Unleashed, by Bella Jacobs | Book Review

Hello! Today I have my book review of Unleashed, by Bella Jacobs.

Unleashed is the first book in the Dark Moon Shifters series.

Trigger Warnings: Long-term Poisoning, Guns & Gun Violence, Biological Testing/Warfare

One woman on the run. Four dangerously sexy bodyguards. And a war brewing that will change the shifter world forever…

I’m living on borrowed time, fighting for survival against a deadly new virus that has no cure and a cult doing its best to brainwash me. But when a mysterious note shows up on my windowsill one night, its chilling message–Run, Wren–launches me out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Within hours, everything I thought I knew about my life, my family, and my origins is obliterated, and I’m racking up enemies at an alarming rate. Between the cult I’ve just escaped, a violent shifter faction out for my blood, and an ancient evil who eats “chosen ones” like me for breakfast, my last hope is to join forces with four dangerous-looking men who claim they were sent to guard my life.

Luke, a werewolf with a rap sheet. Creedence, a lynx shifter who never met a mark he couldn’t con. Kite, a bear kin with a mean right hook and heart of gold. And Dust, my childhood best friend and dude voted least likely to be a secret shape-shifting griffin.

But are these men really what they seem?
Or are my alpha guardians hiding a secret agenda of their own?

I’m not sure, but one thing is for certain–choosing the right allies will mean the difference between life and death. For me, and everyone I love.

UNLEASHED is book one in the Dark Moon Shifter’s series. It is a true reverse harem featuring one woman and her four mates.

From GoodReads [x]:

“REVERSE HAREM” IS, LITERALLY, THE OPPOSITE OF “HAREM”, WITH A GROUP OF MALES CENTERING ROUND A SINGULAR FEMALE, USUALLY WITH THREE OR MORE MALES. QUITE OFTEN FOUND UNDER THE ROMANCE GENRE.

Unleashed is a book that I honestly put very little thought into. I’m glad that I didn’t think much of Unleashed prior to reading it–especially so, since I actually ended up liking this first Dark Moon Shifters novel.

The Dark Moon Shifters series takes place in our world, but in the future. And in this particular future, the icecaps have melted. And we learn why the icecaps have melted in this book.

There are quite a few points of view within Unleashed, but the 4 that we read from is Wren (who has the most reading time), and then we have Kite, Dust, and Creedence.

Wren is a Good Egg. Wren genuinely wants to do good by people. Which means she doesn’t like killing people, and just..genuinely wants whats best for the world. By the end of Unleashed, Wren’s also come to the conclusion that she’s willing to do almost anything (in this first novel) that will save her men.

• Kite—he’s like, genuine and I want to say pure, but Kite definitely knows things.
• Dust—Somewhat of a control freak; to a point. Dust seems to prefer being polished at all times, but not the the point of where he’s a nuisance about it. Dust is also secretive.
• Creedence—sinnamon roll — Even though Creedence has his own point of view in this novel, we don’t learn much from him.

All of the guys have their own standards for things, but when worst comes to worst, all of them are willing to get down and dirty.

There’s a lot of plot that goes on within Unleashed. This first novel genuinely took me on a journey. We see Wren at the start of the novel who is sure that she’s not going to make it much longer in life. When certain events lead to Wren to her guys, Wren even in disbelief, takes this new information about herself and the world in stride.

There were plot twists that I didn’t expect would happen, plot developments that I truly enjoyed reading. 

I actually really enjoyed the writing–which is kind of a surprise. Lately I’ve read stories where the writing is alright ‘n’ easy to read. The way that  And of course there are some bits of the story that I did not enjoy… 

I loved seeing Wren go from this person who could only achieve to complete basic tasks, gain the energy that Wren had by the end of this first book. 

I adore that by the end of Unleashed, Wren had come into herself. She’s learning things about herself almost every minute of everyday, but what Wren learns she takes in stride.

I give Unleashed, 3 stars.

Unleashed is a book that I unexpectedly enjoyed. I’m truly excited to read the next novel, Untamed.

Have you read anything by Bella Jacobs? 

Thank you for stopping by.

See you soon, and Happy Reading! 
Adele