A review by andreaareadsbooks
Chasing Shelter by Catherine Cowles

lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

While I knew jumping into the fifth book of a series is not the easiest thing to do, I still wanted to see and dive into the world of sparrow falls - additionally I wanted to see if it could be read as a standalone despite being a part of a series. 

To start off, this book has a lot of characters with a string of abusive and emotional backgrounds that play a large role in the story (at least for the main characters). Due to this, the storyline from start to finish deals with a lot of complex issues - filling the book with loads of fast paced drama from start to finish. While this book is filled with lots of drama from various supporting characters and nemesis’ it also interweaves an incredibly heart felt and emotional storyline that shows how certain people can walk into someone’s life, it just clicks, and they are just what you need. There is a lot of love and trust built between Trace and Ellie throughout the story - this is amplified with Keely, traces daughter. 

Overall, the story line was interesting and filled with fast paced drama that kept you on your toes and the budding relationship between Trace and Ellie was heartfelt and fulfilling. 

Some things that irked me while I read:

• the excessive use of nicknames in the story. Specifically Ellie using “chief” - Ellie and Keely using bestie (WAY too much - felt millennial cringey to me and I’m a millential) - and then I felt like the nickname blaze for Ellie came out of nowhere? 
• Trace couldn’t use the word “I” ever. All of his sentences during anything emotional or sexual never used “I” it was always - “need you. Have to have you” like just why? 
• I understand that Ellie didn’t get to have much colour when she was younger and she’s a very colourful person in her life as an adult but I felt like it was over explained or over enforced to the point it felt cringey? 
• At the beginning, being the 5th book in a series - it was difficult to keep track of all the characters introduced from other books? As well as their past off book interactions? It wasn’t the smoothest reintroduction from past books that left me slightly confused

“I’ve been chasing shelter and you’re the one who finally gave it to me”

Thank you to Cathrine Cowles team for the ARC in exchange for a free review