Shelf Life: Episode 4

 

    April got away from me. To be honest, so did the first half of May. Like, where did the time go? I'm behind on our author spotlights so it's my goal to get two done this month...the one from April that I missed and then the one for May...considering I haven't even contacted May's spotlight yet, this might be hard to do. We'll see, though. 

    As for April book reviews...I didn't get as many read as I wanted, but here is the final tally for the month...let's not talk about how far behind I am in May right now. 

Rise of the Princess, D.A.L.	April	Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi	Middle Grade	Ebook	5/5	I liked this book way more than I anticipated. It's an epic fantasy written for middle graders and has a slight science fiction twist to it. This adventure is nostalgic in the way that it invokes wonder and brings to life the fairy tales and monsters children dream of. I'm hoping to see more of this series and will have to pick up D.A.L's other books. I was thoroughly impressed.
Summer Heat, Sky McCoy	April	M/M Romance	18+	Ebook	1/5	I almost never rate a book this low but I couldn’t go any higher if I wanted to be honest with my opinion. Here’s the deal…this book has potential. I know it’s a prequel but I don’t think it lived up to what it could have been and it made me very uncomfortable. The main character, Chase, has been groomed (and uses that exact word) by an older man. The grooming started before he was 18 and the relationship turned sexual as soon as he was legal. Most of this book is Chase complaining that Robert is interested in a new boy (emphasis on the boy) and that he’s being replaced. Chase was just so naïve and took Robert’s grooming too lightly for me to enjoy this book. Sadly, this series is a no for me.
Son of Sobek, Rick Riordan	April	Urban Fantasy, Mythology	Juvenile, Middle Grade	Ebook	4/5	I haven't read Kane Chronicles so I wasn't sure what to expect from this. The magician aspect threw me for a loop but it was an interesting crossover to read. Percy was, of course, Percy. He was sarcastic and didn't have a filter, but neither did the other kid. This was a fun story. It leaves off with a cliffhanger, so I'll probably pick up the rest of the Percy Jackson and Kane Chronicles crossovers.
Sugar and Sawdust, Debbie McGowan	April	M/m romance	18+	Ebook	3/5	This was a decent short read. If you like quick m/m romances that aren't too cliche, I'd give this one a try. It could have been expanded on and felt a little rushed in some scenes, but honestly, I enjoyed it.
Breaking the Rules, Meredith Taylor	April	M/m romance, college romance	YA	Ebook	4/5	I'm giving this 4 stars but it's more of a 3.5. I just operate under a 'round up' rule for half points. Breaking the Rules was a lot cleaner than I expected. I went into this story, blind, having picked it up at random and fully expected a cliche college sex scene between an awkward experimental boy and a confident boy. Turns out this story has a YA vibe. I was happy to see this, as I needed a chill read. The characters had good development and the relationship didn't feel forced. I do wish Adam's past issues with the school had been explored a little more, but for a short read, it flowed well.
Nutty For You, Morgan Bryce	April	M/m romance, shifter romance	18+ elements	Ebook	4/5	I didn't know how to rate this book. For the first half, I was going to rate it a 2 or 3. Mostly because the author's inspiration came through too strongly. What I mean is, it's obvious Bryce is inspired by the CW Supernatural series. Usually, that inspiration is just background knowledge for the reader, but it was very obvious that the series that the main characters Fanboy over in here was based on Supernatural. It was even more obvious that the main characters themselves were based on Sam and Dean. Had Elias ended up being a moose shifter I would have immediately dropped this rating to two...but the ending of this book was super sweet. After you hit the halfway mark, the plot picked up and I ended up really liking the story. I haven't read the Fox Hollow Zodiac series, only the shorts, but this book made me think I might just have to pick up the longer editions.
A Touch of Temptation, Margret Mallory	April	Paranormal Romance, Paranormal suspense (?)	18+ Elements	Ebook	4/5	This is a prequel to a series I'm planning to read. As far as prequels go, it was great. It created a nice setting for the series and introduced a couple of characters who I'm assuming will be the mains in the series. There is a trigger warning for self-harm and I was a little confused at first when it came to the empath gift, but once I realized it was being treated as a supernatural ability, everything made sense to me. If you like vampire romances, this is a good novella to wet your whistle.