GReads!: Blog Tour: Shelf Life by Stephanie Lawton

Title: Shelf Life

Author: Stephanie Lawton
Genre: Contemporary New Adult
Publication date: December 3, 2013

*Mature situations and sexual content - recommended for ages 17+*
It’s impossible to focus on college biology when your family believes doomsday is imminent and the government is out to get you.

All Pete Wilson’s ever wanted is to become a veterinarian, but those dreams are going up in flames. Commuting to an urban college and helping his parents with their apocalyptic prepper crap is more than he can handle.

Worse, Pete’s asshole neighbor is stirring up trouble, his family’s stockpile has been destroyed and farm animals are turning up dead.

Lindsey Linger is the tomboy sister of his best friend. Now a sexy spitfire, she and Pete are liable to set the barn ablaze as their romance finally heats up. But she’s hiding a terrible secret, and rural life isn’t all bonfires and hayloft romps. That becomes clear one icy winter night when the survival of everyone Pete loves hangs in the balance.

Can Pete be the hero they need, or will this be the end of the world as he knows it?

Review: Stephanie Lawton is an author who isn't afraid to break the surface and bring the drama when it comes to her characters and the stories they have to tell. In SHELF LIFE we meet a young man who is on the verge of becoming an adult. Pete has grown up on his family's farm, tucked away from the world's harsh edges. From the first few chapters Pete's innocence is shattered and his faith in his family's farm, along with their traditional organic rules, is being tested. Pete's want to venture outside his family's farm and experience life as a normal eighteen year old boy strengthens as he gets a taste of college life. However, his need to help out at home intensifies when his family farm is being sabotaged by someone who he suspects that's always been a threat to him and his family.

Friendship, first love, and strong family values are a forefront in this story. These themes are set against a beautiful backdrop of life on a farm, complete with the blood, sweat, and tears that is poured into this family business. Though I did not feel a connection to Pete and the story he had to tell, I found myself lost in the elements of how hard this family had to work in order to survive. At the end of the day, this story goes beyond the hardships a season may bring to their crops, and digs deep into the turmoils of a family dynamic, holding on to what little they have left.

AMAZON: paperback | kindle

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About Stephanie

Always a misfit, Stephanie Lawton writes twisted romance that tugs the heart strings then punches you in the gut.

She has a tendency to psychoanalyze people, which comes in handy when creating character profiles. She has a fascination with teacher-student relationships, bullies, psychics, doomsday preppers and larger-than-life characters.

Making readers squirm is her greatest pleasure.

Proceed with caution.