Shifting By: Bethany Wiggins

My first book of 2021 was recommended to me by a friend from work. 

Shifting By: Bethany Wiggins.

"After bouncing from foster home to foster home, Magdalene Mae is transferred to what should be her last foster home in the tiny town of Silver City, New Mexico. Now that she's eighteen and has only a year left in high school, she's determined to stay out of trouble and just be normal.
Agreeing to go to the prom with Bridger O'Connell is a good first step. Fitting in has never been her strong suit, but it's not for the reasons most people would expect-it all has to do with the deep secret that she is a shape shifter. But even in her new home danger lurks, waiting in the shadows to pounce. They are the Skinwalkers of Navajo legend, who have traded their souls to become the animal whose skin they wear-and Maggie is their next target.
Full of romance, mysticism, and intrigue, this dark take on Navajo legend will haunt readers to the final page."

*****

*Spoiler Warning*

This book follows 17 year old foster child Maggie Mae just weeks before her 18th birthday, moving to a new town with a new family and a new school. All Maggie wants to do is complete her final months of high school and graduate all while keeping the fact that she shifts under the full moon a secret. The problem for Maggie is that once the shift takes her, her animal instincts kick in and she has relatively no control. Because of this every full moon since her 16th birthday, Maggie wakes up naked in strange places, which has caused her trouble with the law. 

In Maggie's new town it seems someone is after her, she is being attacked by packs of animals, and stalked at her new job by someone she doesn't know. Popular jock and rich kid Bridger believes he is to blame for it, he believes his interest in her is putting her in danger from his family's enemies. But he doesn't know Maggie's secret and she doesn't know his. While we find out near the end that Bridger and Maggie are both shifters, people who can take the form of an animal without the use of a pelt, we also learn what makes Maggie's abilities different from Bridger's and why the Skinwalkers, Soulless human witches who use the skin of animals to transform, want her so badly. 

Maggie is the offspring of a Shifter and a Skinwalker, a rare occurrence since they are mortal enemies. This unique parentage makes her a mirror, and allows her to transform into almost any animal she wishes, while normal shifters can only transform into one animal.

After finding out she can shift into multiple animals Bridger believes her to be a Skinwalker and fights his inner love for her with his duty to kill her. Her telling him she can shift without a pelt is the only thing that saves her. He shoots her in front of the amassed Skinwalkers to make them believe she is dead, but as he is an expert marksman, he knows how to keep her alive. As a shifter, returning to human form heals all wounds sustained while transformed, while Skinwalkers don't have that ability. This proves to Bridger that she is what she says and that because she has the ability to transform into more than one animal, she is a Mirror.

*

My take on the book was that I absolutely loved it! Reading it brought me back to when I first started reading YA paranormal romance. I must thank my friend Paige for agreeing to do a favorite book swap with me, I devoured this book. My only complaint is why isn't there a book two? The book came out in 2011 and it totally deserves a sequel. 

There is so much more story that could be told, and so many unanswered questions. The Skinwalkers believe Maggie to be dead, but the likelihood of it staying that way is slim unless she disappears from the shifter community. Since she and Bridger are in love, I find hard to believe she will stay away or that he will leave her. so the most likely outcome is the Skinwalkers finding out she is alive. 

Learning who her parents were is another great storyline to explore. The shifters have no record of Maggie which is odd considering they keep track of their own kind. It's possible that her shifter parent defected from the community because they fell in love with a Skinwalker, although Skinwalkers are said to be Soulless so I find it hard to believe they loved them back. is possible that she was created purposely for her unique abilities, but it would be great to learn more of her backstory. 

In the end Bridger doesn't tell his parents what Maggie is, the reason why is unknown, especially since they want him to marry a shifter to carry on the bloodline and Maggie is one. maybe her being the product of both Shifters and Skinwalkers could complicate things but we never find out. His parents finding out about her could be another feature in the second book. 

Bridger was basically betrothed to the French shifter before he fell in love with Maggie, and while he is over her, she may not be over him. If Maggie and Bridger get married and pregnant, who would the baby take after? Can she even get pregnant or is it like a donkey and horse breading where the offspring is sterile? As I said in the beginning there is so much more story that could be told!