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.

  

Review: A Tiger's Tale (Arrowtown #1) by Lisa Oliver

Seth Carmichael never did anything wrong, but instead of working at the local library, he was running for his life. His herd was hunting him and with few resources, Seth's options were fading fast. Until, that is, he heard the rumble of a motorcycle. Peeking through the tree he was hiding in, he couldn't believe his eyes. Had salvation come in the form of a badass biker?

Ra (no last name and proud of it) was a tiger on a mission. He'd scented his mate and then the little rabbit ran away before his teeth could engage. Ra heard the gossip around Arrowtown; he knew his mate was a hunted man. But if the sweet man was on the run, he needed someone to look after him; Ra figured he was the right man for the job.

A meeting, a mating and yet another meeting. What should have been a straight forward relationship turned into so much more on their very first outing as a mated couple. Now Ra has to count on the strength of his mate and the help of his friends, if he and Seth are ever to have the HEA they'd planned for. And what was with all these Fae turning up out of the blue?

Warning: Contains a tiger who keeps putting his foot in it; a tiny lop-eared rabbit who is stronger than he looks and a bunch of friends who’ll hide a body, no questions asked. 

Now this is my type of brain candy!  A classic tale of predator meets prey but, instead of eating him, falls in love.  *sigh*   It just speaks to my romantically perverted heart.  This has almost everything you need for a successful shifter-fluff-with-mpreg story.  There’s the overprotective Alpha male and his diminutive mate.  There’s claiming and growling and biting and insta-love and hot sex and antics and shenanigans and secrets all mixed into an over-the-top storyline.  There’s lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  Sadly, there was no KNOTTING.  Coulda done with some KNOTTING. I was able to look past that oversight because, dude!  There’s a bunny shifter in this book!  An adorable, itty bitty white lop-eared bunny!  And he mates with a tiger!  A big, strong, growly tiger!  There was no way I was passing this one up. 

At the start of the story, Seth, the aforementioned adorable itty bitty white lop-eared bunny, has been on the run from his herd for two weeks for reasons unknown.  His mate, a tiger shifter named Ra, finally catches up to him and lures him out of hiding with his magical peen and a picnic basket full of salad.  They’ve both known they were mates for a few months now but Seth, in true bunny fashion, fled with a startled “eep!” when they first ran into each other.  He was scared, y’all!  Ra came on a bit too strong and he’s just an itty bitty thing, he couldn’t help but run away and hide.  But what bunny could resist a salad?  Not to mention tiger peen. *waggles eyebrows*

So, Seth moves in with Ra and his biker gang/motorcycle club/whatever.  The alpha of his herd is not happy about this turn of events at all.  Cue the shenanigans. 

This story was so ridiculous and over-the-top I couldn’t help but love it.  It had the standard ‘surprise! You can get pregnant!’ trope, the ‘you’re not who you think you are’ trope, the ‘Luke, I am your father’ trope plus a fair amount of ‘lack of communication’ and HUGE Big Misunderstanding. And I devoured it all with my big ole Suspend Your Disbelief spoon.   Seth was just freaking adorable and, surprisingly, Ra had a goofy side that was endearing as all get out.  Ra’s biker buddies/gang/whatever were great too and I hope we get their stories in the books to come.

To be honest, I hesitated to read this one.  I had tried to read one of the author’s earlier works a while back but I ended up bailing on it because of a severe lack of editing.  This one, I’m happy to say, has much less editing issues.  There were still a few errors (misuse of homophones, incorrect use of a turn of phrase, etc.) but, I was able to get past (<- see? this is the correct usage of a homophone) them due to the amount of charm this book exudes. 

Plus, how can you go wrong with this: 

He’d been thinking about it a lot though and his favorite idea was a tiny rabbit with tiger stripes.

On the brain candy scale, I would say this is like a variety bag.  It’s got a little bit of everything to satisfy your sweet tooth, all wrapped up in individual fun-sized packaging.  Enjoyable as a treat every now and then but eat too many in a row and you wind up with a stomachache and a couple of cavities.

Find it on Goodreads!