Genre:
Paranormal Romance/ Urban Fantasy
Description:
“Leigh
Alexander has lived every day of her life feeling like an outcast
amongst her family and the small-minded people of Pine Hollow, a
secretive community to which her parents belong. When Danielle,
Leigh’s younger sister, asks Leigh to come home for her wedding,
Leigh’s torn between wanting to be there for her sister and saving
herself from people who’ve despised her all of her life.
Knowing
she’ll regret her decision, Leigh gives into her sister and goes
home for what she hopes is the last time. Leigh was prepared for
people to ignore her, for them to shun her, for them to point out all
the ways she didn’t belong all because she wasn’t a size perfect,
but what she hadn’t been prepared for was falling for Ryan Hart, a
man who she will soon learn knows all of the secrets her family and
the town of Pine Hollow refuse to tell her.
Revealing
the truth about Pine Hollow and the rest of the supernatural world
might be forbidden, but to save Leigh’s life, Ryan will tell her
everything about who she is, or more importantly who she isn’t,
even if it will forever change her life and the lives of every person
in Pine Hollow.”
Author:
“Jennifer
Lynn Powell Reynolds is a native of North Alabama. She is newly
married. She and her husband tied the knot on Friday, September 13,
2013. Jennifer has a Master of Fine Arts degree from National
University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North
Alabama. Writing has always been a large part of her life. In high
school, her local newspaper published a large number of her poems,
and she won numerous poetry and short stories awards. Since high
school, she has worked on a number of different projects, but her
focus has mainly been on acquiring her degrees. She finished the
first draft of her first novel, a post-apocalyptic piece titled
Alone,
around the time she graduated with her B.A. Since then, she has
written numerous other novels, short stories, and poems. Aside from
spending her days immersed in the fictional worlds she creates, she
works part time at Stained Glass Artistry.”
Appraisal:
Even though
Outcast
is the second book in this series, it is a stand-alone novel set in
the same fantasy world as book one, Shifter.
Leigh Alexander has always felt like an outcast except with her
younger sister Danielle, who has always accepted and loved her
unconditionally. Leigh always thought it was her weight that had set
her apart but despite that, she learned to be comfortable with her
size. After attending college, she relocated to Washington State and
made a life for herself far away from Pine Hollow, Tennessee. She
supported herself editing books, working in a book store, and ghost
writing a woman’s life story. Things were going well for Leigh
until after her sister’s wedding where she became reacquainted with
Ryan Hart, the groom’s best friend.
Ever since
leaving Pine Hollow, Leigh seemed to have a lot of bad luck in all
aspects of her life. When Ryan relocates to Washington to be close to
Leigh, he also encounters a lot of what seems to be bad luck. Trying
to solve the mystery of what is going on sends Ryan and Leigh back to
Pine Hollow. There are a lot of twists in this story as secrets are
revealed and plots are uncovered. Directions change course to involve
the whole town of Pine Hollow, unveiling a corruption that must be
stopped.
The family
and social dynamics in Outcast
were believable. But Ms. Reynolds
has changed the rules in her unique fantasy world. I also enjoyed the
differing points-of-view we were given, which helped define Ryan’s
relationship with his parents, Leigh’s parents, as well his
relationship with his best friend Dave. I found him more interesting
and complicated than Leigh. (Okay, I just made myself laugh because I
enjoyed the hunky male wolf more than the human female. Now, I have
lost my train of thought… I blame Ryan!)
I think
with a little more control over repetition and better proof-reading
this could have been a five-star book. Outcast
is an enjoyable original story with a few issues, but overall
entertaining.
FYI:
Outcast
is book two in Jennifer Reynolds Supernaturals
series. It is not necessary to read book 1, Shifter,
to enjoy this story. This book also contains adult sexual situations,
as well as a few F-bombs.
Format/Typo
Issues:
I came
across a small number of editing issues, which included extra,
missing, or wrong words. There were also a couple of strangely worded
sentences.
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 90-95,000 words
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