2.75 stars--PROTAGONIZED by Shannon Myers is a contemporary, adult, stand alone multi-genre, erotic romantic suspense story line focusing on indie-author Hayden Michaels, and Detective Jake Hopkins-a fictional character brought to life.

Told from first person point of view (Shannon Myers) PROTAGONIZED follows indie-author Hayden Michaels in the wake of potential disaster after killing off the lead character in her ‘Detective Jake Hopkins’ series of novels. As her star rating plummets, and the negative reviews begins to affect her ability to write, a familiar stranger arrives at Hayden’s door, demanding a second chance. Enter Detective Jake Hopkins, the male lead (and cover model) in the heroine’s stories. Demanding a re-write, or at the very least a different direction for his story line character Jake encounters more than he can handle with our story line heroine.

The premise, and potential for PROTAGONIZED to be an entertaining story line got lost in the frenetic pacing, the multi-troped and seemingly scattered direction of the story line content wherein further explanation is required and necessary at a number of junctures. The heroine, an author struggling in the face of an unfavourable release following the death of her leading anti-hero, is often stoned, bubbleheaded, flustered, and caught unaware, as her own life follows a fictional tale of romantic suspense, murder and mystery, come to life.

Sadly, the crazy and frenzied, back and forth, and oft times, confusing direction of the overall story left me discouraged and uncertain. The author’s attempt at humor and comedy felt forced on many occasions, and other times missing the mark completely. I don’t understand all of the 5 star reviews, but to each their own-everyone is entitled to their own opinion- I am just not sure if we read the same story. I had a difficult time connecting to the heroine, her plight, or anything that mattered.




GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2743464750


AMAZON. COM: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1SD6GDE7G5C05/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07L2HP35M


BOOKBUB: posted

"Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review."

Loved this book very much. It had just enough sweet, sexy romance and the storyline was great! I highly recommend!

Protagonized is the first book in a new series by Shannon Myers and what a great first book. I really enjoyed this amazing read, with its fabulous characters and refreshing storyline, I will definitely be looking to read more and recommending to others.

I grabbed this book as soon as I read the blurb - it seemed very interesting and it just grabbed my notice.

And I enjoyed it. The hero once he appeared in "real life" seemed different to when he was a "fictional" character to me.

I really liked the heroine, I liked the hero, the story was original. It was an entertaining, funny lighthearted read.

But as a person who gets twitchy when timelines don't add up in books, or things are left unexplained, this book has driven me mad!

No explanation is given AT ALL to just how Jake appeared in real life, along with his car, and seemingly references and legal status given his ability to get a job.

So while I enjoyed it, liked the characters, Max being a firm favourite I am left scratching my head!!

I liked that this was a different concept, however I didn't like it, I didnt like the characters and couldn't connect to them, and honestly I just could not connect with the book. I started and stopped and started again, and finally just couldn't do it..Sorry folks hate giving bad reviews or soso ones but it was not for me..

Fanciful? Perhaps. Original plot? Certainly. Entertaining? Absolutely! Some may scoff at the premise of this story, but I found it to be quite clever and entertaining. Unless particular attention was paid throughout the entire story, much of the story’s nuances would be lost and/or overlooked...thereby leaving much confusion as to the plausibility of the ending.

I found the characters, in their infinitely quirky personalities, to be charming and often times endearing. The dialog was quick and sharp...and as mentioned above, if the minutiae of the author’s intentions for her characters were not paid strict attention to, the story could get away from you and leave you with what some reviewers described as “unsatisfied”, or “confused” with the ending...and the moments leading up to it. The banter was at its snarky best when Jake and Hayden were at odds over plot points...these were also at the same time, some of the most hilarious moments as well.

All in all, I’m looking forward to the continuation of the uniqueness of this series Jessa’s story.

This ARC book was complimentary, provided by the Publisher and NetGalley. I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

Protagonized by Shannon Myers a five-star read you will make you come to life. This was one of my most anticipated reads of this year and I’m glad to say that it will be one of the best. The moment this one dropped on my kindle, I had to start, and I was so hooked I decided that sleep is for wimps. The whole premise of this book was one that I was so excited about, and it done so well. Hayden is someone who’s live you will get sucked into and at times she annoyed me, but I didn’t care I needed to get deeper into her story, I will even own up to the fact I adore Bootsy and I’m so much more a dog person than cat. Detective Jake Hopkins is a character that will make you scream and chuckle in the same moment. I can’t wait to read more from this series.

Protagonized by Shannon Myers

Not what I was expecting and not for me...I liked the premise of fictional characters coming to life but I didn’t relate will to Hayden or Jake or their interactions and pretty much didn’t get “it” at all. I mean, I could follow the story, kind of, but it was silly and all over the place and not very deep and… Anyway, I almost didn’t finish it but decided to skim to see what would happen and though there seems to be a HEA I am still having trouble figuring out how the plane of humans and fictional characters manages to intersect and interact...guess one has to suspend believe completely. I am sure there are some readers who love this book and believer there is a reader for every book...that said...I would like to thank NetGalley and the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.

Low stars...1-3 Stars...depending on the review site

DNF @ 40%. I tried, I really did, but I disliked Hayden so much that I had absolutely no interest in the story. And so much of her character was told, instead of shown. Just didn't work for me at all.

4 1/2 Fictional Stars!

Hayden is a mystery writer who kills off the main character (Detective Jake Hopkins) in her newest series and the readers are angry ... but not as angry as the detective himself! When he knocks on Hayden's door and demands that she rewrites the book and NOT kill him off, Hayden is taken aback and thinks she's going crazy. But it doesn't take her long to fall for her own fictional character.

This book is so different! I thought ... it's gonna be so far fetched, how is this gonna work? But I was pleasantly surprised. This book had me laughing out loud and rooting for Hayden and Jake to get together. Hayden was just so cute and always tried to please everyone ... but herself. And Jake ... who wouldn't want him to be real? Talk about character's coming to life on the pages of a book!

I received an ARC courtesy of the author through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Protagonized was an innovative romantic comedy with a crazy unique concept, and I really enjoyed reading it. While the fictional-character-come-to-life trope isn't completely unheard of, this book was unlike anything else I've read. This novel was super funny, and the mystery kept me guessing. Myers managed to keep me intrigued throughout the entire book, and left me wanting more.

I really enjoyed the character of Detective Jake Hopkins, finding him to be interesting as well as likeable (if a bit begrudgingly so). I will admit to not loving the main character, finding her a bit too ditsy at times, but felt the secondary characters made up for my vague dislike of her.

Overall, Protagonized was a fun read, and I really look forward to reading more from the author. Myers can WRITE, and I'm eager to see what else she can do.

3.5/5

1.5 Stars

Protagonized straddles the line of many genres: fantasy, comedy, romance, suspense. But the blurb is a little misleading. It seemed like a quirky fantasy mystery: an author kills off the detective in her books and suddenly he appears in real life at her door and helps saves her from danger. I thought it would be a lot more entertaining and funny but many times it fell into the ditzy, silly, eye-roll comedy instead. The story has no real direction with tropes from every genre popping up and then going away just as quickly.

The main character, Hayden, is the most annoying person and her personality traits keep changing. At 30% in we find she's an empath but this is the first time we even see a hint of it and it wasn't shown, but told. I didn't mind Detective Jack Hopkins so much; he had a few good scenes and lines, but not enough for me to forgive the main character's flaws.

The thing is, I think Myers can actually write, I just felt that this story missed it mark.

I loved the unique concept behind this story - the idea of having characters pop out of stories and enter real life is both exciting and a little scary. Shannon Myers pulled off a subtle worldbuilding within this book, where the characters writers create have their own separate reality, and they can come and go as they please. I found it funny how she created a retirement home for killed off characters, which is full of George R. R. Martin protagonists and a whole lot of villains. So much creativity packed into this book!

The end is nigh for Detective Jake Hopkins, successful detective and womanizer. His creator, Hayden Michaels, has had enough writing about a character who disgusts her but her fans swoon over. She wants to write cozy mysteries, with zero sex and a strong female lead, so she kills off Jake at the end of her latest book. Problem is, this really makes her fans angry. And no one is more angry than Jake, who shows up on Hayden's doorstep with a pair of handcuffs and a demand for a better ending, preferably one where he lives. Hayden at first refuses, but as strange things start happening and Jake takes over as her protector, she realizes there might be more to her character than she thought. Sure, she created him...but what if everything she knew about him was a lie?

As I said before, I loved the premise of this book! The idea that characters come to life is what drew me to this book in an instant, and it kept my attention throughout the story. While I didn't feel much of a connection to Hayden, I really liked Jake Hopkins and over time I grew to like Hayden too. She was super quirky, and Jake helped keep her feet on the ground. And at the same time, Jake was super full of himself at first, and Hayden knocked him down a few pegs. They were pretty immature at times, and that was the only reason I wasn't entirely onboard with their relationship initially, but I saw how they complemented each other as they spent more time together. I was worried how the story would wrap up, since Jake was fictional, but it was a great happy ending.

Since this is the first in the series, I'm excited to see where Shannon Myers takes it from here. So many possibilities!

**I received a free copy via Net Galley and this is my honest review.**