Book Review: Tears of Life by Shea Balik

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Tears of Life
Author: Shea Balik
Series: Druid’s Curse #7
Heroes: Mingus & Oluf
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 188 pages
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: October 13, 2019
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Mingus had one true love in life, animals. None of them were off the list, although, if he were completely honest, his favorite was his cat, Pretty Baby. He never imagined one day he might have to put someone else first. Not just anyone, but the man who has stolen his heart.

For centuries Oluf has dreamed of finding the one destined to be his. He’d even anticipated the need to woo him by becoming a chef. After all, according to his mother, the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. What he hadn’t expected was that he would come in second to a cat with sharp claws, who seemed to enjoy using people as her personal scratching post.

As Mingus, Oluf, and their friends get closer to Samhain, the Fae will try to stop them using everything at their disposal. It means finding a way to work together, even if it takes shedding a few Tears of Life to do so. But in the end, will the fate of the human world come down to a cat?

Review:

Okay, if you haven’t read the other books in the series, WHY NOT?? Get to it immediately because this series is so good! If you’re thinking of picking up just one random book in the series then STOP! You MUST read them in order or you really won’t understand what’s going on. Granted, the author does a great job of recapping but you won’t enjoy this to the max because you didn’t read the other couples’ journeys.

With that said, I really loved this book! It’s a bit different than the others because Mingus is someone who wants to know someone before they take the next step. While Oluf is willing to be patient until Mingus is ready. Unfortunately, Mingus is keeping a little too much distance between them and Oluf is letting him. So there’s that push and pull between them while also the ‘missed opportunities’ that sorta pop up. I loved that Oluf was the resident cook in the family and that no one else knew how to cook (how that is possible, I have no idea because some of these druids were on their own before the Vikings found them) and that Mingus was really peeved that no one could help Oluf while he, quite literally, slaved over cooking for them. I mean, the man never had a break! He’d cook, fight, cook, fight, maybe shower if he could, then get back to cooking and only sleep four or so hours. So, I really, really love that Mingus stood up to the others on Oluf’s behalf and made them all realize that Oluf worked so hard for them while the others did nothing to help or even to clean. What jerks! LOL. I mean, I didn’t realize how selfish the others could be until this one when they demanded to be feed and WHAT to be feed.

This was such a great book but I have a few issues with it. For one, I felt like Mingus and Oluf had barely any time to really get to know one another (on screen) so I felt like a majority of this story was focused on Kyleigh and her issues and not Mingus and Oluf as a couple or even Mingus getting to understand his powers. With that said, I was a little peeved with the whole Kyleigh thing. She has been acting like this for months (maybe a year now?) and no ones really done anything about it until Mingus shows up and then this happens to her? Why?? Also, I didn’t quite understand Mingus’ parents. Why weren’t they more part of the book? They only showed up a few times and usually as a voice of reason or something like that.

All in all, I did really enjoy this one. I loved the progress to the story arc but I also did really love Mingus and Oluf as characters. As a couple, we don’t see much of that but I did enjoy their worries over getting too close too fast. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series but wish it wasn’t the last because I still want a book for Fen!

Overall Impression: I really liked it!

*I received a copy of this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review.*