Still Life with Shape-Shifter (A Shifting Circle Novel) by Sharon Shinn

Paranormal

Goodreads Summary:

For her entire life, Melanie Landon has hidden the fact that her halfsister Ann is a shapeshifter—determined to protect Ann from a world that simply wouldn’t understand.

After months of no contact, Melanie fears the worst when a man shows up on her doorstep saying he’s there about her sister. A freelance writer, Brody Westerbrook intends to include Ann in a book about the existence of shapeshifters. While Melanie is immediately drawn to the stranger, she knows revealing Ann’s secret isn’t an option.

Protecting her sister has always been such an enormous part of Melanie’s life, but when Ann finally appears looking frail and sick, Melanie must come to grips with the fact that saving her may mean letting go.

Still Life with Shape Shifter is the second book in the Shifting Circle Series.  Even though it features shape-sifters it is really a story about love, love in all of its forms.  I always call Sharon Shinn’s stories gently stories.  Don’t look for non-stop action, a lot of sex, or over the top stories.  She writes in a very down to earth style with a lot of character development that builds the story.

Several of the characters for A Shape of Desire are in Still Life.  Dante and Maria are side characters here but William is one of the main characters.  Still Life follows two women,, Janet and Melanie.  Both love a shape-shifter but in very different ways.  For the most part their lives are separate but both face loving and losing the person they love.  This is the story of how they face that impending loss.

There are other characters that play a major part in the novel.  Brody is almost too good to be true.  He meets Melanie and has to work hard to win her trust.  Melanie’s best friend, Debbie is just the kind of best friend everyone wants to have.  Janet also has friends that supply a support for her.

Each woman’s story is separate and unique but in the end they meet in a sad but true way.  There is room for future stories in this universe and I hope more are written.

ACE published Still Life with Shape-Shifter by Sharon Shinn in 2012.