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Shifting Gears #1
Hidden Attraction
Mason Jennings
Speed is what I know best. Speed has made me who I am. Speed has made me millions of dollars. I’m a former race car driver, record breaking winner, and darling of the Formula One scene. When I retired, I put all of my time and quite a bit of my fortune into building sports cars. Without racing, though, there seems to be something missing in my life. A recent meeting with a young mechanic may change all that, however.
Oliver Pike
I had dreams of racing when I was a kid, but never really got the chance. I decided to become a mechanic instead, and I ended up being really good at it. I work for Mason Jenning’s company, Stone Motors. I’ve only been there for six months but have moved up the ranks quickly. When I got the chance to meet Mason, my opportunities seemed to move even faster. His offer seems to be too good to be true. Something is telling me I shouldn’t trust him so quickly, but how can I turn down the chance of a lifetime?
Speed is what I know best. Speed has made me who I am. Speed has made me millions of dollars. I’m a former race car driver, record breaking winner, and darling of the Formula One scene. When I retired, I put all of my time and quite a bit of my fortune into building sports cars. Without racing, though, there seems to be something missing in my life. A recent meeting with a young mechanic may change all that, however.
Oliver Pike
I had dreams of racing when I was a kid, but never really got the chance. I decided to become a mechanic instead, and I ended up being really good at it. I work for Mason Jenning’s company, Stone Motors. I’ve only been there for six months but have moved up the ranks quickly. When I got the chance to meet Mason, my opportunities seemed to move even faster. His offer seems to be too good to be true. Something is telling me I shouldn’t trust him so quickly, but how can I turn down the chance of a lifetime?
- GenresM M RomanceAmazon
158 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 13, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 14, 2016
I enjoyed this story. No sex but interesting chemistry. I want to know more about these guys. Cliffhanger. I hate waiting for the next book in series. I will read this author again.
March 29, 2016
Frank Malone’s novel Hidden Attraction opens with Mason Jennings’ introduction—nothing flashy or attention grabbing—but a simple introduction of the character. Through the course of the first chapter, we learn bits and pieces about his former career as a Formula One driver who’d enjoyed some success; though, now retired, he currently aspires to be a successful race car designer/builder.
Told in an alternating first person POV narrative—which is great for readers who don’t enjoy the limitations of first person storytelling—Oliver Pike’s introduction rounds out the second chapter of the book, as we find him at his bedsit where he’s cajoling his landlady into giving him a little extra time to pay his rent, with the promise that his new job at Stone Motors—having just been promoted from the factory to working with the builders in the showroom—will cover the past due if he can only have another week to pay. Oliver, we eventually learn, is a brilliant mechanic whose own dreams of becoming an F1 driver have never been realized.
Beyond these initial introductions, we learn precious little else about these two men, which makes this short novel difficult to categorize. I would hesitate to call it literary fiction because of the lack of characterization or significant observation; nor is the book romantic fiction in even the broadest sense of the genre. What we do see throughout the narrative is that Mason comes off as somewhat arrogant, Oliver comes off as more than a little naïve, and neither man is terribly mature for their respective ages. For the majority of the story, they don’t develop beyond existing with each other from one scene to the next, as there’s limited word count spent on them getting to know much of anything relevant about each other; rather, there’s a lot of Mason leading Oliver around from place to place, situation to situation, and Oliver doing a fair amount of wondering what Mason’s story is. The storyline itself wanders along from one scene to the next, failing to demonstrate a clear objective or interesting motive for readers to engage with the characters, and offering little more than a string of inconsequential and disconnected scenarios during which little to nothing happens to drive the action, build suspense, realize a strong story foundation, or further illuminate its characters’ motivations. Mason’s end-goals, we eventually learn, seem to lie in getting his pet car project up and running, and to get Oliver into bed—no more, no less, and not necessarily in that order. If you’re a reader who loves cars, though, as it is apparent the author does, you might enjoy that aspect of the book quite a lot.
Once Hidden Attraction reaches the 90% mark, and what can be described as the climactic arc of the story, Mason makes his move on Oliver, at which point the scene evolves into a machination so jarring and seemingly out of character for the little we’ve come to know of Mason—or, more to the point, what little Oliver knows of Mason—that it propels Mason at whiplash speed into the realms of unrecognizable based on what we’d learned about him up to that point. As a result of his mishandling, not to mention manhandling Oliver, we’re left with the predictable and pivotal reaction from the naïf protégé, which amounts to a soap opera-esque cliffhanger as the resolution to this emotionally charged scene. While clearly there needs to be a plot goal, and a subsequent consequence and resolution once that goal is realized, in the case of Hidden Attraction I have to say that the melodrama came so far out of left field for me that it lacked any sort of positive impact and left me more baffled by than empathetic toward its outcome.
Succumbing to the seduction that is the ease of self-publishing in the digital age, the book’s one true flaw is the unfortunate lack of professional editing. Riddled with awkward scene and situational transitions, scenarios which stretch the reader’s ability to suspend disbelief, issues of no consequence that are introduced and then tidily resolved, scenes that ended up serving no purpose, setting and character descriptions that neither enhanced the tone nor mood of the scene, nor furthered the story or development of the characters, and grammatical issues throughout—when all was said and done, this book left me more frustrated than entertained.
Not liking a book is never fun, not for the reader, not for the author who’s poured a lot of time and effort into writing it, only to then have people like me read it and go on about why the book didn’t work. Oftentimes, the true test of a great read is whether or not the author has created characters I’ve liked spending time with. Interesting and revealing conversation between them is a huge factor in this, chemistry between the characters is another, and creating people who invite me to empathize with them or who elicit an emotional connection is yet another. Absent any or all of these things, a book will always fail me, as is the case here. It’s a difficult truth to share when things don’t work between reader and novel, not to mention that reading and reader reactions are such a personal thing. Suffice it to say that based upon my own experience, Hidden Attraction is not a book I can recommend. As always, however, your mileage may vary.
Reviewed by Lisa for The Novel Approach Reviews
http://www.thenovelapproachreviews.co...
Told in an alternating first person POV narrative—which is great for readers who don’t enjoy the limitations of first person storytelling—Oliver Pike’s introduction rounds out the second chapter of the book, as we find him at his bedsit where he’s cajoling his landlady into giving him a little extra time to pay his rent, with the promise that his new job at Stone Motors—having just been promoted from the factory to working with the builders in the showroom—will cover the past due if he can only have another week to pay. Oliver, we eventually learn, is a brilliant mechanic whose own dreams of becoming an F1 driver have never been realized.
Beyond these initial introductions, we learn precious little else about these two men, which makes this short novel difficult to categorize. I would hesitate to call it literary fiction because of the lack of characterization or significant observation; nor is the book romantic fiction in even the broadest sense of the genre. What we do see throughout the narrative is that Mason comes off as somewhat arrogant, Oliver comes off as more than a little naïve, and neither man is terribly mature for their respective ages. For the majority of the story, they don’t develop beyond existing with each other from one scene to the next, as there’s limited word count spent on them getting to know much of anything relevant about each other; rather, there’s a lot of Mason leading Oliver around from place to place, situation to situation, and Oliver doing a fair amount of wondering what Mason’s story is. The storyline itself wanders along from one scene to the next, failing to demonstrate a clear objective or interesting motive for readers to engage with the characters, and offering little more than a string of inconsequential and disconnected scenarios during which little to nothing happens to drive the action, build suspense, realize a strong story foundation, or further illuminate its characters’ motivations. Mason’s end-goals, we eventually learn, seem to lie in getting his pet car project up and running, and to get Oliver into bed—no more, no less, and not necessarily in that order. If you’re a reader who loves cars, though, as it is apparent the author does, you might enjoy that aspect of the book quite a lot.
Once Hidden Attraction reaches the 90% mark, and what can be described as the climactic arc of the story, Mason makes his move on Oliver, at which point the scene evolves into a machination so jarring and seemingly out of character for the little we’ve come to know of Mason—or, more to the point, what little Oliver knows of Mason—that it propels Mason at whiplash speed into the realms of unrecognizable based on what we’d learned about him up to that point. As a result of his mishandling, not to mention manhandling Oliver, we’re left with the predictable and pivotal reaction from the naïf protégé, which amounts to a soap opera-esque cliffhanger as the resolution to this emotionally charged scene. While clearly there needs to be a plot goal, and a subsequent consequence and resolution once that goal is realized, in the case of Hidden Attraction I have to say that the melodrama came so far out of left field for me that it lacked any sort of positive impact and left me more baffled by than empathetic toward its outcome.
Succumbing to the seduction that is the ease of self-publishing in the digital age, the book’s one true flaw is the unfortunate lack of professional editing. Riddled with awkward scene and situational transitions, scenarios which stretch the reader’s ability to suspend disbelief, issues of no consequence that are introduced and then tidily resolved, scenes that ended up serving no purpose, setting and character descriptions that neither enhanced the tone nor mood of the scene, nor furthered the story or development of the characters, and grammatical issues throughout—when all was said and done, this book left me more frustrated than entertained.
Not liking a book is never fun, not for the reader, not for the author who’s poured a lot of time and effort into writing it, only to then have people like me read it and go on about why the book didn’t work. Oftentimes, the true test of a great read is whether or not the author has created characters I’ve liked spending time with. Interesting and revealing conversation between them is a huge factor in this, chemistry between the characters is another, and creating people who invite me to empathize with them or who elicit an emotional connection is yet another. Absent any or all of these things, a book will always fail me, as is the case here. It’s a difficult truth to share when things don’t work between reader and novel, not to mention that reading and reader reactions are such a personal thing. Suffice it to say that based upon my own experience, Hidden Attraction is not a book I can recommend. As always, however, your mileage may vary.
Reviewed by Lisa for The Novel Approach Reviews
http://www.thenovelapproachreviews.co...
March 13, 2016
I received a copy of Hidden Attraction in exchange for an honest review.
I really liked this book. I loved reading both perspectives of the MCs and even though I didn't really like the arrogance of Mason at first, I warmed up to him. The backstory for both MCs was great because you learned how they'd gotten to this point in their lives. Mason's determination to get Oliver into his life seemed a bit far-fetched but was fun to read and the longer their lives intertwined the more I wanted them to get together. And then the hiccup to their story, the conflict that nearly made me pull my hair out and scream, or strangle Mason.
Normally, I'd be put off by the cliffhanger because I dislike having to buy another book to read the HEA, but with these two I want to know what happens. I want to know if/how their story continues and ultimately ends. I have a feeling heart strings will be pulled, frustration will be felt, and maybe even a tear or two, but those are things that bond you to a book/series. I look forward to reading #2. Well done Frank.
I really liked this book. I loved reading both perspectives of the MCs and even though I didn't really like the arrogance of Mason at first, I warmed up to him. The backstory for both MCs was great because you learned how they'd gotten to this point in their lives. Mason's determination to get Oliver into his life seemed a bit far-fetched but was fun to read and the longer their lives intertwined the more I wanted them to get together. And then the hiccup to their story, the conflict that nearly made me pull my hair out and scream, or strangle Mason.
Normally, I'd be put off by the cliffhanger because I dislike having to buy another book to read the HEA, but with these two I want to know what happens. I want to know if/how their story continues and ultimately ends. I have a feeling heart strings will be pulled, frustration will be felt, and maybe even a tear or two, but those are things that bond you to a book/series. I look forward to reading #2. Well done Frank.
March 10, 2016
I am proud to have been chosen by this author to review this amazing book. I read it from cover to cover at least three times since it was sent to me and I know you will do the same. Well written, held my attention (not easy as I have Adult ADHD) and flowed perfectly. The story comes to life in the first chapter and puts the reader in the passenger seat. You feel the emotions as the characters feel them and it's hard to remember that this is only a book. Buckle your seat belts followers, and pick up your copy of 'Hidden Attraction'. You won't be disappointed!
April 14, 2016
Hidden Attraction was an okay read for me. This is one of those books where a pros/cons review will probably help me explain my thoughts best.
Pros:
-Oliver...I liked his character quite a bit, he comes across as very friendly and eager to help and please others. I also liked Jerry, Oliver's friend at his new job. He's supportive and outgoing, and a good friend to Oliver.
-It's a quick read, good for passing the time, and there really isn't a lot of angst.
-Loved the reference to The Stig ;-)
-To be perfectly honest, Oliver's character was what I liked best about this book.
Cons:
-Mason...I just could not warm up to his character at all, and I had a very hard time getting a picture of him in my head. I also did not like the ultimatum Mason gave Oliver toward the end. I was not expecting that at all, and it really made me dislike Mason whereas up until that point I was merely indifferent to him.
-I didn't feel any real connection between Oliver and Mason outside of boss/employee. No sparks or real chemistry. Things don't go beyond some kissing in this story, and honestly the little bit of that didn't demonstrate any kind of feelings between them at all.
-The story felt unfocused with a lot of telling about day to day type things that really didn't impact the plot, and there wasn't any real conflict for most of the story until the very end...and for that there wasn't any buildup, so it felt like it was thrown in at the last minute for dramatic effect.
The story does end on a cliffhanger, and despite the fact that this was just an average read for me, I still want to find out what happened to Oliver. I personally do not care for Oliver and Mason to end up together as I just don't feel anything between them...Jerry seems like a much better match for Oliver in my opinion.
Hidden Attraction was a 2.5-star read for me. It's pretty tame from a heat standpoint, and again does end on a cliffhanger.
Pros:
-Oliver...I liked his character quite a bit, he comes across as very friendly and eager to help and please others. I also liked Jerry, Oliver's friend at his new job. He's supportive and outgoing, and a good friend to Oliver.
-It's a quick read, good for passing the time, and there really isn't a lot of angst.
-Loved the reference to The Stig ;-)
-To be perfectly honest, Oliver's character was what I liked best about this book.
Cons:
-Mason...I just could not warm up to his character at all, and I had a very hard time getting a picture of him in my head. I also did not like the ultimatum Mason gave Oliver toward the end. I was not expecting that at all, and it really made me dislike Mason whereas up until that point I was merely indifferent to him.
-I didn't feel any real connection between Oliver and Mason outside of boss/employee. No sparks or real chemistry. Things don't go beyond some kissing in this story, and honestly the little bit of that didn't demonstrate any kind of feelings between them at all.
-The story felt unfocused with a lot of telling about day to day type things that really didn't impact the plot, and there wasn't any real conflict for most of the story until the very end...and for that there wasn't any buildup, so it felt like it was thrown in at the last minute for dramatic effect.
The story does end on a cliffhanger, and despite the fact that this was just an average read for me, I still want to find out what happened to Oliver. I personally do not care for Oliver and Mason to end up together as I just don't feel anything between them...Jerry seems like a much better match for Oliver in my opinion.
Hidden Attraction was a 2.5-star read for me. It's pretty tame from a heat standpoint, and again does end on a cliffhanger.
May 4, 2016
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.
Don't you just HATE it?!?!?! There you are, merrily reading away, not paying much attention to how much there is left in the book and the end sneaks up on you, like a bloody ninja and leaves you hanging off a sodding cliff!!!
Because that's what happened here. And I am not happy! If I'd have known this was a part works, not a complete story, I'd have turned down the review request, or asked to wait til I had all the parts at my disposal. And I KNOW it says "Shifting Gear, book 1", but hell, I just thought it was a SERIES!!!
There is NO way this can be a complete novel with that ending! Absolutely no freaking way! This is turning into a rant, and I'm sorry, so deep breath, and lets try again.
Despite the fact this is multi person/first person POV, I was enjoying! I liked Mason, and Oliver, together and separately. I liked that they had attraction to each other that wasn't immediately obvious to the other. I even liked what Mason did, or tried to do, to Oliver, by throwing his work contract in his face. Granted, he felt bad, and rightly so, afterwards! If I'd have known that this wasn't a complete novel going in, I would even have liked that bloody ending!
So now, I gotta wait. How long? No idea. Please Mr Malone, let me know how long I gotta wait for Oliver and Mason to have their next book! And, indeed, if said next book is their FINAL book, or their story will not be complete with the next one.
Please??
3 stars, but ONLY because of that ninja ending!
**same worded review will appear on Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble**
Don't you just HATE it?!?!?! There you are, merrily reading away, not paying much attention to how much there is left in the book and the end sneaks up on you, like a bloody ninja and leaves you hanging off a sodding cliff!!!
Because that's what happened here. And I am not happy! If I'd have known this was a part works, not a complete story, I'd have turned down the review request, or asked to wait til I had all the parts at my disposal. And I KNOW it says "Shifting Gear, book 1", but hell, I just thought it was a SERIES!!!
There is NO way this can be a complete novel with that ending! Absolutely no freaking way! This is turning into a rant, and I'm sorry, so deep breath, and lets try again.
Despite the fact this is multi person/first person POV, I was enjoying! I liked Mason, and Oliver, together and separately. I liked that they had attraction to each other that wasn't immediately obvious to the other. I even liked what Mason did, or tried to do, to Oliver, by throwing his work contract in his face. Granted, he felt bad, and rightly so, afterwards! If I'd have known that this wasn't a complete novel going in, I would even have liked that bloody ending!
So now, I gotta wait. How long? No idea. Please Mr Malone, let me know how long I gotta wait for Oliver and Mason to have their next book! And, indeed, if said next book is their FINAL book, or their story will not be complete with the next one.
Please??
3 stars, but ONLY because of that ninja ending!
**same worded review will appear on Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble**
April 4, 2016
This book is a little tricky to review, there were things about it totally enjoyed and a few things that were a miss for me. There is a lot of detail about cars, which to be honest, I know little about so I got a little lost in that part of the story.
I did enjoy getting to know the characters. They got my attention and I definitely wanted to know more about them. There is chemistry there between Mason and Oliver and I do like them together. I think this first book is about the set-up though, as there is little actually between them romantically. Although there is attraction, these two have professional ties as well and just as things look like they may be going somewhere Mason pulls a bonehead move! (Yeah, I pretty much wanted to smack him!)
Overall, I did enjoy this read for the most part. I would have liked some more detail when it came to Mason and Oliver, their development, but I also do feel like I was really starting to get to know them. I am definitely hoping for more in the next book, because yes I HAVE to know what happens!
I did enjoy getting to know the characters. They got my attention and I definitely wanted to know more about them. There is chemistry there between Mason and Oliver and I do like them together. I think this first book is about the set-up though, as there is little actually between them romantically. Although there is attraction, these two have professional ties as well and just as things look like they may be going somewhere Mason pulls a bonehead move! (Yeah, I pretty much wanted to smack him!)
Overall, I did enjoy this read for the most part. I would have liked some more detail when it came to Mason and Oliver, their development, but I also do feel like I was really starting to get to know them. I am definitely hoping for more in the next book, because yes I HAVE to know what happens!
March 15, 2016
I really liked the book but was disappointed to see that the story ends abruptly. A warning would have been nice.
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June 11, 2017cliffhanger
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