“Taken” by Kat Kinney

How do I start…well, for all that’s fanged and holy, what am I supposed to do now when the last book of the Caldwells’ saga is out and I just finished it? On the one hand, it feels extremely satisfying since the author gave every Caldwell brother and the world she created a well-deserved ending. While on the other, I feel sad that the waiting is over. The town of Blood Moon in Texas, with exactly six stoplights, which to the utter surprise of its inhabitants turned into a mecca for the fans of the supernatural after a vampire exposed the existence of his kind to the world during a traffic stop when he behaved nasty to a cop, has grown under my skin and I’m not ready to part with it.

Ok, with this schoolgirl’s whining out of my system, here is what I think about the book. “Taken” by Kat Kinney is the seventh instalment of the Blood Moon, Texas Shifters series. It follows the trials and tribulations of Cal Caldwell and Fallon Gray, not only on the way to their happy-ever-after, but in the wild chase after a madman, Matteo Rossi, who wants to make the Caldwells and the whole world suffer.

Matteo Rossi, the only double-gifted werewolf in history, set his mind on making the Caldwell family pay for his shattered dreams. It doesn’t matter to him that they did what they did not to piss him off but to protect millions of innocents from what he could do if he’d gotten the elite training of the werewolf military organisation, the Tracers, or, even worse, climbed the ladder to its command. In his blind rage, Matteo doesn’t take into account that using his powerful magic haphazardly will lead to him gradually losing control over it. The only thing he craves is revenge. And he is ready to do the most despicable things to bring it on the Caldwells.

Fallon Gray is a tough girl. But a Tracer and one of the most powerful neural manipulators on the team she might be, she is also a mother. And when Matteo Rossi abducts her son, it takes more than she probably has not to lose her sanity during the frantic search for him.

“Taken” is a thrilling race of a book, packed with twists and turns, most of which I didn’t see coming. It is also replete with the heart-warming moments of family bonding – copious amounts of Texan cuisine involved! – I’ve grown to love. And yes, shapeshifters are passionate creatures, led by their instincts, so be prepared for some hot scenes. This summer, while waiting for the last book to land on my Kindle, I reread all the previous books, and I’m so glad that I did. It made the experience of saying goodbye to the Caldwells so utterly satisfying.

I’m definitely looking forward to the next books by Kat Kinney.