See My Full Review Here: http://www.hippiesbeautyandbooksohmy....

First Impressions: I think I was attracted to this story because I assumed it was about shifters (people who have the ability to change into animal form) and I liked the cover. The book synopsis is kind of vague and it didn’t really give me a good idea as to what the book is about. I decided to read it on instinct since is from Kensington and I tend to like their books.

First 50 Pages: The first few chapters of this book were extremely intense! I didn’t prepare myself for so much action right away, but I’m not complaining about it at all. The beginning was very fast-paced and the author throws a lot at you all at once. Things literally happen back-to-back and it definitely had my attention.

Characters & Plot: I’m just going to jump right into this section of my review because of how quickly everything unfolded in this book. We start the story by meeting Dez, a young girl that feels out of place in her surroundings. She feels out of place a bit in her family because she is adopted and she definitely feels out of place at her school. Dez has to wear a back brace from having scoliosis and she is very self-conscience about her body. She isn’t into being touched, she doesn’t have many friends, and a boyfriend is pretty much out of the question, at least in her mind it is.

As luck would have it, Dez is asked out on a date, but it doesn’t go very well due to her insecurities. She basically has an emotional meltdown and during her meltdown, she (surprisingly) turns into a Siberian Tiger. Who would have thought? Almost immediately after she transforms, she is swept up by the Tribunal, a dangerous group that are enemies of other shifters like her. She is taken to an undisclosed location, locked in a cage (completely naked, might I add) and when she wakes up and studies her surroundings, she realizes she isn’t alone. Close by, there is a boy, a very good looking boy who is also in a cage. His name is Caleb, and he is a shifter as well. As you can imagine, all of this completely freaks out Dez and as she forms a bond with Caleb, he starts to explain to her more about shifters and the people who hunt them down. The pair plans their escape and is successful, but that is just the beginning of their story.

The world that Nina Berry thought up is exciting and original, albeit incomplete. As soon as we meet Caleb, information about the Othersphere starts to pour out. The Othersphere is the world the shifters (or Otherkin as they are referred to in this book) are connected to when they transform. I had so many questions about the Othersphere that were never really answered which was disappointing. This is the first book in this series though and more information may come in later books. I do wish the author would have included at least some background into this book, or at least more than what was there. The world-building aspect of this novel just felt incomplete.

Despite my frustration with the lack of world-building, I did really like Dez. She is a very interesting character that I think a lot of teens will be able to relate to. The way the author presented body issues in this book was so well done. I mean, what teen doesn’t have some kind of issue with some part of their body? It was neat to see Dez change and grow and learn to accept herself just the way she is throughout the story. Caleb was a big help not just with her physical manifestation, but her mental as well. The romance that sprung up between these two characters was very sweet and I’m glad that it didn’t overshadow the whole story.

I do have one little quip that I’d like to mention. Otherkin contains a school of other Otherkin that Dez and Caleb wind up at in a certain point in the story. It felt kind of random and out of place to me and it slows down the plot considerably. The school itself wasn’t very well thought through and I think in order for these types of things to work, again, the world-building aspect has to be spot on and in this case, it just wasn’t. Once this part of the story passes, the pace picked back up. I honestly don’t know how best to describe it. It just felt random.

Final Thoughts: Despite a few small hiccups, I really enjoyed reading Otherkin and I’ll definitely be looking forward to the next book in this series. I think this book will have a broad audience appeal and I thought it was a pretty good start to what I hope will be a really good series.