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Review: Snake Snack (Arrowtown #2) by Lisa Oliver

Simon liked the idea of having a Fated Mate; after all, Ra and Seth certainly seem happy enough. A random encounter in Jackson changes his thinking though, making him wonder if he should have thought that mate thing through more thoroughly. As a snake shifter, he was used to being alone. Who cared if he upset anyone or not? But his old behavior wasn’t going to win him any hearts, including his mate’s.

Darwin works three jobs to survive. On his own for more years than he can count, he stays away from shifters and shifter towns. Trusting no one, he works and sleeps and while his life is dull, it’s safe and that’s all Darwin cares about. When he comes across a snake in his apartment, his first instinct is to hit it with his trusty bat. But the mate pull works both ways and Darwin’s forced to consider some changes in his life.

Two stalkers, two kidnappings, life is rarely dull in Arrowtown. With Ra running for mayor and Liam’s and Lucien’s life threatened by their past, Simon and Darwin have their work cut out for them. Being mates is one thing; love is a totally different matter.


Usual warnings associated with stories about men falling in love with other men. If it’s not your cup of tea please don’t buy this. NOTE: This is an MPREG story and includes a scene with a flying mouse, a very clever Fae child and a grumpy snake.




After reading (and loving) A Tiger's Tale, the first book in the Arrowtown series, I had high hopes for this story.  I mean, a mouse and a snake?  Talk about blurring the lines between mate and prey!  Sadly, this didn't live up to my expectations.

It wasn't a bad story.  I did enjoy it for what it was, but it didn't have the charm that the first story did.  I had a hard time liking Darwin for some reason.  He was just... I dunno, brusque? Standoffish?  Whiny?  He was a tough little guy, I'll give him that much, and he had a lot of spunk.  But, it wasn't a charming kind of spunk.  He didn't listen very well and instead of talking to Simon about their issues, he got all bent out of shape, made assumptions and just didn't try all that hard to get to know him.

Simon, I liked.  I liked him from the first story and even though the Simon from the first book wasn't anything like the Simon here, I still enjoyed it when I was in his head.

There was a severe lack of communication between these two knuckleheads.  Simon ended up in a funk and slept all day, every day and Darwin, instead of trying to find out what was wrong, gets all pissy, thinking Simon really doesn't want him.  Well, turns out there was a very good reason for Simon's ennui, and Darwin almost missed out on it due to his lack of care for his mate.  Simon wasn't totally innocent in all of this though.  He could have put forth more of an effort into trying to connect with Darwin.

As for the plot, there seemed to be a lot of missing pieces.  I wouldn't call them plot holes, per se; more like there were parts left out.  The book felt almost like two different stories because of this.  We get the first part, where Darwin and Simon meet and then mate, which was very exciting and I enjoyed it immensely.  But then the story skips to a month later and Darwin and Simon are at odds with each other.  It was very jarring and pulled me out of the story.  There were other scenes throughout the book like this, where parts were just skimmed over and I was left scratching my head, wondering how we got to this point or that place

There were a few redeeming moments in here that I liked.  I was happily surprised with the pregnancy and especially the birth.  I've never read a birthing like that before.  It was pretty damned creative.  And the side story with Liam has my interest piqued.  I really want to read Liam's story.  It was a fast read and I didn't notice any glaring proofreading errors, so that's a plus.

On the brain candy scale, I would say this is like one of those heart shaped boxes of chocolates you get on Valentines Day.  Some of the chocolates are filled with caramel or dark chocolate fudge and you devour their yummy goodness, but then you bite into one that's filled with some quasi-fruit flavored syrupy goo which you immediately spit out.  You move on to the next one, hesitantly take a bite only to discover you got one of those rare ones where they forgot to insert the filling.  So, delicious in some spots, but disappointing or just not to your taste in others.




https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35922426-snake-snack


  

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