Shadow of the Moon by Rachel Hawthorne

This is the fourth book in the Dark Guardian series by Rachel Hawthorne.

My review of #1: Moonlight.
My review of #2: Full Moon.
My review of #3: Dark of the Moon.

Hayden is not like the rest of the shifters in her pack. She hasn't shifted yet, but will be coming up with the next full moon, so she can't communicate with her pack members with their thoughts.

She can however, feel any shifter's emotions. For some reason she is the only one that can feel their emotions and she can't find the off button to keep the emotions from affecting her.

So she has been going to school with Statics, or humans, because she doesn't feel their emotions and it's easier to be around people that way.

But now that she is getting ready for her first shift, she needs to be around her pack members. And she has to try and find a mate before the full moon arrives. But it's so hard to get anywhere near a Shifter, that finding a guy to do the transformation with seems impossible.

After a harvester arrived - a monster that kills any shifter during their transformation by stealing their essence and capturing their soul - he claims that Hayden will be the next shifter that he will take during the next full moon. And if she does find a mate, then he will die too because they will be connected during the shift.

So Hayden does the best thing and leaves the pack. She finds a small town and works at a coffee shop. It was going well for 3 weeks, but then Daniel walked through the door, another shifter who has hunted her down.

The weird thing it, Hayden can't read Daniel's emotions - and she always feels another shifter's emotions. When he said that he was there to take Hayden back to the pack before her transformation happened, they came at a stalemate. Hayden will go with him after the winter season was finished and the skiiers went back to school so she could still work at the coffee shop.

But that meant that Hayden and Daniel spent a lot of time together. Hayden kept trying to run away and Daniel kept catching her. Things got interesting, though, when Hayden couldn't stop thinking about Daniel, and it seemed like it was the same the other way around.

However, Hayden does go back to the world where she feels everyone's emotions. And they are extremely tense because of the harvester. Now Hayden has to worry about her feelings for Daniel, along with attempting to destroy the harvester while shifting for the first time without a mate. Because she will not allow anyone else to die with her if they should fail. Read Shadow of the Moon by Rachel Hawthorne to find out what happens!

My Thoughts/Reflections
I know I said I liked the third novel in the series in the previous review, but this fourth and final novel is by far my favorite! I loved it right from the beginning and I didn't want to put it down until I was done!

I loved Hayden. Imagine having to feel everyone's emotions plus your own and trying to butt out of everyone's lives. Not as easy as one might think - nor that entertaining when getting attacked by a feeling of fear or love at any given time.

I really liked the first scene with Hayden and Daniel. The way he wasn't given up trying to take Hayden back to the pack and the way he kept observing her, not taking his eyes off of her while she worked at the coffee shop was probably my favorite. Hayden could feel the intensity of his gaze and made sure the reader felt it too!

I admire Hayden's choice of running off and saving the pack from a battle with the harvester. With all of the tales she heard about the first transformation being horrible and gut-wrenching, she decided that she would still leave and do it on her own rather than risk other's lives.

I'm not sure why I liked this novel the best out of the four of them. Maybe it was because Hayden was different from any of the other lead female characters. She felt like a loner because no one wanted to get close to her and have her read their feelings.

But this was definitely my favorite and I kinda just want to buy this one out of the four. It's not like I need all four - they could all be standalones kind of because they have a different narrator for each novel, going through their own stories while also continuing the overall Shifter world.

So, anyone who wants to read another world of werewolves or shape shifters, I would recommend this to you! A good series, glad I read it, and I think others will too!