Book Review: Shannon in the Lion's Den (Redneck Apocalypse, #.5)

Author| eden Hudson (Twitter)  Edition| Kindle eBook  Rating| 4.5 Stars

Related Reviews| Halo Bound

Buy Links| Amazon/Barnes & Noble

This is one of my favorite series' ever, and I'm not even sorta kidding.  While this wasn't a direct sequel to Halo Bound, it does serve to fill in some interesting backstory for Colt and Tough's parents.

Whereas Halo Bound is more of a fast-paced struggle between good and evil and completely full of moral ambiguity, this is a paranormal romance.  It takes place many years before the events of Halo Bound and tells the story of Danny and Shannon.  She's one break short from frying all her wires and he's lost in life.  They were together once upon a time during high school, but broke up for various reasons.  Now that they've run into each other again an old fire has been rekindled.  Most importantly, they have to save each other.

This was so different from Halo Bound.  It's definitely toned down and not as dark.  The romance is the main focus.  Which means that Danny and Shannon are the main focus.  They get a ton of fleshing out and feel like very realistic people.  It's all the side character's that suffer for it.  I left the book not really caring or knowing much about the supporting actors in this story.  Which is the reason the book was taken down from five stars.

Other than that, this book was fantastic.  I liked the way that heartbreak and mental illness are dealt with in this book, and the whole series, really.  Shannon has something very bad going on with her, and while it's never straight out diagnosed, one knows it's not normal or healthy.  The fact that she's not treated as less of a person for it is great, and the fact that you, the reader, feel a bit insane while reading from her perspective is amazing.  Like with Halo Bound, whenever I read this book I felt completely transported into the mind of the narrators.

The story isn't as complex as the main series, which was fine by me, because it was still as entertaining.  It also had a rather open-ended ending that makes me wonder if there will every be a follow up?  I wouldn't mind returning to see where these two are at a different point in their life, though it's not super important.

The climax of this one was as beautiful and heart-racing as Halo Bound.  I couldn't put it down and was left thinking about it for several days after finishing.  If that's not the mark of a fantastic author, I don't know what is.

If you haven't started this series yet, what's wrong with you?!  It's one of the best things you'll read this year, I promise.  You can either start with this prequel (click here for the goodreads link to add to your shelf) or with the first book, Halo Bound (which, last I checked, was free on the Kindle store).