Reviewed by Cheryl
TITLE: Soft Alabaster
SERIES: Celestial Mates #7
AUTHOR: Megan Slyer
PUBLISHER: Evernight Publishing
LENGTH: 2598 Kb
RELEASE DATE: April 14, 2020
BLURB:
One man out of time and another desperate to share his life with that perfect someone. Can their answers come from a broken curse?
Owen Reed loves his secondhand store, but he’d rather run it with a partner. He’s tired of being lonely and having one-night stands. He wants a love to last forever. When he ends up with a statue of a man in pain, he has no idea how special this statue could be. Is love possible with the pained figure?
Sydney Keeler knows he belongs anywhere but locked in alabaster. When he’s delivered to Owen’s store, the unexpected happens—he can feel Owen’s hands on him. He wants to break free and be with the man with the sparkling blue eyes. Can Owen break the curse? If so, will Owen accept a man who’s been cursed to exist in alabaster? Can they have the love they deserve?
One kiss will determine their fate.
REVIEW:
I can’t say the book was badly written, but it wasn’t the best either. There was little to complain about technically, although there was a liberal sprinkling of passive voices. My difficulty was more in the way the story was told.
There was something about the flow of the story that didn’t quite work. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good story, albeit somewhat predictable, but the storytelling was stiff, and in some places rather shallow. There was an opportunity to get deep into the characters, which was, in the main part, missed. It felt as if the story was skimming the surface of its potential. Sydney’s voice in particular was somehow missing emotional depth. Even when he was crying I felt that I was being told he was crying without any real insight into why.
Owen, as a character, was much more rounded and appealing and I could get behind him. He had an unique voice and I found myself liking him. The only thing I couldn’t understand was why he fell into a relationship with Sydney so quickly without evidence of real connection.
The conflict with Zeus felt more real on Owen’s side and I felt that the way he approached the conflict was genuine and realistic, although it might have gone too far.
The ending should have been satisfying, but it wasn’t. I felt it was rushed and staged and void of real emotion.
I didn’t hate this book. It’s got a lot going for it. However, I found it unsatisfying and it’s a shame because it has enormous potential, and with polish on the storytelling, it could be great.
RATING: 
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