The Jaguar Alpha's Forbidden Lover by Aurelia Skye

4 Stars

This novel was well written and edited, with few typos that I caught in the ARC version of this manuscript. The world building was excellent, with me the reader getting a fascinating glimpse in to Brazil. The characterization was excellent, with both hero and heroine being sympathetic, vibrant characters. The endemic racism against humans was not enjoyable to read, however. The development of the romantic relationship was fairly natural and organic, especially considering the super short length of this story. The plot and pacing was exciting and had me turning pages rapidly to find out what was going to happen next. There was a little angst in this novel, with the hero angsting about potentially having a human Fated Mate. I was somewhat disappointed that the solution to that problem in this novel was that the heroine was not "really" human instead of the pride having to confront their prejudice, but whatever. The stakes were fairly high, with the elders potentially wanting to murder the heroine who was the rightful owner of the contested land. This tends to be one of my preferred narrative structures for a romance novel. This novel uses the Fated Mates trope and the Enemies to Lovers trope, in addition to the Class Difference trope. The plot, pacing, and world building rated five stars. The characterization and development of the romantic relationship rated four stars, and the racism against humans that never gets challenged in this novel rates three stars. That means the combined score is four stars. This novel has a Happy Ever After ending instead of a cliffhanger, so that is a big plus to this story. I recommend this story to readers who enjoy paranormal romance and Harlequin Presents category romances. I do not plan to buy myself a keeper copy of this novel. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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