Manhattan Moon (Shape-Shifter #3) by Jae, narrated by Abby Craden

On a backdrop of book pages, an iPhone with the cover of Manhattan Moon by Jae, narrated by Abby Craden. In the bottom left corner of the image, a strip of torn paper with a quote: "A short romance about (not) fitting in." and a URL: judeinthestars.com.

Shelby Carson is a Wrasa, a coyote-shifter, and a ER psychiatrist with a thing for human nurse Nyla Rozakis. Despite relationships between Wrasa and humans being forbidden, Shelby asks Nyla on a date. Not the easiest thing to navigate while having to hide who she is from Nyla and conceal her feelings from other Wrasa.

Manhattan Moon is a novella set in the same universe as Second Nature, so as an audiobook, it’s a little under three hours long. Instalust and instalove are a given, and I know it’s a novella but the desire to commit came a little too quickly for me. And while the ending was cute, it left me with too many questions.

My favourite part, I think, is Shelby’s feeling of not fitting in anywhere: she’s not human but she’s also not like the rest of her family, as she doesn’t shift as easily as other Wrasa. A situation which I guess is relatable to a lot of neurodivergent readers.