The story starts off with Mallory, a trade witch, the lowest of the low, with no money for high-end magic spells, and even worse, no familiar to boost her magic power, and in order to make ends meet, Mal sometimes works at a bar called the Python Palace. It is here that she enters a mysterious room, one normally off limits, but tonight her boss, Rattler, tells her to go rest there after her shift.Mal stretches out and soon falls asleep; she awakens to find herself in a new place, a much different place where these gray-skinned aliens reside. And these are not the little gray men aliens. No, these men are tall, muscular and almost reptilian in looks, with fangs and black-slitted eyes. The hero, Core, is the War Leader, a type of king in this world, and he has a huge snake tattooed on his chest. Not only is Core able to transform into something that appears both human and snake-like at the same time, his tat can even embody a powerful snake spirit that moves off his chest and becomes alive.I was fascinated by this idea of a snake-shifter. To be honest, snakes don't normally go hand-in-hand with sexy for me, but Core managed to pull it off. He kind of reminded me of a tough biker mixed with deadly warlord. Not only was he badazz and sexy, he was also sweet and protective of Mal. It turned out that he and Mal were each exactly what the other needed, in several ways, leading to a very sexy and magical relationship.This story is only 79 pages, but it gets a lot of story into those pages. Sure, sometimes it can seem a little rushed, but overall, the story is pretty creative and very interesting. Actually, it ended with me very much wanting to know more about this alien world, about a few of Core's fighters/friends, and most of all, wanting to find out more about this rival race called the Phrellians. There is definitely a lot more here for the author to revisit, and even room for her to go deeper. Rattler definitely needs a story.For a dollar, this was really a nice surprise. It had some action, interesting characters, and this other world, making for an intriguing mix of PNR with alien romance. And I have to say I've never read a book with a snake-shifter before, just very different to have this oddly sexy snake-man as a hero. All in all, a pretty good read, short and hot, with a lot going for it, especially for the price. I'm not disappointed I bought it.
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