Rating: 3.5🌈
I found it hard to rate A Thousand Second Chances (A Dash of Modern Magic Book 1) by Elric Shaw because, while it’s got so much to offer in terms of some of the characters and storylines, it’s also got a main character that presents a challenge to the reader in terms of how much we can expect to like or connect with him.
I don’t think Shaw sees this character in the way he comes across, at least not in the manner he does to this reader.
The story is a LGBTQIA contemporary Ground Hog day tale, one situated in an historic location that’s been the subject of many popular stories, lending itself to a magical atmosphere just by its very tone and history. That’s the famous Mackinac Island on Lake Huron in Michigan. No cars, bikes and carriages pulled by horses only, and the gorgeous Grand Hotel, along with all the many other shops and attractions, this is the perfect place to set a story that needs a magical twist to it.
It starts with a college trip, funded by the parent of one of the students, for a small group to go sightseeing, with an historic view, for the weekend, Professor in charge.
Chris, and his best friend, Quinn, are part of the group. Quinn has been the one who has been the instigator in getting Chris to come along. Chris has issues. He has a mother with boundaries problems, it’s her way or no way. Chris came out to family, friends and teammates at college and it didn’t go well. It’s turned him into a loner with self esteem issues. A former runner without a team. His past is also a part of his current issues, and it’s followed him on this journey.
Also on the trip, Percy, whose father set up the trip as a way for Percy to mourn the loss of his mother for both of them. Percy’s character is intertwined with that of Chris’, they have a long history, first as best friends, then as estranged secret lovers. It’s this last part that’s the main storyline of the book and most of the dramatic moments of the narrative.
Shaw’s two person POV gives the reader each character’s side of their journey to this point in their lives. Chris, who is bitter, out as gay, and fighting with his school, classmates (except for Quinn), with his parents, to be a writer. And the one person who he feels betrayed him is there on the trip, Percy.
Percy, whose story is complicated by the fact that he lost his mother to cancer, is a character I was frustrated by and unable to connect to. Yes, it was sad/heartbreaking his mother had died. That journey to a place where they had been happy as a family was a lovely touch but it was marred by a father, who much like his son, was unable to face his loss, so he pushed his “agenda of mourning “ onto his son. A legacy of cowardice that becomes a theme that the author never really thoroughly explores.
For 98 percent of this book, Perce is unable to deal with his own life fears/others expectations/inner voices, and truly face the devastating effect his actions have had on others. I’m not sure if the author is cognizant that they have written a character and a storyline that is so underwhelming weak in this way.
Perce is so unbelievably reliant upon other people’s perception of him that he has taken his own wants and even promises and dreams and tosses them away. Even if those included people who were counting on him. He did it without communication, without thoughtful process, even afterwards when he knew he must have inflicted great harm. It’s a role he set for himself and a path he continues on for almost the entirety of the book.
He says he knows he’s a coward. Chris waits for some word or actions to show that any of the multiple times or moments have changed the way things are. But while Chris is changing, there nothing but stasis for Perce.
And that’s almost certainly a killer when it comes to caring about a character going forward.
They repeat a day over and over, trying to figure out what they need to do to break the cycle. When the “aha” moment comes, it will surprise no one who the character is who makes the connection and saves the day.
Even at the end, Perce has made no concerted effort to talk in detail to anyone who he’s hurt about the choices or lack thereof that’s he’s made. Or really apologized to those people that he’s damaged. It’s left dangling.
So when it came back to the rating, it based solely on the character of Chris, the growth he underwent, the magic of Mackinac Island, and how well Shaw utilized the Ground Hog day format here that gave it that rating. Read it if you’re a fan of the author , the trope, and the storytelling elements above.
Dash of Modern Magic:
A Thousand Second Chances #1
See You In My Dreams #2
Buy Link:
A Thousand Second Chances (A Dash of Modern Magic Book 1)
Blurb:
The only thing worse than waking up stuck in a time loop is realizing your ex is trapped there with you.
When Chris begrudgingly agrees to accompany his best friend Quinn on a university trip to Michigan’s picturesque Mackinac Island, he expects to suffer through a weekend of sightseeing, school-mandated activities, and entirely too much souvenir shopping. What he doesn’t anticipate is also having to avoid the boy who broke his heart.
Percy used to love his family’s annual excursions to Mackinac Island, but that all changed with the loss of his mother. This school trip is his chance to revisit some of their favorite haunts and honor her memory. However, what’s already guaranteed to be an emotionally charged weekend grows even more fraught when he discovers that he’s not only caught in a time loop, but that the boy he’d walked away from two years ago is his sole companion.
Forced together by the fickle whims of the universe, Chris and Percy must reopen old wounds and confront their painful pasts if they ever hope to escape their infinite Saturday. But even as they grow closer across myriad iterations of the same unending day, they grapple with one terrifying question.
Can the fragile connection they’re rebuilding survive their inevitable return to the real world?
A slow burn, fade-to-black M/M contemporary romance featuring second chance, enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, and a hard-won HEA. Every book in the A Dash of Modern Magic series is standalone and can be read in any order. Perfect for fans of Roan Parrish, Eli Easton, and Emma Scott.
A Thousand Second Chances (A Dash of Modern Magic Book 1)
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 