Having read and loved Joely Sky's other stories, I eagerly anticipated the release of this one and pre-ordered it. It's the story of a Minder, Scott, and his burgeoning relationship with a wolf shifter named Rory. A Minder is a person who can control others like a puppeteer. By pushing with his mind, any orders given to another person are carried out. What's frightening is that most people don't even know they're being controlled, they believe they're carrying out their actions of their own free will. Scott has morals though, unlike many many other Minders, and refrains from using his power against others. When he does, it's just for his own self-preservation. For instance, if he takes someone home for romance, he'll give the command that no force will be used during the encounter and the person will forget what he looks like. These are small uses of his power meant to protect him rather than exploit others. Scott has been on the run for years, trying to keep other Minders from forcing him to join their "pod" (another name for clan or group).
Rory is a werewolf shifter. He can take the form of a wolf at will, has enhanced senses, and is an all-around pretty decent young man. He comes from Wolf Town, a small town were many other wolf shifters call home. He was given the task of following Scott and protecting him. A recurring character in Joely Sky's novels, Trey, is a shifter who's dedicated his life to helping shifters, and pretty much helping any outcast in need. Trey knows that other Minders are after Scott, and he sends Rory to watch and protect him. A werewolf is perfect for this since they're immune to the Minders' ability.
As with Skye's other novels, the characters are nicely nuanced and developed. Scott is a deeply-flawed character who has not made any kind of personal connection with anyone for most of his life. As such, he lacks many social skills. He also lives in constant fear of being discovered. His power would let him do almost anything, and get almost anything he'd want out of life, but he cares for people too much to ever do that. So he becomes a lonely skittish young man afraid of forming any kind of relationship with anybody else.
Rory is a decent guy, and his only flaw is that he's very protective of people. He's the kind of person who sides with the underdog. His last boyfriend had some deep character flaws (he not only lied a lot, but also tended to believe his own lies), and when Rory's father sees him starting to care for Scott, his father wonders if it's because of his protective nature. If both men can actually form a connection and relationship, it would be perfect for Scott because he'd be a part of a community that is immune to his ability. He'd never have to worry about hiding himself or being tempted to use his ability. Is this why Rory focuses so much on Scott? Or is it true love that's growing?
The story has solid characterizations. The characters are deep and nuanced, as in all of her work. The story focuses intently on the characters' thoughts and desires, and the plot itself is rather light. That is my only complaint of the book, that it needs a bit more action or another antagonist. The ending is a tad ambiguous in that it ends at a point where the characters aren't as far in their relationship as you'd expect them to be.
Good solid highly-nuanced characters is the strength of the book, and makes it worth buying. The drawback is a story light on action, antagonists, or forces keeping the characters apart. I recommend it, but also recommend to keep in mind that it's a subtler story than her other ones.
