This was an interesting and enjoyable sci-fi world. I've found it can be surprisingly difficult to achieve a balance with realism when dealing with sci-fi universes, but I think this one did admirably well. There's a bit of a fairy tale quality to it which I enjoyed immensely and probably helps it achieve that balance. The characters are fun, though the romance was a bit fast it was enjoyable.

One thing I will say for Mell Eight's books is that there is always such evocative world building within these pages. Another thing I will say is that they are short and sweet. I almost wish that this one had included part two as part of the same novel. Though, from what I saw of the teaser, the next part seems to be from Taylor's point of view; whereas part one was from Nevada.

Nevada is a snow leopard Ge-Mi. Ge-Mis in this world are genetically engineered humans spliced with some sort of animal DNA. For example, Taylor and his pack are wolf Ge-Mi. Clearly, this book is set in the future, in a similar kind of world to the one we live in, but after a war that took out all the major cities and so smaller provinces are now looked after by lords in a pre-Industrial way.

This book may have been a four star read, but I don't think I've ever read a book where the cat shape shifter was the main character, and so I had to give it an extra star just for originality and my love of cats. Especially the domestic cat pack that Nevada cedes his home to. It's so wonderful and such a big part of who he is depicted as.

He is also waitstaff in an incredibly successful cafe, good friends with the owner and, for most of the story, quite concerned about the idea that it will come out that he's a Ge-Mi. Most provinces are pretty hostile to them and he knows he runs the risk of being run both out of the job he loves and the province he lives in should that secret come out.

Which makes it all the more important to avoid notice of Taylor and his nose that keeps smelling cat every time he's around Nevada. It's a cute and simple premise, and incredibly easy reading.

This was so well written! Every detail was lovely. The world was way more complex than I was expecting, which was a wonderful surprise. I am looking forward to the next one.

A really wonderful little story. I enjoyed the interactions between the MCs and the storyline has me really wishing that it had been longer. I cannot wait to read more of the truly fascinating literary world.

*I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley*

[I received an ARC of this novella from Netgalley]

First impressions:
From the blurb, I was expecting a heated romance that might play on a enemies-to-lovers trope amidst a sci-fi, urban fantasy setting. I did not think much of the cover other than it was interesting to look at, but it really was the blurb that snagged my attention.
Next, I noticed when I opened my ARC on my Kindle app that this was a novella, which is not an immediate strike in my book, but it did give me pause because there are a lot elements that have to be done very well in a shorter word count to keep a nice pace of setting up the romance and plot along with the world building. <-- That is not an easy feat, even with the room a novel's word count can give you.

Final thoughts:
I was underwhelmed by this book. I admit some part of this reaction is that my expectation on the romance was polar opposite of what ended up unfolding. Instead of a sizzling antagonism underscored with undeniable attraction type of romance, I got very little spice and the relationship translated as more of insta-love (my least favorite trope) between Nevada, our half Ge-Mi main character who's perspective we are getting this story, and Taylor, heir of the city Nevada lives in and alpha wolf who literally sniffs out Nevada's Ge-Mi status. As a reader, I never actually felt like Nevada and Taylor had an emotional connection with each other, though the author kept trying to reinforce that their definitely was *something* mainly through a B&E scene, Nevada saving Taylor, a cute cuddling scene involving each MC brushing each other's tails, and through Nevada's thought process where we were given gems like "He [Nevada] wanted to know where these feelings that had turned Taylor from an icky dog into a sexy wolf would eventually lead them." Sigh, none of this made my heart go pitter-pat. (And also, "icky"? really? Is Nevada twelve and still worried about cooties?)

Besides the romance, the story itself was also problematic for me: The pacing was deadened by info dumps and too many scenes of Nevada's daily minutiae, the stakes never felt high or like there was any true danger, and a lot of issues, especially concerning Nevada, seemed to be conveniently resolved by the end (except the main issue of figuring out who The Big Bad is in the series, of course).

If none of my critiques are issues that bother you, then please give this novella a try. Unfortunately for me, I will not be continuing the series after part II comes out this May.