Book Tour for Catching Meara by Christine Young (Review & GIVEAWAY)

A new paranormal book has just joined the genre family and today you get a glimpse of it.  Catching Meara by Christine Young involves serial killers and two people with secrets that might keep them from their HEA.  Keep reading to see my review and make sure to comment for your chance to win a great prize......

Meara Thorton was a feisty, world class computer hacker—cornered by the FBI and shockingly given the chance to be their newly acquired technical analyst.  Brilliant and intuitive, yet aching with the loss of everyone she has cared about, her restless heart led her to discover a love she fought and a world she didn't know could possibly exist.

Jace McKenna was an enigma, a loner, impossibly handsome, sincere and committed. The Apache shapeshifter blood running through his veins burned hotter than the blistering Sierra Madre sun. Jace knew the moment he caught Meara's scent she was his for eternity.

EXCERPT:

The gunshots woke Meara from a sound sleep. She sat up in bed, sweat dripping from her forehead. She thought she saw a strange animal-like figure staring at her from outside--a wolf perhaps. But it wasn't the jaguar. Then it vanished.
"Jace!"
She was shivering, but she couldn't bring herself to move. She felt numb and so very empty. Jace was out there. He had gone outside to protect her, looking for a killer, so it seemed. He shouldn't have done that. He should have stayed where it was safe. Terror ripped through her.
Nowhere was safe.
He could get himself killed.
She knew Jace. He would tell himself he was trained. He would have to do it. He couldn't leave this to the men patrolling the house. And she knew he would never sit still while someone took crack shots at him. He would never wait this thing out. He could never live that way.
They couldn't live that way.
She sat on the bed and leaned her head against the headboard. It was solid and soothing. She realized Jace was going to stay out there until he caught the man. She also knew he wasn't going to stay around forever. She wasn't pretty enough, cute enough. She didn't have any curves, so to speak. It would be all over before she could blink.
And he was out there...
Risking his life for her...
She really couldn't bear it if he died. No matter what happened, she didn't want him hurt. She did love him, very much, and she needed to know he was alive somewhere.
A loud roar startled her.
At the harsh sound, she jumped alert. Scooting back on her bead as far as she could go, she cowered against the headboard for a brief second. Slowly she unpeeled herself from the bed and walked into her living room then toward the balcony.
The cat was covered with dirt, his eyes bright against the blackness of his fur. She opened the balcony doors and let the jaguar walk inside.
He let out a few whimpers then settled down on the rug, his tail moving up and down. He sounded as if he was in pain.
She arched her brows, staring at the cat and wondering if she should go to him. If it was safe. Good lord, Jace would have her hide if she approached the cat. But it wasn't one of the rules. She'd done everything just as he'd asked. Well, except for letting the cat inside her house. But the big black jaguar looked as if he needed her and he was wounded. Heck, she was more exhausted, but strangely she wasn't as terrified.
"Easy boy," she cooed as she slowly stepped toward the animal. She gritted her teeth against the creak and groan of the floorboards.

MY IMPRESSIONS OF THE BOOK:

Catching Meara left me conflicted as to my review as the premise completely won me over whereas the execution didn't live up to the promise.  The main characters were likable with intriguing baggage but their relationship felt strange and stilted.  There was a cast of secondary characters that were barely mentioned but I was still left wanting to know more about Colton the head of this agency.

So as you can see there was a lot of good with the bad.  The good was the intriguing premise of a covert group chasing serial killers. Each member brought a specialty to the group that helped in finding the bad guy.  Unfortunately their abilities are barely touched upon.  The crimes themselves seem to be solved quickly with an intriguing and in-depth look into the process.  Too bad the same time and intensity in finding other killers wasn't spent on the person coming after Meara.  We never get a grasp on the villain or discover much about him at all.  This part of the storyline was unfortunately glossed over and wrapped up with virtually no suspense.  

The hero was to die for and would do anything to save Meara.  His ability to shapeshift added an extra dimension to his romance with Meara as he had to win her over as a man and a jaguar, hoping she'd accept him wholeheartedly.  Meara has been running, from herself and the law, for such a long time it's hard to set down roots and let another take care of her.  She's a wild child in her looks but a total geek in love with her computers.  She gives the appearance of being badass but is full of fear and uncertainty which made me sympathetic to her but a bit disappointed as well since I wanted someone capable of standing up to Jace which she didn't do enough of.

My biggest issue involved the flow of the story which felt a bit clunky at times.  There were scenes that ended abruptly and others that showed up out of the blue and it unfortunately affected the romance by pulling me out of the moment.  What did flow well though were the sexual interludes that were nicely spaced throughout the story.  They were steamy and showed me how well connected the h/h could be.

Though not every aspect of this story worked for me I still recommend this to fans of the paranormal.  The world of the shapeshifters is just being hinted at here and has me wanting to learn more and see Ms. Young's progression when she delves back into the paranormal genre.

My rating for this is a C+

 *I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

BUY LINKS:  AMAZON  |  AMAZON UK  |  BN  |  ARe

AUTHOR INFO:

Born in Medford, Oregon, novelist Christine Young has lived in Oregon all of her life. After graduating from Oregon State University with a BS in science, she spent another year at Southern Oregon State University working on her teaching certificate, and a few years later received her Master's degree in secondary education and counseling. Now the long, hot days of summer provide the perfect setting for creating romance. She sold her first book, Dakota's Bride, the summer of 1998 and her second book, My Angel to Kensington. Her teaching and writing careers have intertwined with raising three children.  Christine's newest venture is the creation of Rogue Phoenix Press. Christine is the founder, editor and co-owner with her husband. They live in Salem, Oregon.

Christine’s Blog: http://christineyoung-romancewriter.blogspot.com

**********GIVEAWAY**********

Christine will be awarding a $15.00 Amazon Gift Card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

-To be entered, leave a comment, along with your email addy.

-A winner will be chosen randomly from all comments made throughout the tour, so the more you comment the greater your chances of winning.  A list of all participating blogs can be found here.

-Giveaway ends at 11:59 PM CST on 3/29.