*WARNING: Review may contain minor spoilers.* A Chance for Charity by S.L. Baum has been on and off my Amazon Wish List more times than I can count. One moment I was positive that I wanted it than the next not so sure. Ultimately I decided that I would borrow now and buy later which means that this review is based off of the Kindle version of the novel lent to me by a member of a lending site.
Goodreads Summary: "A new family has just arrived in the isolated mountain town of Telluride, Colorado. Welcome the Johnstons – Jason (a doctor), Rachel (a designer), and their niece Emily (a current High School Senior). Emily has lived the life of a quiet loner in the past, trying to go unnoticed. But with Telluride being such a small and welcoming town, she finds a group of friends at school almost immediately. When Emily meets Link (another new transplant in town) her world turns upside down. She doesn’t understand why she feels a magnetic pull toward him, or why she unknowingly lets her guard down around him. Link is just as confused by his own need to be with her. Emily knows she is playing with fire. She should be doing whatever she can to keep herself isolated, to keep Link from getting too close. Danger has a way of finding Emily’s family – that is what keeps them on the move. They arrive in a new town every few years – it is safer that way. Because… Emily isn’t really Emily… her real name is Charity – and Charity has an even bigger secret. Charity and her family are not like other people, they have “skills” that mere mortals cannot begin to comprehend. Before long, Charity is struggling with the reality that her two lives are coming closer to each other with each passing day. Soon Link will find himself wrapped in a supernatural world that he never knew existed – and discover that mortals are not the only beings that walk this earth."
I'll admit that I was concerned with the "skills" that the summary noted as in my experience authors either do something really amazing with said skills or make them completely unrealistic or over powerful and I lose interest. This was the primary reason I was hesitant to purchase my own copy of this book and instead opted to borrow it.
My initial thoughts are that it's a fun, quick read. I really enjoyed learning about the histories of the different character, Rachel and Jason in particular though Emily/Charity was interesting as well. The romance was sweet between all of the couples especially Emily/Charity and Link. They're that couple so in tune with one another and adorable that you would claim to hate them and secretly hope that you would have the same thing someday.
One thing that bothered me about this book, and this could just be me, was that it was mentioned that not only witches but vampires also existed. And don't forget the Shape-Shifters! This knowledge jarred me out of the story itself for a few moments. Logically I know that if such a thing as Immortals could exist than it isn't too unlikely that there could be other races such as witches and vampires. However at the time I was so invested into the world of the Immortals to find out that these other races existed, and might have descended from the Immortals threw me off. Again it could just be me but they felt superfluous.
Another minor thing was when they were texting they used actual text speech. Which is just a pet peeve of mine so it shouldn't bother anyone else, just thought I'd mention it in the interest of full disclosure.
Overall I liked the story and I'm giving A Chance for Charity by S.L. Baum three out of five stars. It was good read, fun to pass some time with but ultimately there was something missing for me. At only ninety-nine cents for the Kindle edition I think it's worth it but I wouldn't pay ten dollars for a paperback copy. Keep in mind that even if you don't have a Kindle you can download it to your computer/laptop/tablet/smart-phone and read it there. :)
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