Keeping Kaitlyn is a sweet and excitingly erotic novella set across twin worlds; our own and another filled with a history of battles between Magica and Shapeshifters. Originally one, the worlds were split apart by a mysterious force trying to prevent the destruction of humanity after the shapeshifting Lycaons rebelled against their Magica masters. I found this premise of a world that was once part of ours, but separated through magic really interesting, and I would love to see the history of that explored more in future books.
When the split occurred, most of the Lycaon went with the Magica to the new world, while a few remained behind. Lycaon souls long to be with each other, and not even the Veil is enough to stop the mating bond from calling them.
Being a novella, Anya needed to cover a lot of ground introducing the story and characters quickly. She did that with remarkable skill, so that by chapter two I already knew the main protagonist, Kaitlyn, well enough to like her and empathise with her. Kaitlyn is from our world, and unknowingly part Lycaon. I loved that her feisty manner was combined with a caring and practical nature, even when she finds herself in an overwhelming situation.
The characters of Lucas and Rafian were also well realised by Anya Bast. She presents the story from the viewpoint of all three characters and this allows the reader to get a good understanding of them in a short space of time. The two male wolf shifters know Kaitlyn as their mate, they just have to convince her of the truth. Anya gives Lucas and Rafian both funny and serious moments, but each also had a distinctly different personality which I thought was very well done. I loved their amusing reactions when Kaitlyn would do something that proved she wasn’t an incapable female. Did I mention that they were hot? They were, very!
Although presenting the story from different viewpoints helped with understanding the characters, I did find it a bit confusing a couple of times. I found myself checking back to see which of the male characters perspective was currently being presented. Other than that though, I can’t find anything in Keeping Kaitlyn that was disappointing, I just wish it could have been longer!
The believable characters and interesting setting are supported by some very erotic and explicit love scenes. Since there are so few Lycaon females, each of them always has two male mates and this allowed Anya a lot of flexibility. The resulting love scenes were excitingly hot, very well written and even took into account the practicalities of their situation. All I can say is Kaitlyn is a very lucky girl!
When it came to Kaitlyn’s choice near the end, I got quite choked up. I was totally invested in Kaitlyn’s character and Anya’s writing allowed me to experience her emotion and anguish first hand. I won’t spoil the context of that choice, and so can’t say much more.
Keeping Kaitlyn combines well realised characters with an engaging story and some super erotic sex. Highly recommended!
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