Book Reviews/ October 24, 2023November 15, 2023

Dust Born by Elizabeth Hunter Book Review

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Blurb

Sean Quinn returned to Cambio Springs to help his family find their way out of trouble—not uncommon in this desert town of shapeshifters—but before he can hit the road again, a new threat emerges on the border of his family home, a threat that could leave Sean stuck in the Springs just when he’s most desperate to leave.

And one unsuspecting human might be stuck right there with him.

Ever since Juniper Hawkins came to Cambio Springs to visit her big brother, strange things keep happening, not the least was running into the man who’d almost made her change her wandering ways. Juni wasn’t the kind of woman who settled down, even when the object of her affection was a tall, dark, and handsome photographer who kissed her senseless then abandoned her in Southeast Asia.

Not that she was still irritated about that.

DUST BORN is a brand new novel in the Cambio Springs Mysteries, a paranormal romance series by ten time USA Today Bestselling author, Elizabeth Hunter.

Sensitive Content

Here is the potentially sensitive content I observed while reading this book:

Alcohol
Animal Death
Blood
Injury
Profanity
Sexual Content
Violence

Ratings

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There are possible **SPOILERS** beyond this point!

Overall Rating

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dust Born is a Paranormal shifter romance between two travel photographers. Both characters are in Cambio Springs for their family. For Juni, she is visiting her brother in between photography jobs. For Sean, he is there to help out his clan who is really struggling with the absence of a true leader. These two main characters become neighbors living in airstreams across from each other, hello close proximity! Sean is doing his best to keep Juni at a distance because he does not want her to get involved with the mess that he is dealing with in regards to his family and with the town in a greater sense. Juni wants Sean to face the attraction they both feel and give what the have a try!

This was my first shifter romance in a long time! I had not realized that it had been so long, but I love this kind of paranormal romance. Elizabeth has her own rules and ways in which her universe follows and I loved it! I would not consider this dark romance as it is quite funny and the violence is minimal in comparison to many in this genre. I like that there’s also a lot of diversity within all of these shifters and the forms that they can take. This was my first snake shifter story and I was a little bit leery because snakes are not my favorite. The reptile shifting was sooo much more useful and integral than I had imagined though. Dust Born was badass with the snakes!

Sean is the perfect tortured hero in the story. He’s grumbly and brooding but also sweet and compassionate with his family. He steps up when he sees that his clan needs him. He’s made it out and found success himself and that is the reason he’s willing to do whatever is necessary for the other young Quinn family members to succeed. With the looming threat of Lobo hurting members in his clan and Cambio Springs, he becomes a leader in resolving this issue as well.

I really liked Juni! She’s ambitious and a free spirit who doesn’t want to get tied down. She was bright and persistent in trying to help out someone she really cares about, Sean. Though she’s in the dark about what secrets Cambio Springs is really holding, she sees that her friend is struggling and she wants to help. I loved how sweet, caring and open Juni was about her feelings, even when she knew it could come back to hurt her. Sean really needed someone like her in his life.

I read this book as a standalone, which I do feel like this story can definitely stand on its own. We spent quite a bit of time with previous main characters of the series at the beginning of this story. It was a nice recap of the series. I wanted to just have more time with Juni and Sean together because that was magical! I think their chemistry was really natural and it’s easy to see why they are a good match for each other but I wanted just more time of them being together and happy and seeing that grow between them.

I enjoyed the story and would definitely be interested in going back to the beginning of the series so that I can learn more about some of the supporting characters that we saw on this one. Though Dust Born can be read as a standalone, I would recommend this series to fans of paranormal romance, and shifter romance in particular as this one is pretty interesting. Thank you so much to the author and Valentine PR for a copy of this book for review.