Review: Skin Deep by Megan D. Martin

Skin Deep
(Eternal Forces, #1)
By: Megan D. Martin
Publisher: Dragonfairy Press
Release Date: April 3, 2014
Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance
Rating:

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What would you do to have the body of your dreams?

Kiera hates being overweight and hides behind thick layers of clothing. One night, her friends present an opportunity that seems impossible to believe. With a single spell, she can have the thin physique she’s always coveted.

But all magic comes with a price: no sex or she’ll revert back to her old body. Kiera accepts the cost. It’s not like she has men lined up at her door. Obeying this one tiny rule isn’t difficult at all—until the night she meets Cain, a were-tiger and a soldier with the Eternal Forces.

When a slew of unexplained murders forces Kiera and Cain together, they’ll have to face the horrors of their pasts. Will Kiera realize she is worth more than her outward appearance? Or will she make the wrong the choice and lose everything—including her life?

When Keira is presented with an opportunity to change her weight, she’s quick to take the plunge. The one condition of keeping her new figure is that she must not have sex. Easy peasy for a chick who hasn’t done the horizontal tango in quite some time. Except on her first night out she manages to catch the eye of Cain who seems to know exactly how to rev her engine. (sorry couldn’t help myself there)

In all seriousness, this is a great story. I’ve never read any of Megan’s work prior to this and I found myself engulfed in the story from the first page. The story starts off with a nightmare that Keira is having, only it’s not really a nightmare but more of a reliving an abusive relationship that she was in. When I say abusive, I mean that she has scars all over from her boyfriend stabbing her. So you add that in with the fact that throughout their entire relationship he was calling her a fat bitch, suffice to say she’s got some serious image issues. So of course when she’s given the chance to change her appearance she goes for it. I don’t think that that made her weak. I don’t know one person who when given a magical spell to look “perfect” in their mind, they wouldn’t jump at the opportunity.

Cain’s character was a bit of a cliche for me. He was your typical shifter womanizer. I mean all it took was one crook of his finger at a woman and she was following him to the club’s bathroom for a bit of fun. So of course when he meets his soul mate, she is reminded of his playboy ways and isn’t convinced that he isn’t just after her because she’s the one that he can’t have. That’s not to say that I didn’t like his characters, because I did. I felt like the poor guy had a major case of blue balls throughout the story because Keira would give him the green light and then at the last second throw out “NO!”… every single time. I mean I don’t have a male’s anatomy, but even I felt the pain.

All in all Megan did an amazing job with this story. She not only had paranormal and suspense but she incorporate two very deep issues. One being what most women and men face, an image issue do to society’s view of “perfect”. The fact is, we are not all super model thin. And to be honest, I watched a Miss Universe pageant once, I was horrified when the model put her hand on her actual hip bone for the cat walk pose. I don’t ever want to be THAT skinny but sure I’d love to shed a few pounds… or 20. She also touches base with domestic abuse and how it alters ones thinking. For so long Keira put up with her boyfriend’s abuse because it was never “that bad”, but the fact of the matter is that “bad” shouldn’t even be in your vocabulary when talking about your treatment from others. With all the elements that Megan brought to the table I definitely think that she’s an author to be reckoned with. She brings a lot to the table and I cannot wait to read more of her work.

“He fell asleep almost instantly, a strange rumble emanating from his chest, barely audible to her ears and vibrating softly against her back. He’s purring. A strong emotion swam through her body, one she refused to identify.”

Megan D. Martin is a multi-published author, mother, student and editor. In her spare time she enjoys decorating her house with strange things that do not match, playing her old school Nintendo Entertainment System, and buying fish for her many fish tanks.

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