Shadow Town Blog Tour: Review, Excerpt and Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Shadow Town (Maggie Lane Chronicles #1) by Robyn Jones Tour

Published: January 29, 2014
Genre: New Adult, Paranormal Romance

Goodreads Summary

By day, nineteen-year-old Maggie Lane is property manager of Pearl Estates, a posh housing community owned by her father and occupied by Shadows. By night, she's a waitress at a local dive. When a girl at her night job disappears, she dives into Scooby mode. She might be able to handle a missing waitress on her own, but when a new Shadow moves in next door and turns her into a blushing, flirting, love-crazed girl, her need for answers unearths nightmares from her past and monsters of the here and now. It's possible her bad attitude might not be enough to carry her through.

New Adult paranormal romance Shadow Town is the first novel in the Maggie Lane Chronicles.

Goodreads / Amazon - 99 cents NOW on Amazon

“You can't always tough it out, sometimes you need to laugh it out.” 

I received this book from the author for an honest review.

The Good

This one has a bit of all the things that I enjoy: snark, action, a little mystery, a MoBad heroine, and some spice. MoBad is another of my made up PG words, but you get the point. Maggie is strong and naive at the same time. She's been through so much in her past. It makes her gritty, but in some areas she's never been able to let her walls down so she's truly naive to what life should be like for someone her age. I grew to really love her.

One of the reasons that Maggie means so much to me, is that I felt a connection to her. Granted, I don't run a neighborhood that my evil dad owns crawling with Shadows in Montana or work as a waitress (anymore). Wait, what? It was in those little things that I was really able to connect. Maggie loves to swim every day and I used to be on the swim team in school. She wears crazy t-shirts and makes references to Wonder Woman and Captain America. She's also a painter. I may not paint, but I do love my art and I know what it feels like to get lost in a drawing and being completely transported to a new world.

The setting is a neighborhood called Pearl Estates that Maggie manages so there are quite a few characters of all varieties in the residents that live there. I really enjoyed all the minor players. There are a LOT of important men. Don't get me wrong, they are not all vying for her attention because she only has eyes for one. They are all there playing their own roles. All mysterious, all vital, and all grew on me. One thing that Jones does so well is really get you to care about the people you're reading about.

The action and mystery are wonderful. I felt like I knew exactly what was going on the whole time, them BAM! Ha, didn't know exactly after all. I really appreciated those surprises.

The Bad

Due to the build up and getting to know the characters, the action does come slowly. I found that this doesn't bother me personally since I enjoyed getting to know more about Maggie. The paranormal aspects and mystery were always present, but it is important to know that there are slow parts throughout as well.

The Romance

Maggie is out of school. She manages Pearl Estates and works as a waitress with some rough customers, but she's never had a boyfriend. Enter Damon. He's hot, her's, and he'll wait until she realizes it. I love it.

There are some nice steamy scenes to enjoy but it's built up well. I can't wait to see more of these two.

Conclusion

Wonderful characters, giggle-inducing snark and dialogue, great mystery, action, and romance are all in this story. Absolutely recommended.

Excerpt

“I'm sorry. I got carried away. Did I hurt you?” He turns off the faucet with harsh jerky motions, then wraps me in a towel like I'm some waterlogged puppy.

I'm standing in his bedroom with a towel and not much else. He's sitting on his bed berating himself. “I'm not so fragile, Damon.” It's not until I say his name that he looks up.

“Everything you've been through and then I don't mind my own strength with you.” I touch the bandage on my forearm, amazed it's still in place. He shakes his head. 

Anger bursts through me in the form of me wagging my useless pointer finger at him. “I'm not some victim.” I storm out. I'm more pissed that Branden has the nerve to share my dark history with another person. I rarely talk about my past; it seems implied best friend material. I'm at the front door when Damon moves in front of me.

“Don't go,” he says in a way that makes me want to give in, but that's not me. I don't give in, ever. “Wait.”

“We’re strangers,” I tell him with a hard nod, my best effort to remind myself Damon is a Shadow.

“I like elephants.” My mouth hangs open, too stunned to form words. “Did you know they laugh?” I shake my head. I didn’t know that. “Vegetarians piss me off. So does mint green.” 

“A color pisses you off?” He breathes a yes.

About Robyn Jones:

I'm the mom of two hardcore boys. My oldest trained me to be matter-of-fact, no frills. My youngest wants the whole singsongy sweet package. Thank goodness for reading and writing because they are my sanity makers. I know life is all about the journey, that's why I like my fiction to be all about the destination. I want to be taken somewhere not here when I read, same goes with the stories I create. Thrills, chills, tears, and laughter, but there has to be something to hold on to at the end.

Blog / Twitter / Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway