I Found My Rhino by Erin Hayes
Series: Shifters Unlimited #1
Published by Indie
Published on: January 13, 2017
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 116
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Amazon | B&N | GoodReads
Last night was great. Mind-blowing, even.
One minute, I’m at a bar trying to locate Ernest Shepherd, a rhino shifter. The next, I’m going home with a gorgeous bartender named Ryan for a night that I’ll never forget.
What I didn’t realize is that Ryan is Ernest’s grandson. He’s a rhino shifter, too. And he may just be the rhino I’m looking for to fill a vacancy at the zoo.
When we started our professional relationship with unsanctioned benefits (my boss would kill me if she knew), I didn’t think I’d fall for Ryan. Or that it could all come crashing down in a life or death situation that will change us forever.
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I found this book thanks to Lola Reviews. I read her review and thought the story was cute. I went to Amazon and saw the price was only $0.99 and decided to buy it. This is a short story. I read it in the time I sat in the airport and on the flight home from RT17 (so about 2ish hours).
The book opens with an author’s note about why she decided to start this story. It all goes back to poor Harambe. She specifically states that this is not a story about if zoos should exist, but more about creating a happy ever after in that kind of situation. As a volunteer at my local zoo, I’m a fan of zoos. I do wish there wasn’t a need for them, but that is just not the case. Zoos do so much great conservation work for animals in the wild.
The heroine, Leslie, works for a group called Shifters Unlimited. She is tasked to find a white rhino shifter for a zoo who has had a hard time finding a normal white rhino for their exhibit. She knows that Ernest Shepard is a white rhino shifter and that he owns a bar called The Drinking Horn. However, she finds Ryan instead. Ryan is Ernest’s grand son, who moved home to help his grandfather when he got ill.
So Ryan is struggling to take care of his grandfather and keep the bar afloat. The cost of cancer treatments is more than what the bar is bringing in. He doesn’t want to sell the bar, but he doesn’t see what else he can do. That is until Leslie comes into his bar and drinks too much. So he offers to escort her home safely. He ends up spending the night.
I found this to be a very cute story. However, I did have a few issues. First, I’m not sure how I feel about that first time in the sack. Ryan was concerned at how intoxicated Leslie was to see her home safely, but then has sex with her. If she was too drunk to see herself home, I question if she was sober enough to give consent to sex, even if she was the one who pushed for sex.
The second issue is some things about the zoo itself. Leslie is looking for a white rhino for a rhino exhibit. However, Ryan goes into an exhibit with other kinds of rhinos. This would never happen in a zoo. I’ve been to many zoos and have never seen black and white rhinos together. It just wouldn’t happen in this day and age. These animals don’t hang out together in the wild, so they wouldn’t be together in a zoo. White rhinos are more herd animals and black rhinos are more solitary.
Overall, it is a cute story. It is a quick read. If you’re like me and love shifter books, especially when they are the more unusual shifters (not wolves, cats or bears), then this is something you might want to try. I do feel that despite what the author said, she did come at this story with a bit of a bias about zoos, but I was able to put that aside. I thought the characters were cute. I am interested in trying another story by this author.
I’m Melanie and I live in Ohio. I have two horses and a dog. I’m an animal lover, avid book reader and audiobook listener. I like to live vicariously through fictional characters. I enjoy reading and listening to mostly fictional books in the paranormal genre, including Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance and Horror. My favorite paranormal creatures are shifters, doesn’t matter the flavor.
Oh that’s not cool. Most of the romance novels I’ve read that involved an intoxicated partner usually has the other partner declining the sex no matter how much the other partner is willing. So yea, totally get your grievance at that one.
Glad you still enjoyed it, though.
Joy // Joyousreads recently posted…[720]: Ruby by Cynthia Bond
I’m sure that I’ve read other books that have had it too. I just noticed it with this one. I also think his being a bartender and concerned about her ability to get home, but then has sex with her just seemed wrong.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Razr by Larissa Ione (@mlsimmons, @LarissaIone, @1001darknights)
Not cool Ryan, not cool
blodeuedd recently posted…Carole’s Sunday Review The secret speech
That was my thought too.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Razr by Larissa Ione (@mlsimmons, @LarissaIone, @1001darknights)
I don’t think I’ve read a story with a rhino shifter before. I do like shifters and this one does have an interesting sound to it.
Mary Kirkland recently posted…Recipe: Cole Slaw
Eve Langlais has a rhino shifter in her Kodiak Point series, but he is a very minor character. This is the first one with a rhino as main character.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Razr by Larissa Ione (@mlsimmons, @LarissaIone, @1001darknights)
Neat that he’s a rhino shifter and also that your background with zoo work gave you a connection. Hmm on the impairment issue that first time.
I’ll have to keep it in mind when I want a short, cute one.
Sophia Rose recently posted…Review: Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews, Narrated by Renee Raudman
It is a cute, quick read.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Razr by Larissa Ione (@mlsimmons, @LarissaIone, @1001darknights)
Great review. I saw this book when Lola’s Reviews, reviews it. I found interesting that it features a rhino shifter. You don’t see that. We usually get the main big shifters when it comes to shifter stories.
Angela recently posted…ARC Review: Exiled (Phoebe Meadows #3) by Amanda Carlson
That caught my eye too. Lola has read several books with odd shifters. I still want to try the dolphin series she reads.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Razr by Larissa Ione (@mlsimmons, @LarissaIone, @1001darknights)
I remember seeing that series too from her and adding it to my TBR. ^_^
Angela recently posted…Review: Blood Cross (Jane Yellowrock #2) by Faith Hunter
Okay, the title got me! Seems like a lot of story for a novella. Cool!
Jen Twimom recently posted…Review: Trust Me by Farrah Rochon
They title caught my eye too. I love shifters that aren’t the norm.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Razr by Larissa Ione (@mlsimmons, @LarissaIone, @1001darknights)
I like the idea of Rhino shifter but I am with you all the way about the intoxicated sex. That really crosses the line. If both were drunk that’s a different story, but that wasn’t the case. Yeah, I have a problem with that too!
Lorna recently posted…Audiobook Review: Rendezvous With Yesterday by Dianne Duvall (@Mollykatie112, @DianneDuvall, @Kirsten_Potter)
I just think that to point out that he felt she wasn’t able to get home safely because she was too drunk and then to sleep with here was just too much. He pretty much admits that she isn’t in a good place with that move. A cute story, but had to point out that issue.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Razr by Larissa Ione (@mlsimmons, @LarissaIone, @1001darknights)
I do have mixed feelings about zoos but then zoos are mixed. 🙂 Some do great conservation work and others don’t. It is also sad that she didn’t know more about what she wrote. Kind of makes her opinion on zoos harder to take. However, you have a rhino shifter and that might be enough to make me read this one. 🙂 Good well balanced review!
Melissa (Books and Things) recently posted…Spectacle by Rachel Vincent
Exactly, there are good zoos and bad zoos. I volunteer at one, so I see how much the keepers, vets and other staff love their animals. I’ve seen keepers cry for days because an animal dies. It isn’t just a job to them, it is their life. I love the rhino shifter aspect.
Melanie recently posted…Fresh Meat: May 28 to June 3 — 24 Speculative Fiction Releases
I didn’t even know there were rhino shifter stories out there. Color me shocked lol.
Eve Langlais has a book with a rhino shifter too, but it is a minor character. This is the first one that I’ve read with a rhino for a main character. I love when authors do the non-usual shifters.
Melanie recently posted…Fresh Meat: May 28 to June 3 — 24 Speculative Fiction Releases
Yes, even if she is willing I think sleeping with an overly intoxicated woman is wrong.
kimbacaffeinate recently posted…The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband by Julia Quinn
I agree. That was something that turned me a bit off.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Catch a Tiger by the Tail by Eve Langlais (@mlsimmons, @EveLanglais, @SMPRomance)