Review: The Shifter Romances the Writer by Kristen Painter (Nocturne Falls #6)

The Shifter Romances the Writer (Nocturne Falls #6)
Kristen Painter
Published: May 15, 2016 (Sugar Skull)
Purchase: Amazon
Review source: copy provided by author in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars

Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books. If you haven’t started this series yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, The Vampire’s Mail Order Bride.

Paranormal romance author Roxy St. James is going through a nasty divorce. She moved to Nocturne Falls for a fresh start. The town where every day is Halloween is the perfect place for someone who writes about vampires to find inspiration. It doesn’t hurt that her friend Delaney, star of The Vampire’s Mail Order Bride, lives there too.

Despite getting off to a rocky start when he gives her a speeding ticket, Roxy soon becomes friends with her neighbor Deputy Sheriff Alex Cruz. They’re attracted to each other, but she doesn’t want to start a new relationship before her divorce is final. And Alex doesn’t want to date a human. Roxy has no idea that he’s a shifter, Delaney’s a vampire, and Nocturne Falls is a paranormal haven.

When Roxy starts seeing her friends with glowing eyes and too sharp teeth, she thinks it’s the stress of the move, the divorce, her looming deadline. Discovering that all the things she writes about really exist, and that no one told her, threatens both her new-found happiness and her relationship with Alex.

I really enjoyed the behind the scenes look at Roxy’s life as an author. She talks about creating her writing space, managing her time, and staying in shape. She also does a signing at the local bookstore and hands out swag for a friend’s book club. There are even snippets of her new Blood Moon Brotherhood book.

I was also enjoying the message about diversity and acceptance until Roxy did something at the end to mess it up. Roxy’s ex criticized her weight, her job, seemingly everything she did. She felt like she was never good enough. Alex tells her she’s beautiful and supports her work, even reading one of her books. He decided that it didn’t matter if she was human, just that he loved her.

And then that thing happens. It involved some really cool magic so I liked the thing itself, I just don’t like that it negated all those body-positive, warm fuzzy feelings I was having. It’s one of those things that happens all the time in paranormal romance and readers expect it (which means I totally saw it coming) so I’m trying not hold it against this book too much.

Nocturne Falls is not trying to redefine the genre; it’s just fun, light-hearted paranormal romance. I’m really enjoying the series as a change of pace from some of the dark urban fantasy I often read.

Sexual content: kissing