Outcast by Catherine Banks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ember is a mage who treats supernatural animal shifters. Born as a mage, her parents treated her as an abomination. They sent her to a mage training school. When she aged out of school, they gave her an isolated cabin on 100 acres in the woods. Afterwards, she had no contact with them. She has the ability to talk to animals telepathically, and she spends her time fixing injured animals and shifters. When Kieran, a hawk shifter, alerts her to an injured bear, Ember follows him to find a badly injured mother with a cub. After patching her up, she learns that a giant black bear that seems cursed was the cause of the injuries. When she arrives home, she finds her cheetah patient awake, and Branson, a healed bear shifter, is blocking it from leaving. The cheetah shifts into his human form and reveals he is the assistant to Prince Caleb.
Within three days, several more patients joined Ember’s entourage. A raven has been bringing magical crystals from the riverbank. Kieran, Branson, and Riddick go to investigate a cave that they had tracked the bear to. Ember is accompanied by Percival, and Triston is collecting more of the crystals. Triston says that they smell like bad magic. Before Ember can ask what he means, a giant bear covered in some type of black slime appears. Branson yells for Ember to run. Percival grabs Ember and runs towards her home, where wards prevent the bear from crossing. Noticing the bear is focused on her, Ember asks what it wants. The bear answers, “Your blood.”
A shifter romance novel full of a colorful cast of characters, Catherine Banks’ Outcast is entertaining. The vivid details describing the shifters and their abilities make it easy to envision each one. Ember’s feelings of isolation and being an outcast are relatable. The amazing journey of self-discovery is captivating, and I am eager to read the sequel. Mature readers who enjoy steamy romances with multiple subplots will find Outcast appealing.

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