the other personalities in the book were so vivid, too! It was great to see the slightly wider world of the shapeshifting community (and to see Maria and Dante again! and I had sort of guessed Ann would be William's girlfriend, so that was delightful), and to see Brody in a more positive setting. I liked him a lot and I liked his and Mel's chemistry, and how neatly he came to fit into her life. The arc of the story itself was heartbreaking, but executed beautifully, and the ending felt very real and lovely.
I actually liked Janet's story even better, though Mel's was a little more accessible; it had a lot more intriguing practical applications of the shifting community, and it was so interesting to see what Janet went through to try to figure out how to control or even prevent the shifts. I was delighted by the setup for the next book, and I got really invested in Janet and Cooper's story. And the end, of course, is just A Lot overall.
On the whole, I just don't think I'm ever going to like these modern books more than the proper fantasy ones, but this one was great, engaging and funny and sweet and heartbreaking, and I can't imagine it won't be my favorite in the series.
October 7, 2017
I think Sharon Shinn may be the most reliable author I have ever read. You know what you're getting with her books, and each delights and transports in a similar way without ever getting boring or traversing the same path. While it's true that they also don't necessarily surprise, I don't find myself missing that when I read one of her books.
This novel is a sequel but with mostly different characters; the ones from the first book get cameos here. The plot is very simple - it's really character based, not at all about the "story" in the traditional sense. More about what it's like to love someone who is so much apart from society, and how your life begins to take on the shape of what they need from you.
I especially loved that this was a story about sibling love. There's a romance as well, of course, but it's almost... secondary. You sort of know where it's going. It's the relationship between the sisters that brings the challenges, twists, and tears.
This novel is a sequel but with mostly different characters; the ones from the first book get cameos here. The plot is very simple - it's really character based, not at all about the "story" in the traditional sense. More about what it's like to love someone who is so much apart from society, and how your life begins to take on the shape of what they need from you.
I especially loved that this was a story about sibling love. There's a romance as well, of course, but it's almost... secondary. You sort of know where it's going. It's the relationship between the sisters that brings the challenges, twists, and tears.
August 11, 2021
Of the three books in this series, this one is the one I enjoyed the most. The ending made me cry.
I believe these stories were conceived by the popularity of the Twilight and Underworld movies that were out in the early 2000s.
I do find the idea that the shapeshifters' bodies break down from the shifting intriguing. In other stories, werewolves are written as living for a long time, so the idea that the bodies break down is unique.
I did enjoy the updates on Maria, Dante, William and Lizzie. I did think they were all pretty casual in their acceptance of Brody, after the three adults pushing him away.
Because the first one had a somewhat happy ending, I was really sad by the fact that they couldn't save Ann.
I believe these stories were conceived by the popularity of the Twilight and Underworld movies that were out in the early 2000s.
I do find the idea that the shapeshifters' bodies break down from the shifting intriguing. In other stories, werewolves are written as living for a long time, so the idea that the bodies break down is unique.
I did enjoy the updates on Maria, Dante, William and Lizzie. I did think they were all pretty casual in their acceptance of Brody, after the three adults pushing him away.
Because the first one had a somewhat happy ending, I was really sad by the fact that they couldn't save Ann.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 23, 2013
I opened this book with a little hesitation. The first in the series, good as it may be, didn’t totally work for me. But that reading made me curious as to what is going on in this new Shifting Circle book. What a difference nearly a year makes. This story took me across the emotional spectrum, including tears, which I very rarely shed when I read.
I’m going to get my nitpick out of the way first. As in The Shape of Desire, we don’t get any point of view from any of the shifters. I’m quite curious as to why Ms. Shinn has chosen to write these books in this way. That was my issue with TSoD, as well as this book, but in this case it doesn’t bother me quite as much, all due to the little twists we get and the connection between characters that finally become clear. However, I still feel it would add to the story if we got into at least a one or two of the shifers’ heads.
We do, though, get two main points of view, one from Melanie, sister of a shifter, and one from Janet, who falls in love with another shape-shifter. Melanie’s half-sister, Anne, is a happy young woman who can control her shifting into a beautiful white husky. Melanie is in the same position as Maria from the previous book – her lies and cover-ups have dominated her life protecting Ann. She waits the usual two to three weeks for Ann’s return after traipsing all over creation in her dog shape. They have joyous reunions and then Ann’s need to shift takes her away from home and Melanie once again. Then their world is threatened when a man shows up on their doorstep, purporting to know about shape-shifters and wanting to write a story about the creatures.
Janet has decided to write down her interactions with Cooper, the shifter she took care of in wolf form when he was injured. She was fifteen then, and years later, she still takes care of the man she’s come to love over the years. Having a terrible family life back then, Janet had no qualms about being left behind when her parents move to California. She refused to leave Cooper, and they lived together in the woods so he has a place to run free as a wolf. Janet begins college, taking Cooper with her, and their life improves as the years go on. Wanting to help his wish of being more human than animal, Janet works on a “cure” while in school.
Melanie does her best to keep Ann’s secret, but the more time she spends with Brody, the more she discovers how trustworthy he truly is. I thoroughly enjoyed their relationship, Brody hanging in there despite Melanie’s best efforts to push him away. On one of her trips home, Ann tells Melanie she’s in love. With a shape-changer, a scraggly setter who is just as scraggly as a human, William. He’s a tad strange to Melanie’s way of thinking, but if he’s what Ann wants that’s fine with her. And this is our first connection to TSoD - William is Dante’s brother, and we discover Ann is the white dog who showed up at Maria’s door now and again. Ann is gone from home longer than before, now that she’s got William with her. It’s later that Melanie begins to worry about her sister. She’s lost weight, sleeps days at a time when home, but then she’s nearly like new after all that rest.
In Janet’s world, she never realized so many shape-shifters existed, and she’s talked into becoming a doctor of sorts for them. Cooper’s artistic gift is recognized and his work is featured at an exhibition, where a good majority of his work sells very quickly. It’s a good life for them and they’re both as happy as can be. But then one day Janet receives a call from Melanie, asking her to examine Ann. Unfortunately, there’s not good news. Ann’s shifting is taking a huge toll on her human body, and the best solution for her is to remain in her animal form for maximum life span, something she promises to do but just can’t follow through on. Janet has seen this and other anomalies in shifters over the years, including Cooper. As she nears the end of her experiments for his cure, her results are not quite what she expected.
The book is split between Melanie’s and Janet’s story, each having a few chapters when it changes points of view. I’m usually not a fan of this concept, but in this story it works very well. There’s a chronology that isn’t that apparent until about the last quarter of the book. It also works well with the three different relationships ongoing throughout. And it’s in that last quarter where you need that Kleenex box right next to you. Though Melanie had to give some tough love to Ann, she’s there for her sister when she needs her most. And Janet. My heavens, I didn’t see her solution coming at all. But I cried nearly as much for her and Cooper as I did for Melanie and Ann. However, I’m left with a few questions, and in checking the author’s web site, I have no idea if more books in this series are coming to hopefully answer those queries. I want to know about William. Where did he go? What did he do? I need something! And, again, Janet. That can’t be the end and we hear nothing more! How did the experiment work? What did she and Cooper do during all that time? For how long? Just so many things to know!
So here’s hoping there is at least one more book, maybe more, in the series. And maybe somewhere along the way I’ll get that shifter point of view from someone. Though now that I’m more intrigued than ever before, that may not matter all that much by the time I get my hands on the next one book.
See my complete review at http://www.goodbadandunread.com
I’m going to get my nitpick out of the way first. As in The Shape of Desire, we don’t get any point of view from any of the shifters. I’m quite curious as to why Ms. Shinn has chosen to write these books in this way. That was my issue with TSoD, as well as this book, but in this case it doesn’t bother me quite as much, all due to the little twists we get and the connection between characters that finally become clear. However, I still feel it would add to the story if we got into at least a one or two of the shifers’ heads.
We do, though, get two main points of view, one from Melanie, sister of a shifter, and one from Janet, who falls in love with another shape-shifter. Melanie’s half-sister, Anne, is a happy young woman who can control her shifting into a beautiful white husky. Melanie is in the same position as Maria from the previous book – her lies and cover-ups have dominated her life protecting Ann. She waits the usual two to three weeks for Ann’s return after traipsing all over creation in her dog shape. They have joyous reunions and then Ann’s need to shift takes her away from home and Melanie once again. Then their world is threatened when a man shows up on their doorstep, purporting to know about shape-shifters and wanting to write a story about the creatures.
Janet has decided to write down her interactions with Cooper, the shifter she took care of in wolf form when he was injured. She was fifteen then, and years later, she still takes care of the man she’s come to love over the years. Having a terrible family life back then, Janet had no qualms about being left behind when her parents move to California. She refused to leave Cooper, and they lived together in the woods so he has a place to run free as a wolf. Janet begins college, taking Cooper with her, and their life improves as the years go on. Wanting to help his wish of being more human than animal, Janet works on a “cure” while in school.
Melanie does her best to keep Ann’s secret, but the more time she spends with Brody, the more she discovers how trustworthy he truly is. I thoroughly enjoyed their relationship, Brody hanging in there despite Melanie’s best efforts to push him away. On one of her trips home, Ann tells Melanie she’s in love. With a shape-changer, a scraggly setter who is just as scraggly as a human, William. He’s a tad strange to Melanie’s way of thinking, but if he’s what Ann wants that’s fine with her. And this is our first connection to TSoD - William is Dante’s brother, and we discover Ann is the white dog who showed up at Maria’s door now and again. Ann is gone from home longer than before, now that she’s got William with her. It’s later that Melanie begins to worry about her sister. She’s lost weight, sleeps days at a time when home, but then she’s nearly like new after all that rest.
In Janet’s world, she never realized so many shape-shifters existed, and she’s talked into becoming a doctor of sorts for them. Cooper’s artistic gift is recognized and his work is featured at an exhibition, where a good majority of his work sells very quickly. It’s a good life for them and they’re both as happy as can be. But then one day Janet receives a call from Melanie, asking her to examine Ann. Unfortunately, there’s not good news. Ann’s shifting is taking a huge toll on her human body, and the best solution for her is to remain in her animal form for maximum life span, something she promises to do but just can’t follow through on. Janet has seen this and other anomalies in shifters over the years, including Cooper. As she nears the end of her experiments for his cure, her results are not quite what she expected.
The book is split between Melanie’s and Janet’s story, each having a few chapters when it changes points of view. I’m usually not a fan of this concept, but in this story it works very well. There’s a chronology that isn’t that apparent until about the last quarter of the book. It also works well with the three different relationships ongoing throughout. And it’s in that last quarter where you need that Kleenex box right next to you. Though Melanie had to give some tough love to Ann, she’s there for her sister when she needs her most. And Janet. My heavens, I didn’t see her solution coming at all. But I cried nearly as much for her and Cooper as I did for Melanie and Ann. However, I’m left with a few questions, and in checking the author’s web site, I have no idea if more books in this series are coming to hopefully answer those queries. I want to know about William. Where did he go? What did he do? I need something! And, again, Janet. That can’t be the end and we hear nothing more! How did the experiment work? What did she and Cooper do during all that time? For how long? Just so many things to know!
So here’s hoping there is at least one more book, maybe more, in the series. And maybe somewhere along the way I’ll get that shifter point of view from someone. Though now that I’m more intrigued than ever before, that may not matter all that much by the time I get my hands on the next one book.
See my complete review at http://www.goodbadandunread.com
December 22, 2020
I was casting about for something on the gentle side, and Sharon Shinn can usually be counted on for that. In this case, it didn't work for me, not this time. I didn't really like the set-up of the snoopy reporter trying to get the main character to tell on her sister, even if the snoopy reporter was charming. Maybe it's because I'm trying out the tv show Alias, and there's a snoopy reporter in that series trying to find out our heroine's secrets and I find him completely annoying.
Anyway, I might give this one another try in the future, but I bounced off it right now.
Anyway, I might give this one another try in the future, but I bounced off it right now.
February 13, 2021
I hadn't read the first book in this series, didn't even know it existed, but this one stands on its own quite nicely. It's difficult to read, mostly because the characters are so engaging and their struggles are so sad. Themes? Well -- what it's like to be different, how different personalities handle life-changing situations, the importance of letting go. This is a very, very emotional book. And it features, of course, Sharon Shinn's superb writing.
July 4, 2020
I have no idea why I started with book two in a series. Maybe that was why I didn't like it.
I can't remember why I picked up this book. I think Sharon Shinn was mentioned in a storyline I read as a fantastic author? They might be. This book was depressing and angsty though and I can't find it in me to suspend disbelief about werewolves anymore.
I can't remember why I picked up this book. I think Sharon Shinn was mentioned in a storyline I read as a fantastic author? They might be. This book was depressing and angsty though and I can't find it in me to suspend disbelief about werewolves anymore.
August 8, 2017
I think Sharon Shinn could write about ANYTHING, and I would find it engrossing. Thankfully, her world building is so thorough and meticulous, I don't have to try very hard to suspend disbelief. Another excellent, excellent read!
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