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Book Review: Shifting Fates, by Meredith Clarke

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I picked up a copy of Shifting Fates, by Meredith Clarke on one of its Amazon freebie days.

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Here’s the thing, I need you to believe monsters are real.

But ask me that question, and I’ll tell you the truth. No, it’s not possible. The more believers out there, though, the busier I am at night booking walking ghost tours in New Orleans’ French Quarter. I like giving tours, love them actually. I was born to do this—well, I thought I was until I met him. Now everything I thought I knew has changed.

It was a normal tour, like all the rest, except Spencer isn’t like anyone I’ve ever met. How am I supposed to resist those sapphire blue eyes and the sexiest smile I’ve ever seen? I mentioned he’s hot, right? And it’s not just him. He has three friends. Three men who look at me like I am the sun and the moon.

Just because Spencer saves me from a man whose speed is lightning fast and claims he and his pack mates have been looking for me doesn’t mean I should fall for them, does it? The temptation to give in to their suggestions is hard to resist. Maybe too hard.

Maybe I wasn’t meant to point out tombstones and landmarks. Maybe there is something to the prophecy Spencer’s pack talks about.

Maybe I don’t know sh*t about monsters after all.
But now I believe in them.

my review

This was a big ol’ fail for me. My biggest (in terms of most personal) gripe is that I work hard to avoid rape in the books I read for entertainment. The reader here is told in just about the first chapter that a decade earlier Rosalie’s foster father tried to rape her. He failed, she ran away, end of story. Except that it’s not the end of the story. Her whole personality seems built around this one attempted rape. And while it’s horrible and (one assumes) traumatic, even at 92% the reader is STILL being reminded of Roger and his attempted rape 10 years earlier. (Plus, she runs into a vampire who tries to assault her too.) I really REALLY hate when rape is used as some sort of ubiquitous seasoning to a story. It contributed nothing and irritated me every single time it was mentioned again…and again…and again…and again.

Outside of that, the book is just inconsistent. One minute Rosalie is afraid, the next she’s giggling coquettishly, the next she’s up in the face of werewolves twice her size, threatening them (despite having no authority or reasonable reason to think her threats would hold sway). The plotting is ham-fisted, the romance is herky-jerky, her powers are all deus ex machina in times of need, the sex is just embarrassing to read, and the reverse harem aspect felt cartoonish. I won’t be continuing the series.

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Book Review: Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop, by Jenny Colgan

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In 2019, I won a copy of Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop, by Jenny Colgan through Goodreads. But I didn’t receive it until almost Christmas day. By which point, I was well and truly swamped and didn’t get around to reading it. (And last year we had kitchen construction this time of year, so I didn’t do much Christmas reading.) As a result, the book waited for this Christmas season to get read. But that made it perfect for my 2021 Christmas reading challenge.

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Rosie Hopkins is looking forward to Christmas in the little Derbyshire village of Lipton, buried under a thick blanket of snow. Her sweetshop is festooned with striped candy canes, large tempting piles of Turkish Delight, crinkling selection boxes and happy, sticky children. She’s going to be spending it with her boyfriend, Stephen, and her family, flying in from Australia. She can’t wait. But when a tragedy strikes at the heart of their little community, all of Rosie’s plans for the future seem to be blown apart. Can she build a life in Lipton? And is what’s best for the sweetshop also what’s best for Rosie?

my review

Since this has been on my TBR for a while, I forgot that it is second in a series when I picked it up to read. So, I ended up reading it on it’s own. I felt the lack of having read book one, but not enough to really reduce my enjoyment of this book. So, it functions ok as a stand alone.

I liked Rosie a lot. I liked Stephen too. I liked Moray and the other quirky members of the village. I disliked pretty much all of both Rosie and Stephen’s families (excepts Lilian). I was horrified that no one said anything about Rosie’s mother’s appalling behavior in mortifying her daughter and almost driving the man she loves away by boorishly pushing a too delicate situation. Similarly, that Stephen’s mother was such an unmitigated bitch until her sudden and unbelievable shift in demeanor was hard to forgive. That these behaviors were allowed to simply exist without censure infuriated me and made Rosie feel like a pushover.

Outside of that big issue, I thought this a sweet, easily readable little love story and would read another Colgan book.

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Other Reviews:

Why Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop Wasn’t What I Expected

Review: Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop by Jenny Colgan (audio)

Audiobook Review: Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop by Jenny Colgan

Come back tomorrow, when I’ll be reviewing Smokin’ How Cowboy Christmas, by Kim Redford.

 

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Book Review: Holiday Haunts, by Imogen Markwell-Tweed & Wendy Dalrymple

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Author, Imogen Markwell-Tweed is a local-to-me author and on behalf of herself and co-author, Wendy Dalrymple, she sent me a review copy of Holiday Haunts last year. But it was past the holidays (if I remember correctly)…or maybe I just didn’t get to it before the holidays. Regardless, that means I’m lucky enough to have it on hand for this year’s Christmas reading challenge.
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Christmas is the perfect time of year to fall in love; especially if you’re a specter or a retail employee, that is. At Holiday Falls Mall, love blooms in sweet and spooky ways for four shop employees during the holiday season. This collection features two stories from queer romance writer Imogen Markwell-Tweed, and two stories from sweet romance writer Wendy Dalrymple for a unique, intertwined anthology of paranormal romance novelettes.

my review

Of the four stories, I found that I enjoyed the Markwell-Tweed stories more than the Dalrymple ones. I thought Dalrymple’s writing a little more pedestrian. But I also thought the two authors paired well together and none of the stories were bad. Some just worked more for me than others. Here are my brief thoughts on each individual stories, as I finished them.

Up to Snow Good

I thought this was super sweet. There was definitely some insider WLW humor. But being able to good-naturedly poke fun at yourself to an expected audience that can share the humor is a super relatable way to make something feel like a comfort read. It’s only a short story, so nothing is deeply defined or elaborately developed. But there is just enough to make you like both characters and root for their happy ending.

Heavenly Reads

I also thought this a super cute story. Jesse’s inner monologue had a lot of character and Angel fit his name. It was fairly obvious where the story was going, but it was fun seeing it get there.

Magic Mistletoe

I thought Nick’s absentminded pleasant demeanor super cute and Paige’s vegan, new age-ness suitably witchy. I like that the eventual age difference was of no concern. All in all a fine Christmas story.

The Assistant Manager and the Beast

Meh, I thought this the weakest of the bunch. I’m not saying it was bad; one of the four stories had to be bottom of the pile and this was the one for me. I really liked the idea of Krampus as a character, but nothing about Heidi stood out as notable for me. But it was a sweet story overall.

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Come back tomorrow. I’ll be reviewing Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop, by Jenny Colgan.