Year of the Rabbit: (Dark MM Paranormal Bakery Romance) (Shifters of the Chinese Zodiac Book 1) by Anni Lee

"Interesting, very interesting!" Angel shares their thoughts on Anni Lee's Year of the Rabbit.

From the blurb:

The Wong family's magical bakery has helped the Shifters, Vampires, Witches, and other magical

creatures around Graves Academy for hundreds of years with their sweet, enchanted confections that can fix any problem.

Leveret Wong, a half Warlock, half Beta Shifter born in the Year of the Rabbit is set to take over the bakery with his gifts for spell casting and whipping the perfect raspberry buttercream. But before he can do that, his parents expect him to get his degree and find a mate, so naturally they enroll him (without asking) into the dark, enchanted, and mysterious Graves Academy. It doesn't take long before the magic baker's peaceful life of charmed Energy Macaroons and Murder Cupcakes is thrown into chaos by his devious Snake Shifter Professor, Jun Shen, and the new hire at the bakery, Dog Shifter Eliot Rand.

Eliot Rand came to Graves for one reason: to find his fated mate, the Rabbit shifter of the Zodiac. All he wants is to reject him once and for all and free himself of this unwanted destiny. When he manages to get a part time job working besides Levy, however, he starts to realize there may be more to the draw of fated mates than he realized--especially when that mate is as cute, passionate, nerdy, and awkward as his bunny shifter coworker. But as much as he wants to leave his past behind, protecting his cute mate from those who would harm him may have him dredging up a feral side he wasn't ready to share.

As both men's lives grow more and more intertwined, Eliot will come to understand that there's more to being a half breed and more to Levy's fear of Alphas and intimacy than he'll ever understand, and Levy will come to find that there's more to the curse of a full blooded Chinese Zodiac Shifter than he's been taught. The Full Moon's light heightens the powers and desires of all the Devil's creatures, and they'll both have a lot of dark realities to face if they want to reach the dawn's light.

Set in the same Universe as The Zodiac Werewolf, this is the first book in the Shifters of the Chinese Zodiac MM Romance Series. Readers can expect sarcastic humor, both dark and silly, creative mythology that ties into the Zodiac Werewolf's shifter-verse, themes of trauma, seductive villains, morally grey love interests, male male relationships, and slow burn love that turns scorching hot.

While there are many moments of fun and spice and fabulous dessert descriptions, this is still a dark work of fiction. Please check the author's website for Content Warnings.

Angel's Review:

This book was about 3 main characters, not just two like I originally thought. We first get introduced to Levy who is a baker at his family's bakery. He's half mage and half zodiac bunny shifter, on full moons and especially harvest moons his pheromones makes surrounding shifters go crazy with lust. He's used to not having a choice. 

After we get introduced to Levy, we meet Eliot. Who is a zodiac dog shifter who starts working at the same bakery Levy works at. Oh yeah, Levy is also his fated mate. 

Then! We meet Jun who is Eliot's and Levy's math professor. I honestly wasn't expecting his character to engage in the acts that he did but I'm now very intrigued by his character. I really hope he gets his own story someday. 

I thought that the author was really creative with this book, I mean who would've thought to not only come up with Zodiac Shifters but to also hold them to different rules and guidelines than any other shifter. It was really interesting to me and I enjoyed all the differences that separated this book from any other shifter book. 

As I said above I wasn't expecting all the twists and turns this book had to offer. They were really well done. I don't want to give anything away or to spoil anything so I'll keep this nice and sweet. 

The only reason I didn't give this a 5 star is because this took a pretty dark and violent turn pretty quickly. I wasn't expecting it and I wasn't prepared. And poor Eliot!!.

Rating: 4 Stars

Year of the Rabbit is available to buy as an ebook, paperback, hardback, or to read with Kindle Unlimited subscription.