Cernunnos Shifters and Shadows

This is a wonderfully fresh take on shifter stories.  Our hero is a young deer shifter who is thrust into the human world he has rarely experienced since childhood.  We get a character study, a romance, a fish-out-of-water comedy, as well as a really good shifter story.

This story is well written, engaging and immediately grabs the reader's attention.  The story finely details the emerging of shifter species to form a more diverse society in an action packed tale of adventure, love and acceptance.  At times is has angst, danger and violence, but also humour, warmth and caring.  You will either love deeply some characters, and despise/hate other characters. The author writes with deep feeling for these characters that brings them to life.  The writing and plot flow smoothly.  Settings are detailed enough to picture yourself observing and feeling the sensual texture of each scene.  Excellent read!

While generally not my cup of tea, this is my first 'shifter' story and am so glad I read it. 

This has it all, engaging characters, an intense story arc and plot and very well written.

I can only hope that somewhere down the line a sequel follows! 

I love shifter stories, and this is the first story that I have read that focused on the prey that most just mention in building there story.  I fell in love with Cyn from the first chapter, because Aaron, made him such a lovable character. I loved how the story developed with the other main character, Shea. I’m just upset that the story ended. Cyn, Shea and all of the characters deserve follow-up stories.  When you read this story you will understand. 

Reviewing one of Aaron’s stories is always a challenge. At least for me, ‘cause I don’t know if I should focus on the wonderful writing or on the amazing plots… I’ll stay with the so beautifully shaped characters, characters you just come to love and cherish… and wish they would just happen at your door out of the blue. Take the challenge, let yourself go deep into one of Aaron’s stories, you’ll never regret it. You’d rather regret not haven’t read his stories before!

From the first paragraph to the last, this story makes it hard to take breaks from reading. Apart from being so very captivating story with an intense and perfectly paced storyline, all the characters, no matter if likeable or not, are very well written. Especially the developments of the characters, first and foremost Cyn of course, never feels forced but always feels natural. How he overcomes the inherent personality of his species and grows into so much more is just pure joy to read and witness.

I can only recommend this story to anyone and everyone – even if you’re not particularly interested in shifter stories.

Wonderful tale and a fresh take on were stories. Well written and highly recommended!

If you love reading shifter stories then you definitely need to read this one!

We meet Cyn, a Cernunnos - deer shifter, who lives with their version of a pack - constantly on the move, always in fear of being hunted; of being prey.

I won't give too much away in this review (I hate spoilers in these sort of things) but suffice to say there is happiness, sadness, peril, love & joy all in some measure. Cyn gets to meet a wide variety of other shifters and some are not as friendly as they first seem to be.

Don't forget to comment as you read through the story and @astone2292(the author of this and other excellent stories) usually responds with a comment and/or a click on the "like" button.

Another wonderful tale from @astone2292, Cernunnos features one of the most unlikely protagonists in a shifter story: a Deer-shifter saved from a vicious wolf attack by a good-lookin’ Lycan.

Cyn’s vastly different mindset makes his story unique, yet it also helps him overcome understandable fears of a former prey now navigating how to live amongst the same predator pack whose rogue members tried to end his life. His growth has a ripple effect on key members of the pack, going right to the top. 

While suspenseful, dramatic and at times quite sensual, once again compelling characters and a lot of heart are key to the success of this story.
Highly recommended. 

Aaron has reached a new high in creating a whole new feeling for shifter stories! This story brings the reader into a world that most would never even think about and it is done absolutely perfectly. The story begins quickly and captures the reader with the thoughts of "whats next?".  The details of creating a character that is "so not what is usual" and believable is amazing. The main character is a deer shifter named Cyn and as per most deer he has a VERY limited knowledge of humanity and interaction in a human like way with aplha predators in the human form is so creative and enhansing that it is hard to put this story down!!!  Give this a read and open your mind to an exceptionally well written story with a whole new look on other members of the shifter community, you will not be disappointed!  Well done Aaron!!

Oh my gosh, I can't say how much this story touched my soul. Cyn, as the main character, defied the usual werewolf -- sorry, were-creature -- standards and made me contemplate the existence of prey species. Never before had I imagined that, for ever werewolf, there may be a were-deer or a were-rabbit.

It. Blew. My. Mind.

A typical werewolf story feeds us their perception and their life through the eyes of a predator but we seldom get to experience the life of the prey. Not only that, but we got to live Cyn's life as he ascended from a nameless Cernunnos to a pivotal figure in the pack's hierarchy. The mate of the pack enforcer.

Finally, and this is purely selfish, @astone2292treated us to a bit of fan service. The aggressively male pack alpha fell for the socially inept but loveable man-who-would-be-beta -- no apologies given.

The pack came together, like many of the relationships therein, on the whims of fate and, like the story, is stronger for the menagerie collected.

I. Love. It.