Two Halves, One Brian

This is book 2 of the series. For our summary and review of book 1, Psycho Shifters, check out this link!

Book Stats

• Book 2 of the Cruel Shifterverse series
• Format: ebook & audiobook (NetGalley provided an ALC of the audiobook and I read along as I listened)
• Chapters: 27
• Pages: 374
• Length of audiobook: 11 hr 9 min
• Narrators: Mollie Stark, Teddy Hamilton, Jeremy York, Jaime Lincoln Smith, Tyler Donne, Stella Ripley
• POV: 1^st person, mostly from Sadie’s POV. Occasionally from one of the other main characters.

Book Rating

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Spice: 🌶️🌶️/ 5

Summary & Review

Jasmine Mas, you’ve done it again. You absolute goddess of humor and quirky writing. I had a blast highlighting hilarious quotes from this book.

The second book in the Cruel Shifterverse series continues to follow Sadie’s journey from abused servant to badass alpha with a harem of obsessive alpha men. There’s some spice and a lot of dirty thoughts, so be aware of that. Unless you can control your face, this is not the book to read in public.

As we know from book 1, Ascher is a betrayer and with the help of Sadie’s cute little kitten (IYKYK), the alphas are all taken to the fae realm. We quickly learn that Aran’s real name is Arabella and she is the princess who has been missing for years. She ran away at 15 after spending her life abused by her mother, the queen. She was able to remain in hiding in the shifter realm, posing as a stable boy until she turned 18 and a cloaked figure took her to the sacred lake to test her, where she was informed she was a beta.

In this book, we get to learn more about Xerxes, Sadie’s kitten-turned-omega-shifter. Okay, he was technically always an omega shifter, but we didn’t know that at first. Xerxes is not only an omega, but a rare male omega. He grew up in the beast realm, where he was built like a beta and trained like one. When he was tested at the sacred lake, his world was turned upside down.

In the beast realm, omegas were coveted. They were a symbol of high social status and wealth. Xerxes was taken by a pack of 4 wolf shifters, where he was abused regularly until he could escape. He fled to the fae realm, where the queen offered him a position as a royal guard.

Xerxes is 50 years old and smells like spicy, sweet cinnamon. He has long blond hair that falls to his butt, bright purple eyes, and gold/olive toned skin. He’s nearly as large as Jax, but leaner like Cobra.

Let’s get real. As soon as he was described as smelling like cinnamon, I knew he’d end up as part of the group somehow. We still have several books to make that happen. I mean, together they all smell like Christmas. Jax smells like warm chestnuts, Cobra smells frosty, Ascher smells like pine trees, and Sadie smells like cranberries. You know another common and wonderful Christmas scent? Cinnamon.

Anyway. We learned a bit about Cobra’s past in book 1. That comes to play in this book as well, since the fae queen is the one who had captured Cobra previously and forced him to provide sexual entertainment to the fae while being being livestreamed (or the fae equivalent) across the realm. Cobra was a celebrity in this realm, but not by choice. Honestly, his hatred for woman makes total sense after the trauma he endured.

The queen plans to force Cobra to entertain again now that he is back in the realm and plans to start with Sadie after seeing her horrible scars. The queen assumed that Cobra would want nothing to do with her and would beg the queen to provide more attractive individuals.

Of course, things don’t go as planned and both Cobra and Sadie end up in the dungeon along with Jax. The queen angrily decides that the alphas will compete in the Fae games, a violent and blood-thirsty showdown.

Ascher, believing he had brought the alphas to the fae realm so they could be transported to the beast realm and reunited with their biological families, was furious. He decided he would also join the alphas in the games, to ensure they live and he can complete his mission. Additionally Xerxes joins the alpha team, but only so he can ensure they don’t cause trouble.

The Fae Games start and are, of course, as blood-thirsty as expected. There’s fighting and sacrifice, pain and success. During the course of the games, another prophecy is spoken to Aran and Sadie. We also slowly start receiving clues and hints about Sadie’s power.

Another character who makes an appearance is Lothaire. He’s the most powerful vampyre in existence, with black hair so long it drags on the ground. He’s as tall as Jax, but thicker and wider. He has a long scar on his face and is missing an eye. And he’s a jerk. We don’t like him.

There are some interesting twists and turns at the end of this book and before we know it, the group ends up in the beast realm, where yet another twist occurs. And that one was a pretty fantastic one.

I’m going to be jumping into book 3, Psycho Beasts, so I can see where this is all headed. I’m loving this series and I seriously can’t wait to see what happens next.

I gave 5 stars because with the humor and wit, I could definitely see myself reading this series again in the future. It’s an easy read and while some of the topics are darker, they’re addressed in a way that’s easy to digest and doesn’t weigh heavy on the soul. It’s an enjoyable and well-rounded series so far, as long as you don’t mind a little smut and a ton of dirty inner monologue.

I will add that while there were a lot of differences in the audiobook and ebook versions. Most were very small, such as the audiobook saying “butt” in a place where the ebook said “ass”. Some chapters had entire sentences that were altered/restructured. This did not take away from the story at all, it was just something I noticed and wanted to share. 🙂

I gave 2 chili peppers as there were only actually a couple scenes where characters were intimate, or initiating intimacy. There were a ton of dirty thoughts and inner monologue that definitely added some spicy aspects to the story. But based on our rating scale, I settled on a 2 for now.

Favorite Quotes

• “There was one universal truth to life: no one looked elegant after a chop to the trachea.”
• “He could also run for five minutes without wanting to die, which was impressive and not relatable.”
• ”Too bad my kitten was a traitor who’d gotten me locked in this prison.”
• ”he had the personality of a schizophrenic rock.”
• ”Men needed to be reminded that they were problematic. Often.”
• ”You could just tell when some people were toxic. He was some people.”
• ”Either there was something wrong with me, or men were generally unwell and at the root of all problems in society. It was definitely the latter.”
• “He was still running around and doing his best to stab me like a total loser. He needed to get a hobby, because he was obsessed with me.”
• ”Why were the toxic men the best-looking? It just wasn’t fair.”
• ”I then proceeded to get into a heated argument with the voice inside my head about how powerful I was.”