Monday, October 6, 2014

Broken Arrows (The Cupid Chronicles Book 1) / Chelsey Butler


Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Urban Fantasy/ Contemporary

Approximate word count: 35-40,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO Paper: NO
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Chelsey Butler was born and raised near Fort Worth, Texas. She still lives in north Texas with her husband and four daughters, but she rebels against the Texan stereotype. She loves God, her family, and all things involving books, and is a self-proclaimed nerd, a history buff, and vintage enthusiast. She also writes young adult fantasy under the name S.G. Tillery. Chelsey loves hearing from her fans and encourages them to find her on Facebook.”

Description:

“Cari Harris lives what should be a charmed life. She owns a quaint bed and breakfast in a charming southern town, is surrounded by loving friends and family, and possesses magical powers. Most of the residents in Fable, GA, are descended from mythical creatures straight out of fairy tales, and Cari is no exception. As a descendent of Cupid, she has the ability to see when two people are soul mates and the power to make sure they fall in love. However, this power is sometimes more of a curse than a blessing, because Cari is also the town screw up.

While hosting a murder mystery weekend at her inn, she tries to match a young couple and makes a huge mistake. Now she must fix her mistake before the guests leave at the end of the weekend, all while making a bigger mess of things along the way, in her typical fashion.

As if Cari didn’t have enough to worry about already, her old boyfriend just moved back to town. Years ago, she forced herself to stop thinking about Mike, but now that he’s back, there is no avoiding him. It’s a small town and she keeps running in to him, no matter how much she hopes to avoid it. When she stumbles across some unexpected secrets, and Mike helps her with her current matchmaking dilemma, all of her feelings from the past come flooding back.”

Appraisal:

This first book centers on The Broken Arrow Inn, which is owned and run by Cari. To increase business she decides to host a Murder Mystery weekend event. The escapades that ensue are comical and entertaining in the character driven plot as she tries to stay ahead of mishaps. Cari is an interesting character and her misfortunes were not all her own making. Best friends Roxy and Hope were fun additions who helped round Cari’s character out. When Cari’s old high school boyfriend, Mike, returns to town there is an adequate amount of sexual tension added to the story for another layer of fun.

On the outside Fable, Georgia looks like any small southern town but its residents are far from typical even though they look like regular people. When Mike went away to college and didn’t return, his latent powers failed to develop. After his marriage failed he was drawn back to Fable and his powers are now starting to awaken. However, he has no clue about Fable’s secret community. The problem is it is his mother’s job to enlighten him and she won’t until she is sure he is going to stay in Fable for good this time. I was a bit frustrated at the end, the story just stops. I am not sure whether I am missing the last chapter or what. I found it disappointing.

This is a cute story that has potential, though I found it plagued with small proofing errors and repetition. It would be nice to see this story go through a better editing process.

Format/Typo Issues:

Several small proofing errors, which exceeded an acceptable limit, that consisted of missing or extra words. As well as missing letters that change words into the wrong word. Repetition was also a problem that needs further attention. 


Rating: *** Three stars

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