I purchased a copy of Crystal Ash‘s Freak Show. I think it was during an online author-signing event.
Who knew cages and freaks would set me free?
Growing up in trailer trash hell, the carnival was my only happy memory as a child. I held onto the magic of that memory until I could finally escape. And like Alice down the rabbit hole, I entered a world beyond my wildest dreams. A world with a shiny, colorful exterior, but filled with rot and corruption underneath.
But no matter what these people put me through, I can’t go back to my life before.
The man with the biggest secret is the only one I can trust. He’s dangerous, but he’s safety to me. He’s broken, but he put me back together. I’ll keep his secret. My heart hopes he’ll keep me. But in a hall of mirrors, how do you know what’s real or an illusion?
Every grueling night onstage is building up to a final show: The Wolf Man. Is he real or a hoax? Why do I feel such a pull to find out his truth?
Care to join me on this ride? Step right up.
Meh, this was OK, I guess; not horrid, but it does not stand out either. Mel is sweet but basically a Mary Sue. Conner is noble and kind but also kinda a cliched grump. The villains are hamfisted, as are the side characters, almost all of which are stereotypical bitchy women resource-guarding men in stereotyped ways. Plus, the book wouldn’t pass the Bechdel test. (I’m so tired of female authors who villainize other women and write books that can’t pass the low bar of the Bechdel test.)
Here’s the main problem for me, though: I picked up a paranormal why choose and then was given a single romantic partner and almost no paranormal. There is a werewolf in the first chapter who does not reappear (and only briefly and passively, almost in passing) in the last chapters. Yes, I realize more mates will show up in future books, but I’m not talking about future books. I’m talking about this one. I probably wouldn’t mentioned it if it wasn’t that BOTH elements I picked the book up expecting were absent. This is basically an Insta-love, Wounded Soldier romance, not a why choose paranormal romance.
I didn’t love it, but I’d likely continue the series if I had it on hand. But I don’t, and I’m not invested enough to bother buying the rest of the series, which seems to be broken into 7 200 (or less) page books. I feel like that is more books than need be, judging by this one.
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