Shelba's Reviews > Stalked by Shadows

This started out pretty promising. The prologue was really interesting, but then I felt like after the first one or two chapters, it was kind of like the story was just spinning it's tires for a good 3/4 of the book and by the time the story got out of its rut, I was kind of fatigued and over it.

I figured a series titled A Simply Crafty Paranormal Mystery would have paranormal elements and some witchcraft. It wasn't witchcraft so much as plain old crafts. There is more sewing and crocheting than anything else in this book. It's like the topics in order of frequency are crafting, cosplay, sex/porn, food, paranormal. Like, there are literally paragraphs discussing the appearance and texture of a bolt of fabric.

There is a lot of repetitive conversations in this book, the most annoying of all being about the existence of the paranormal. You have Lukas, who doesn't believe in the paranormal, but believes his brother saw what he saw and isn't crazy. And then you have Micah and Alex, who both had up close and personal experiences with the paranormal, but both are like "*gasp* you don't believe in ghosts?!?!", back and forth pretty much the entire book. And I kind of get Alex being a bit unsure if what he experienced was real or a figment of his imagination, considering the military tried to convince him he imagine it and he ended up in a psyche ward because of it. Alex, on the other hand, had a paranormal experience which prompted him to open a Wiccan shop and give ghost tours... but isn't sure he believes in paranormal entities.

I don't get how Alex is broke. It does say that the little he got from his military discharge would go to Lukas, since he pays for everything... but Alex did three tours in the military. Now, I'm not crazy familiar with military pay grades, but I know it doesn't pay horribly and that typically you get a housing allowance. And if you spend 12 years in the military, I would think you should have something in your bank account to show for it.

I wish Micah was a little older... not because of the age gap, but because he went missing 2 years ago and then opened his shop. And has "done these tours for years". While two years technically is multiple years, I would think it would just make more sense if he was older... since he was apparently an 18 or 19 year old porn star, was majoring in history, but apparently also did massage school, went missing at around 20 years old for three months, came back and opened a shop and started giving tours (which he has done for years) and is one of four licensed tour guides in the city.

The spelling of 'Mark' changes to 'Marc' from Chapter 18 onward.

Absolutely every character has the tendency to drop the first word from their sentences.

"Am hoping to bring some home too." - Jared

instead of "I'm hoping..."

"Lots of great artists in Jackson Square" - Micah

instead of "There's lots..."

Everyone is overly dramatic, though at least Alex owns up to that.

I thought it as odd that Alex, who was sent to a psyche ward after his paranormal experience would have the initial thought that Jordan, who was freaking out because of a paranormal experience, needed handlers and maybe a mental evaluation. It felt a bit apathetic.

Oh, and cliffhanger ending.