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A review by avid_reader_sf_and_f
Campfires And Canines by Aly Hollis

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

 Our MC Hazel just had a wicked break up with a cheating jerk fiancé who caused her to lose her job at his family's business. Her Mom is awful and she's not close to her sister so she decides to take a vacation and visit her Uncle's town in a secluded area of the mountains, for the first time ever, and see the place where her father grew up. 


The town is a small, tight-knit community where there's one school, one teacher, everyone eats meals together and they all seem to follow her uncle's commands, which seems more than a little cult-ish. On top of that, her Uncle is super strict about where she can go and doesn't want her going anywhere alone.  


So of course, Hazel instantly finds herself drawn to Slate, her uncle's moody assistant, and very quickly decides she wants to move her whole life to this town. Just as obviously, her uncle wants her to leave.  Totally foreseen things happen, and she learns the secrets of the town, and it puts her in danger because, "humans can't know." Chaos, a kidnapping, romance and spice follows...


This book was fun, I found the characters to be a bit flat and underdeveloped, but it’s understandable as this was a debut novel. I expect this series will improve as she gets in her groove. I gave this a solid 3 stars, I will probably pick up the second in the series when I'm more in the mood for a Fantasy romance, but I doubt this will ever be a reread.


What I didn't like: I grabbed this because it was listed as Cozy and it is NOT a cozy. Even the original title was "Campfires & Canines: Stand Alone Cozy Fantasy Rom-Com". Not being a Cozy wouldn’t have kept me from reading this, but it really didn't fit my current mood.  YMMV.


This book has violence, a kidnapping, guns, child abuse/ physical abuse, and threats of SA. It isn't dark per se, or graphic but the elements are there and that makes it NOT A COZY. This was more of a paranormal or fantasy romance with suspense, action with a thriller-esque feel. 
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