Oh wow. I'm so full of impressions from having read this book, I don't know where to start. First, let me start with saying that these are not shapeshifter stories. At all! I thought so from reading the blurbs, but boy could I have not been more wrong. 
 Nope. We're in a different world here. A Dark Angel kind of a world, if anyone remembers the Jessica Alba TV series many moons ago. We're talking crazy experiments where human genes are spliced with animal genes, and basically having the same type of results as on Dark Angel. All New Species characters even have numbers instead of names while held captive, very much like on the TV show. The one major difference I can find between New Species and Dark Angel is that none of the characters in these books look fully human, and can't pass for fully human. Also, the world in general isn't broken. Where Dark Angel was a little futuristic, New Species takes place in the here and now. :) 
 Let me say that I loved Dark Angel and I was heartbroken when they cancelled it. New Species is a very good consolation prize and I'm a very happy camper. 
 Now, on the characters, Fury and Ellie. Ellie is in no way a navel gazing empty headed blonde. Nope. She's a kick ass heroine who actually kicks ass and goes above and beyond to protect those who need protecting. She's a real hero. The kind of female lead I just love to read. 
 Fury is a broken man on so many levels. Seeing him rise from horrific experiences to the man he becomes in the end is just heart warming. These men growl and are super possessive, and there is one scene between Fury and Ellie that is beyond dubious - but in the end, I just fell in love with the book and the series. I can see myself re-reading these books. 
 The book is pretty smutty, it is after all an Ellora's Cave book. It would be weird if it wasn't. The smut doesn't take away from the rest of the book. Au contraire, it just makes it spicy. The plot and world building is solid, the characters are well developed - and other than a couple scenes that made me squeamish, it's close to the perfect book. 
 2017 edit: 
 I can always count on the New Species books to pull me out of a reading slump. Up until now I've been reading a book that's taken me 2 weeks to get to the 50% mark on my Kindle, so I gave up on that. I pick up Slade and a day later I've finished the book! Oh the power of Ms Dohner and her writing. This is why I love her books so much. I can count on them to keep me captivated cover to cover.