Gentleman Takes a Chance

Shifters #2

by Sarah A. Hoyt

First Time in Paperback for the Sequel to Draw One in the Dark .
Romantic Adventure by a New Star of Urban Fantasy.

There are those living secretly among us who have the power to change their physical form from that of a human to an animal, even animals thought to be mythical, such as dragons. Throughout out the ages, these shape shifters have come together in a loose organization to protect themselves from humans—and other shape shifters. According to their code, killing another shifter is a crime, no matter if the shifter was slaughtering humans.

Kyrie Smith, a young panther shifter, must decide where she will with her group or with humanity at large. And she’ll have to do it while both older shifters and her boyfriend Tom Ormson—a dragon shifter—push her from quandary to quandary and police detective Rafiel Thrall—who happens to be a lion shifter—demands her help in solving mysterious murders that he suspects have been committed by a shifter. But when Tom begins getting telepathic warnings from the Great Sky Dragon that his life is in danger, the same dragon who recently almost killed him, he and Kyrie realize that much more is involved than a homicidal shape shifter.

Someone—or something—has been killing shifters in large numbers, and the most ancient and powerful of shifters are converging on the city to find the killer. And anyone, human or shifter, who gets in their way will be eliminated without mercy. . .

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Shapeshifters, Dragons, Science Fiction Fantasy, Paranormal, Fiction

496 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 7, 2008

About the author

Sarah A. Hoyt was born (and raised) in Portugal and now lives in Colorado with her husband, two sons, and a variable number of cats, depending on how many show up to beg on the door step.

In between lays the sort of resume that used to be de-rigueur for writers. She has never actually wrestled alligators, but she did at one point very briefly tie bows on bags of potpourri for a living. She has also washed dishes and ironed clothes for a living. Worst of all she was, for a long time, a multilingual scientific translator.

At some point, though, she got tired of making an honest living and started writing. She has over 30 published novels, in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, historical mystery, historical fantasy and historical biography. Her short stories have been published in Analog, Asimov's, Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, and a number of anthologies from DAW and Baen. Her space-opera novel Darkship Thieves was the 2011 Prometheus Award Winner, and the third novel in the series, A Few Good Men, was a finalist for the honor. She also won the Dragon Award for Uncharted (with Kevin J. Anderson.)

a.k.a. Sarah D'Almeida
a.k.a. Elise Hyatt
a.k.a. Sarah Marqués

Reviews

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 1 out of 5]

A popular question in the book blogosphere is "do you judge a book by its cover?" Yes, I say, especially with library books. For the most part, my library book cover lust has served me well. Sometimes though, I find a book I can't finish. Gentleman Takes a Chance by Sarah A. Hoyt was one of those unfinished books.

The book is set in Colorado. It starts during a bad snow storm. Kyrie and Tom share a house. Turns out they're both shape-shifters. Tom mid shower loses control of his thoughts and takes out the bathroom in the process, taking his other form unexpectedly. Tom's problem leads to a mystery at the local aquarium. It involves dragons who are out for blood.

The book though is fraught with problems: typos, weird editing and clunky language. This is a professionally produced book, published by Baen. They did a disservice to the author.

Books like this one are what I point to when people ask me why I review self published books. I see about the same percentage of piss poor editing from the big houses as I do from the self published books. As long as that continues to be the case, I'm not going to ignore the self pubs if the books otherwise sound interesting.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty solid sequel - but I do hope that the series continues since there are still some loose ends. This is a fun series, with a unique premise. I would have liked this one more if the whole shark aspect had been a bit more believable. I mean, it was a little ludicrous... even for a fantasy novel. Perhaps if she had mentioned the type of shark, it would have been more plausible... Still, it did make for an interesting twist. I hope that the third one is released soon!

[MikeG · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the first book of this series, but this one is even better. The plot and denizens of her fantasy world are unique - this isn't a typical fantasy with cookie-cutter were-creatures. The characters feel like real people, with personalities, problems, faults and fears.

The book's conclusion was satisfying, but it left me wanting to read the next in the series as soon as possible.

[Bruce Parrello · Rating 5 out of 5]

People You Want to Have as Friends

As always with this author, the people in this book, even some of the less reputable ones, are people you like to be around. The cast expands in this installment, and that is a good thing. Most of all, the characters try hard to hold on to a sense of right and wrong, which is refreshing in this day and age. Highly recommended.

[Vroom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Improvement on Shifters #1, but still not great literature

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good sequel. Liked the villains and the mystery, but not necessarily the resolution at the end - left too many strings open, I thought. Really liked the relationship between Kyrie and Tom.

[VMom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 2 main characters are just not that sympatico for me. And I couldn't grok Kyrie's thought process & actions in this one. I did like getting more Rafi time.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at a used book sale and I can't say I regretted it. This was fun, easy reading urban fantasy.

I'm not sure I liked it enough that I would have bought it new, though.

[George Avery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent sequel to Draw One in the Dark. Set in the same Colorado town as Hoyt's wonderful murder mystery series "The Furniture Mysteries."

[Curtis L Robb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story and fun read

Good characters well done. Great
Story and good ending I am looking forwards to the next book to
See how things progress

[nat]

racism expected of the era. also could have been gayer and maybe polyamorous but 🤷🏻

[Wetdryvac · Rating 3 out of 5]

I swear, this is the third book by this author where a character does something incredibly stupid, with foreshadowing, with cramming down the neck of the dumb. The author writes really well when they're not troping - especially the character-is-dumb trope - but sweet gods.

The story itself keeps me grinding away at it, but this book in particular has made me want to rip my brain out a couple times just so I won't have to remember *that* bit.

There's more than one *that* bit.

[Aelvana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kyrie Smith has finally made a home for herself. She's part-owner of a diner (along with her boyfriend), has friends and a boyfriend who are, like her, shapeshifters, and all the ruckus from the previous spate of shifter-murders has finally died down. Except it seems those murders caught the attention of other, older shifters. Shifters with laws against killing other shifters, and who might not be too particular about seeking vengeance for those deaths. Not to mention it looks like another murderer is on the loose, and more shifters may be involved . . .

This takes the fascinating world built in the first book, Draw One in the Dark, and expands more to the wider shifter world. Kyrie, a panther-shifter who grew up in the foster system, never knew her family, while most of the others she knows, like Tom (dragon, and her boyfriend) and Rafiel (lion), have normal families. But this book digs into some of the shifters who are far older than that. Dante Dire, a dire wolf, comes as a representative of the Ancient Ones---the executioner determined to discover (and possibly dispatch) the person responsible for the previous book's shifter murders.

If anything, my only complaint is that this book isn't as focused as the previous. With so many plot threads going on, not all of them resolve, and some, like the Rodent Liberation Front, seem pointless (though admittedly funny). Although I would have made an exception for the unicorn, if he'd worked his way in, simply because it would be fascinating to see if his horn had abilities the same way dragons breathe fire. And although the murder plot helps to drive the tension, the ultimate motive escapes me. In the previous book, the murders had a gruesome point . . . in this one I'm left wondering why.

I did like what Tom did at the end. Tom and Kyrie's relationship continues to grow and develop. I like how adult the both of them are: running a business together, working on a home, focusing on the important things in their relationship and not sniping at each other. Maybe it's because I read so many teen-oriented books but it's very refreshing to see people who aren't blinded by lust or angst, understand real-world problems, and focus on real-world solutions.

It's also, much like the first book, very funny. I found myself laughing at so many things, big and small . . . from the kitten who earned himself the name Not Dinner to Tom's father's wildly inappropriate remarks to Anthony's increasing discomfort with the amount of food Tom can pack away after he's shifted . . . Oh yes, and Conan. Absolutely Conan, former triad-member, now-spy for the Great Sky Dragon who ends up working at the diner because Tom figures if he's going to be there anyway he might as well help out with the dinner rush.

This also seemed a bit more adult than the first book (and not just because of the sex part of the murder plot), but still manages to be a fairly clean adventure. Its focus on the core cast solidifies them as great characters, although I was a bit disappointed the Ancient Ones really only show up in the person of Dire. All in all, if you enjoyed the first book you should enjoy this one as well. I rate this book Recommended.

See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Gentleman Takes a Chance (Shifter Book 2) by Sarah A. Hoyt, newly established owners of The George come up against other shifters who have come to investigate the deaths from the end of book one, Draw One in the Dark.

Kyrie and Tom know that they have a long road ahead of them, and that's just counting the everyday things – their not-quite-intimate relationship, their makeover of The George, and generally establishing themselves in a new town. In Gentleman Takes a Chance” the new couple get a chance the blossom in these roles, if they can keep busybodies from either blowing their cover or killing them. Oh, and if Tom can keep from breaking any more bathrooms in dragon form.

In book one, we met the Great Sky Dragon and the triad he controls. Gentleman Takes a Chance expands upon this while adding other ancient shifters who also think they have a say in Kyrie and Tom's lives. These ancient shifters claim that they care about the deaths Kyrie and Tom and their friends have caused, but they arrive conspicuously after the fact and do quite a poor job of investigating in the name of their simplistic and elitist laws. Kyrie and Tom note this as they assert their own moral code and their own version of events. In this way Hoyt neatly continues a theme of responsibility and agency that goes far beyond simply owning up to a superpower like shifting. If anything, Tom and Kyrie strive to hold themselves to the same standards as other humans, which is hard to do while seemingly all-powerful elders are taking deadly swipes at you.

The denouement surprises me. After an appropriately climatic battle at the end, there comes another battle, this one more private and less blow-by-blow. Having now read the third book, I can confirm what I suspected at the end of book two, that Hoyt is setting us up for a bigger plot with bigger bad guys.

A Gentleman Takes a Chance shows a lot of character growth while still bringing the reader plenty of action. In fact, I think book 2 outshines book 1 because of its superb balance of character growth and action. Hoyt fleshes out her theme of agency quite well in this coming-of-age narrative, providing a good backbone for the book 3, Noah's Boy.

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun enough series so far. Kyrie and Tom are living together and running their diner when Tom gets a warning from the Great Sky Dragon that he is in targeted danger from something ancient and old. Whatever it is, it is killing shifters and together with a shifting detective Rafael, they must figure out how to stop it before it kills them all. My only critique was that I found it to be a bit too predictable in a few areas, but it was still enjoyable.

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title, I suspect, is taken from a line in the previous book in the series; I say this because, as I often do, I am reading this series in reverse order, and the final book in the series is titled from a line on the second-to-last page of this one.

Like Noah’s Boy, this is a story about “shifters” in a world that doesn’t know shifters exist; the main characters are a dragon shifter, a panther shifter, and a lion shifter. The first two own a restaurant that is one of the main hangouts for shifters in this town, and the third is a police officer who tries to keep shifter crime from harming the shifter community—or exposing it.

People have been dying in the city’s aquarium and Officer Rafiel Trall is worried that either the murdered or the murderers are shifters.

There are also two ancient orders of shifters involved, at odds with each other and the independent shifters much of the time.

Like Noah’s Boy, this is a fun read. The relationship between Kyrie (the panther) and Tom (the dragon) is not yet as developed as it had become in Noah’s Boy and their relationship with Officer Trall more complicated.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second Shifter novel, and while both have intact plots, it's best to read the first one first.

Because this one opens with some shifters having a meeting about the deaths of shifters in Draw One In the Dark. And sending off someone to deal with those responsible.

Meanwhile, while Kyrie and Tom are at home, the Great Sky Dragon tries to talk to Tom mentally. Tom freaks out and shifts and does a great deal of damage to the bathroom in the process. They end up, despite a blizzard, heading to the diner they co-own, where the plumbing is functional.

And Rafiel, investigating a murder scene at the aquarium, had smelled shifter. He tries to smell it out better in lion form without alerting an employee still in the building.

All of this collides, along with a crocodile shifter that wants to eat a kitten, a dragon shifter named Conan, a photo of two dragons, a crab shifter that just hangs out, Tom's father asking him a stupid question and making him drop his cell phone, the question of exactly how old the shifters are, a group called the Ancients and an old war, and much more.

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I would have liked this half as much if not for Rafiel. I've read a couple books by Sarah A. Hoyt before and they were usually hit or miss for me (usually hit more than miss, though), and this is the first time I've tried reading her UF. Mostly have to do with her characters. I really love some of them, and I really hate some of them. Haha.

Second book in the series, but the author gives you enough backgrounder not to get lost. Shapeshifters drawn to a diner, which is owned by a shapeshifter couple with exciting pasts. It's fun and light reading, with occasional banter and wit that really shines.

Probably won't look for the other books in the series, though. I liked it, but not enough.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so great after 2nd re-read.

Apparently there are consequences to mass murders even the victims are cannibalistic bug shifters who lay their young in the corpse of shifters. Tom, the dragon shifter, now running the diner attracting all shifters, Kyria, the panther shifter, co-owner and lover, and the lion shifter cop are under siege by the founding shifter councils, upset with the death of young bug shifters.

I really didnt like this one because Tom, overwhelmed, scared, naive and young selfish is now in six months honorable, good and moral. He helps the homeless, patient with his absentee father and wants to protect all shifters. Bleh boring, where is the tension!

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like these books about Kyrie the girl who changes into a panther and her boyfriend Tom who turns into a dragon who own a diner in a Colorado city that beckons other shapeshifters. I'm bummed now that I've read the only two of these books that there are. Their friend Rafiel who becomes a lion is a police officer and he brings them into one of his investigations. And it seems like everyone they know takes a shift or two at the diner. I really like how the characters in this self-made community take care of each other.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very satisfying second book of the series, keeping true to character for all main characters from the original book. I would love to read the third in the series, Noah's Boy, but I'm having a really hard time convincing myself this eBook is worth more than a physical copy, at $8.99! Sorry, eBooks should cost less than tree-killing, physical books, not more; this is a deal breaker for me, principally.

Makes me sad.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first one was good, but this one is an improvement. The characters seem to have matured a bit. There's a lot less self-hatred and assumptions that they know what other characters are thinking/feeling.

[Jsrott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story and very readable, yet there were times when I was hoping for a little more action and a little less inner monologue. It's obvious there are more stories after this, but I'll have to think about whether or not I want to continue following them.

[Kyra Dune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful

I'm loving this series so much. The writing is great, the characters feel like real people, and I appreciate that the main story is all wrapped up at the end with still enough left to hold my interest for the next book.

[Lynn Calvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazon preorder

[Tasula · Rating 1 out of 5]

tiresome

[Shama Bole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pedestrian and predictable. I speed-read through it due to boredom

[MLL · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not her best work. I enjoyed her Darkseid series best. There were a couple of scenes which were not thought through at all. But aside from those it was an entertaining read.