'Savage Awakenings' is the third book in Stephani Hecht's 'Lost Shifters' series and, frankly, I couldn't wait to get to this one. Rat had intrigued me from the moment I saw him and it kind of caused a little twinge inside me that he's a shifter who can't hold his shift. Thus, it stood to reason that in his world he would be viewed as defective and less than the other shifters. The fact that Rat taught himself some mad computer skills didn't seem to matter to some shifters, although I was glad to see that the leader and his family didn't care about his shifter status. So, basically, beginning this story I was already a fan of Rat's and really wanted him to get his happy ever after.Keegan is having a very bizarre day. Much like his brother, Jacyn, Keegan has no clue about any of the shifter world or his family history. He's lucky that when the Ravens find him, a tiger shifter named Seth does too and they escape. Unfortunately, Seth goes out for food and supplies and doesn't come back, leaving Keegan to call the number Seth gave him. Rat answers and tells him to stay put, he'll come to get him. Rat can't run the risk of the traitor telling the Ravens about Keegan, and since the leader and family are out on jobs, it's up to Rat to retrieve him and bring him home.Now this is an interesting pairing. Rat has a lot of baggage from childhood and hides behind sarcasm so no one knows how much he hurts. Mitchell is the only shifter, really, whom Rat respects and he'll do just about anything for him. Keegan may have an eidetic memory and genius IQ, but there's still a whole lot of innocence in him. His adoptive parents were good to him, but basically they trotted him out for any type of competition that involved his brains, so Keegan never got the opportunity to just be a kid. He graduated high school at fourteen, and now at twenty-three he's already a lawyer. Rat and Keegan are seriously volatile together and they're also very sweet to watch.I liked watching these two get their happy ending. They both had such hurt in their pasts and overcoming their fear of rejection enough to be able to say "I love you", was really difficult for them. It all turned out okay, and now Mitchell's family is only missing two of their younger brothers. Looking forward to the next book in the series. "4.5"The further into this series I get, the better the couples are. Rat is a unique character of his own, but I have to say I loved Keegan, and the pair of them together are just awesome. I like that Keegan isn't just a pushed aside pansy; he may be young and somewhat innocent compared to the others of the family, but he has courage in spades [even if it's the stupid kind of courage! lol].I also liked the fact that Keegan showed a lot more passion about defending Rat and sticking with him even after being reunited with Mitchell and the others. Granted, family means a lot. But being separated from them for so long, I don't supposed the attachment to them would be so exceptionally strong, so quickly. Especially since the lost brothers have no memory of the others.Keegan's eidetic memory is a very interesting detail as well that gives the story a little more strength, puts a little distance between him and the other brothers so they don't all come across as exactly the same.The on-going theme that has bugged me - the 'he can't possibly love me, we have no future' is still evident, just not as dominating as it has been in the previous novels of this series. I'm hoping that that little tack-on is absent in the others.
What do You think about Savage Awakenings (2010)?
Carson (Rat) is my favorite. Makes me laugh everytime.
—peterwassink
