Paranormal Romance (More Than Human Book 1) - Ella and the Beast

Another awesome book by S. E. Smith! I really enjoyed reading the 1st in a new storyline. Humans are thought to be extinct and shifters are the norm. Hopefully this book will be followed by many more!

Picture a future where the most powerful species are shifters, and humans are thought to be extinct.
That is the basis of Ella and the Beast, some time in the distant past humanity was almost obliterated and the few remaining survive by hiding. Telling stories of horror and destruction.
Ella is a human and Ty a conservationist who has done his thesis on a long thought extinct species humans.
She's taught to believe all shifters did was kill and torture He sees her and realizes she's real and his mate.
I felt for both characters and wondered how it would work.
Each side has so much to learn. And the villains are vile but there's also love and friendship to be had. Great book and a great start to this twist to shifter/mate stories.

What an interesting twist over every shifter story that I've read.
It was mentioned in a couple of places that shifters and humans lived in peace at some time in the past. This first book doesn't go into details as to why that changed but it did. Centuries before, shifters brutally waged war against humans until every last human is gone. Shifters think that humans have been extinct for 4 centuries, when the last human woman died.Small numbers of humans survived. They have been able to keep their existence secret by living in the mountains and forests, always moving deeper into uninhabited areas as the shifters numbers grow and spread.
Ty Bearclaw is a grizzly shifter, he is investigating a complaint of theft when he discovers his mate, this is a surprise but the shock is when he realizes that his mate is human. Ella and her friend are out hunting for food and supplies when she falls into a pit and breaks her ankle, which keeps her from escape.
Ella's father always told her that shifters and humans would meet again. Can there be peace between them or are humans going to be truly extinct is the question.
Another great series by Susan Smith that I will be reading.

Never write reviews, but this book was awesome. Best book ive read in a long time! The story was so fresh and original! Absolutely loved the characters and the strong heroine! Ella is a boss! I just hate that it's over. Im ready for book 2!

The book was an okay read. i personally prefer less graphic sexual detail..too much of it...it seemed to take away from the romance (just my opinion). When the beast spoke, he seemed "dumb"...don't see why the beast could not have been as "literate" and intelligent as it's "human side". The plot and sequence of events was as expected. I did like the concept of the humans being nearly extinct and the shifter beasts being the advanced civilization. I've read other shifter type books that I liked better, though.

Stopped at the 25% mark. Couldn't finish it. Like one of the reviews says "The characters are like a game of tennis." They just keep going back and forth and it irritates the flying fudge out of me.
The timeline I assume should be in the future. You're telling me that all this time, we didn't know shapeshifters exist and there's actually thousands of them. A number well enough to overcome the human population? Wtf???? And these shapeshifters will kill humans even when they're half human themselves??? You see where I'm going with this? The author is not very good at storytelling.
Not going to buy from her again.

*WARNING: May Contain Spoilers!*

Synopsis:
Ella is one of the last humans on an earth ruled by shifters. Humans were almost totally killed out by shifters in the great war hundreds of years ago and since then humans have been living in hiding, but Ty stumbles upon Ella and realizes she's no only his mate but she's human. When she runs from him he has to find her.

My Thoughts:
This is the first book I've read by Ms Smith that I haven't loved. Maybe I went into this with my expectations too high, but in the end this book just didn't deliver. It was predictable, silly, formulaic, with flat characters and a romance with no chemistry or heart. It's totally inoffensive and I can understand why some people might like it, but given the original and interesting premise I expected something interesting and the book didn't deliver. The romance was lukewarm for me, and while I wanted to like Ella, she was just too annoying. She would flip flop between crying and giggling at every turn. Yes giggling! She apparently never learned to laugh but has giggling down pat. The serious moral quandary she found herself in was handled in a very shallow manner and I felt like we didn't get any resolution on that.

I found the first section more interesting, when we were in the human village. It wasn't that well described but what was described was interesting the whole scenario was original and the human characters had potential. But once we learned more about the shifter world is when things started to go down hill. Shifters lived exactly like we do, they didn't go out and run in the wild, shift often or have any kind of relationship with nature. They live in big houses, carry cellphones, drive pickup trucks and work 9 to 5 jobs, while the humans in the story live like George of the Jungle.

This isn't a bad book, it's just mediocre on almost all counts. The main characters were mediocre with Ty hardly deserving a mention. The most interesting thing we know about him is that he used to whore around in college. The plot is mediocre, with it basically following the same formula as many of the shifter romances out there. The world building, dialogue and editing also mediocre. The book just has no heart to it, the romance has no moments of agony or ecstasy. If there was more emotional depth I would be willing to forgive a multitude of sins, but this one just fell flat for me.

The Sum Up:
Just not my cup of tea. My expectations were too high and this book didn't deliver. Other than an annoying heroine, the book lacked originality and was emotionally flat.

2 stars.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a unique twist on shifter books with humans thought to be extinct for several centuries. I look forward to the next book. Ella (human) was so scared based on what she knew of history between shifters and humans, but she was also very brave. Ty was perfect for her.