Adventure, romance, and escape to Shifting Sands Resort!
Set at a tropical luxury resort for shifters only, this quirky, fan-favorite series is a romance thrill ride with humor and heart. Each book weaves into a compelling mystery about the island and the secrets that it’s hiding...
An undercover spy, a wounded warrior, and a bartender wearing a cowboy hat all find their fated mates in these three standalone novels of healing and finding family. Come for the hot sand and cold drinks, stay for the love and laughs.
This volume includes the
Tropical Tiger Spy
Tropical Wounded Wolf
Tropical Bartender Bear
and three short stories. Other Duties as Assigned was originally included in Tropical Tails. Locked and Unlocked were not previously published.This omnibus edition is in the author’s preferred reading order.
Elva Birch is an author of the impossible and irresistible. She is a fire dragon Gemini living in Alaska who belly dances outside at twenty below in the winter and loves to find tiny fairy moss worlds in the summer with her camera.
Elva also writes SHIFTING SANDS RESORT, GREEN VALLEY SHIFTERS, and FAE SHIFTER KNIGHTS as Zoe Chant.
Romance, adventure, and Shifters!! The first three Shifting Sands books and related short stories. Charming and fun! I want a vacation (or maybe a job!) at Shifting Sands Resort!!
too heavy on the sex scenes at the expense of relationship
I’d guess these stories are 1/3 sex scenes and that’s too high a proportion for me, especially because there’s more sex in them than any other type of relationship building. Ms Chant seems to be depending on the Fated Mate trope to handle turning two strangers into an actual couple and it just doesn’t work for me. Mostly because it ignores all the rough spots and negotiations inherent in two people getting to know one another and figuring out how they best fit together. Even in the last story, where the woman initially denies her mate and then gets angry enough to cut him off, those conflicts last only hours or at most a couple of days.
Yes, the author is in a time crunch because of the resort setting, but still, to me anyway, instalove is lazy writing and just not very satisfying as the basis for a lifelong commitment. Relationships are built over time and the instalove trope blithely ignores that part. It’s both more believable and more deeply affecting when mates must work to define and invest in their relationship, rather than have it handed to them from the moment they meet. So that aspect is a sizable ding for me.
The stories themselves are generally decent and some of the characters are interesting, though not the MCs. It’s some of the other inhabitants of Shifting Sands that I’d hoped to learn more about—Magnolia, Scarlet and Gizelle especially. Perhaps in Volume 2? though I don’t think I’ll be reading it.
SPOILER In the last story, there was no explanation offered as to how Jenny could change from nonshifter to shifter, and to me that alteration desperately needed to be explained. Nothing in the world-building even hinted that this was a possibility, so that plot development shattered my willingness to suspend disbelief and just go along with the story.
This series is a lot of fun. I’m curious about characters like Scarlet, and I love seeing each of them finding their mates and happy endings. I did find the villain of Bartender Bear the easiest to figure out, but at the same time there were twists and reveals that I wasn’t expecting. I do have mixed feelings on Magnolia because on one hand she’s always described as very attractive and beloved and stuff, but also the way her fatness is discussed is sometimes upsetting and unsettling, and I’m not sure where I fall on the line of her rep. I also wasn’t really a fan of the mentally ill reveal of one of the antagonists in Bartender Bear, especially as it was in last chunk of story and didn’t feel good to read. All those elements aside, though, I did have fun with this series and I am looking forward to continuing it.
nice to have volume collection, read each individual book and now again with the collection of volumes. I can’t wait for my SHIFTING SANDS RESORT, tshirts, postcards bookmarks etc. so glad a Kickstarter was done.now I can walk around like I am a shifter and ,an employee of the resort. Lol based on the series so awesome Gisselle & Bastian and Scarlett are my favorite characters.
Every story as wonderful characters (Tex so far is my favorite). The playful banter between the major and minor characters is just the right amount of humor to mix with the romance and drama in each story. I definitely recommend this book for readers that love sexy shifters, their mates, and all of the danger and mystery that can make their relationships seem doomed. And being at a tropical resort (where clothing is optional) is even better.
These stories are about women shifters finding their mate at a shifter tropical resort. They all have different stories but all end with a HEA. The plots are ok and the secondary characters are interesting. These stories dragged a bit for me even though there was quite a bit of action. Ok read
Simple but interesting plots and unique characters, so glad to find you Zoe! Amazed with how many books you have and different levels of spice! Even low spice stories are enjoyable! Really really love these Omnibus edition and SO glad you included the original book covers! Thank you!
This went fast and I was done before I realized. I don't need all the graphic sex scenes but I have no trouble skimming them for the very rich story in each of these short books. Thank you!
There are some interesting bits in this and we get a conclusion to the kidnapping story. However I found Mary’s character incredibly irritating at times. She’s scared of everything and although she eventually gains confidence, I found it a tiring journey.
Gizelle’s short is sweet and intriguing. I’d like to know more about her. Scarlet is a very interesting character! I’m really hoping she’s going to get her own story soon!
Shifting Sands is a great place to visit and I’m hoping there’s more to come.
Liked this book which has stories about several shifters. Mystery and sex combine with General romance to keep everything interesting. Definitely worth buying.
Love this book with all the additional stories and new beginning of Tropical Tiger Spy! Aleady own some of this series, but had to get this addition, too! Rereading the stories with the added bonus of the short stories in chronological order is fantastic!
Omnibus Volume 1 of Shifting Sands Resort stories are full of twists and turns, trickery from those that mean to harm the characters. The short stories give a sense of what happened and how they are healing each small story is connected to the next
I wasn't sure what this book was about and I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed reading it and highly recommend reading. Looking forward to reading the next in this series.
Love box sets for easy rereading at any time but this author has also included all of the short stories as well as putting them into reading order through the four omnibus box sets. Absolutely wonderful of her to do so. All books reviewed already so I won't copy them over to here.
Shifting Sands Resort is certainly an intriguing place, equally fun, relaxing and dangerous. These first 3 books, plus the included novellas, present an alternate view of shifter communities and lives than is usually presented in paranormal. The racism against shifters is very strong, as is the jealousy and fear from non-shifters - from the billionaire abducting shifters and keeping them imprisoned forcefully in their animal forms to family and friends intentionally eliminating shifters who seem to winning af life.
Each story tackles the emotional and psychological well-being of being in the shifter minority and the journey to self-love and forgiveness that is required to make a better person and therefore a bettrer mate.