Reviewed by PizzyGirl
TITLE: Soft Marble
SERIES: Celestial Mates #1
AUTHOR: Megan Slayer
PUBLISHER: Evernight
LENGTH: 43 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 3, 2018
BLURB:
Celestial Mates, 1
One touch from his lover and this marble will come to life.
Kratos, God of power and strength, has been imprisoned in pure white marble for more than two centuries. His lover can break the spell—if only his lover would find him.
Andy Green knows his ancient artifacts. He spends his days restoring works of art. When the sculpture of Kratos enters his studio, he can’t hide his attraction. Will he be able to free the god or will forces beyond his control destroy everything he’s earned?
REVIEW:
I was a little apprehensive about this story because I have had bad luck with the editing of books from this publisher in the past. However, I am a big Megan Slayer fan so I decided to give this one a try. Especially since this one indicated that it had been previously published and the blurb was just too intriguing to pass up. I am sad to say that this one just did not work for me.
I struggled with this one as I feel like it was just not finished. The story felt like an outline that was due to be turned in before the details and flow were completed. The story felt forced and way too scripted and lacked that emotional connection I personally needed to believe the words that were coming out of the character’s mouths. I knew that they were supposed to be “shocked” but I never felt it. I knew when a character was supposed to be aroused or confused or whatever else, but I never felt it at all. I was detached.
I also had a hard time suspending reality for this one and I am not entirely sure why. I mean it is a fantasy story with magical influences so had no basis in reality. However, I found it extremely hard to just go with the instant love and the fast pace at which things happened and the ease at which things were learned/believed.
The world had so much potential to be fun and fascinating but the world building lacked detail and depth for me to really understand why things were set up as they were. I also needed more character development and history. I needed to know more about Andy to really grasp his insecurities and why he so easily believed in Gods. I needed more setup on the mythology to understand the love at first sight thing, even though I can understand it a bit because of the curse.
I also have no clue why Andy’s boss would be so understanding or how K’s ex came to be long lived. There was just too much left unsaid for me personally so while I enjoyed the premise, I was left feeling unsatisfied.
Overall, I liked the storyline and felt like this one had good bones. It just lacked the development I needed to really connect with the characters and the story and really enjoy myself. The set up for book two was handled nicely, I just wish this one was better fleshed out because while I am interested in the next story, I am leary of it because I am afraid I will feel the same about it as I do this one.
RATING: 
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