Author: Tam MacNeil
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Length: 29 Pages
Category: Urban Fantasy
At a Glance: Unique take on shifters, and so awesome. I wish it was longer.
Reviewed By: Jennifer
Blurb: At twenty-nine, Mark is lonely and unhappy. With his teaching degree, he never expected to be scraping by at a dead-end job in a bookstore. So when he’s given the opportunity to do the work he’s always dreamed of, he jumps on it.
But there’s a catch. Mark has just agreed to spend the summer teaching a recalcitrant student at a lonely manor outside the most haunted village in the UK. It doesn’t take Mark long to figure out there’s something strange, really strange, about Thomas, his host and the father of his pupil. They say the village changes people, and it turns out Thomas is living proof. Now Mark has to decide if he should run like hell or stay and become part of the family.
Review: This is one of those stories where I seriously wish it was a full novel. I loved it so much! Tam MacNeil has put a unique spin on the shifter genre with this story.
Mark is a teacher, but he’s stuck working at a bookstore until he can get a job. When he is offered a position tutoring a student in Shakespeare over the summer, he takes the job and moves in with Thomas and his daughter, Bryony. Of course, Bryony is less than thrilled with this arrangement.
Everything seems to be going well. Mark has heard the stories about the village being haunted, but he seems to adjust well to living with Thomas, and he doesn’t really see anything strange. Thomas has warned him about the badgers and not going out at night, but aside from that? Nothing too weird. Except for his freak-outs whenever something happens to the trees in the village or on his property.
I don’t know how much I should reveal because I loved the way the author lets everything play out. It was pretty surprising for me because I thought one thing, but was completely wrong.
The dialogue is great, the characters are excellent, and the setting is well done. My only wish is that the story was longer. I loved Mark and Thomas and even Bryony, and I hope the author decides to explore them even more. I would gladly read it!
You can buy Putting Down Roots here:
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