David R. Slayton – OneReadingNurse.com

Trailer Park Trickster by David R. Slayton (Audiobook Review)

I’m off on my trip to the UK and finished listening to Trailer Park Trickster during the first of two flights!

Here’s what you need to know if you haven’t read the first book in the series yet, or are wondering about continuing:

It’s not a standalone
I won’t do spoilers in this review
There’s less “romantic” content (thankfully)
I reviewed book one recently, and you can click on White Trash Warlock to read that

Bookish Quick Facts:

Title: Trailer Park Trickster
Series: Adam Binder, #2
Author: David R. Slayton
Publisher & Release: Blackstone Publishing, 2021
Length: 285 pages
Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐✨

A quick note on the audio: from the same publisher, 8 hours & 42 minutes long, once again narrated by Michael David Axtell.

Here’s the synopsis via Am*zon :

They are my harvest, and I will reap them all.

Returning to Guthrie, Oklahoma, for the funeral of {spoiler omitted}, Adam Binder once again finds himself in the path of deadly magic when a dark druid begins to prey on members of Adam’s family. It all seems linked to the death of Adam’s father many years ago – a man who may have somehow survived as a warlock.

Watched by the police, separated from the man who may be the love of his life, compelled to seek the truth about his connection to the druid, Adam learns more about his family and its troubled history than he ever bargained for, and finally comes face-to-face with the warlock he has vowed to stop.

Meanwhile, beyond the Veil of the mortal world, Argent the Queen of Swords and Vic the Reaper undertake a dangerous journey to a secret meeting of the Council of Races…where the sea elves are calling for the destruction of humanity.

My thoughts:

Trailer Park Trickster picks up a few weeks or months after White Trash Warlock, with a few brief updates to let us know what happened in-between books.

Adam is off to his hometown after a mysterious visit from Sue’s cat, and the family (plus Vic and Argent) decides to follow to show their respects. Obviously mayhem ensues from there, and we have two separate adventures (see synopsis).

I liked Vic’s point of view more than Bobby’s in the prior book. The Adam & Vic dynamic didn’t do it for me though; there’s not enough on page chemistry for me to believe that they’re actually in love with each other. This isn’t helped by the fact that they hardly have any time together in book two here. That said though, there’s a lot less “romantic content” which to me is a blessed relief.

I liked the plot and story more than book one. There was less action though. The other thing is that there was a huge gap in the bonding, attitudes, and maturity levels of the characters and I would have liked to see a *tiny* but more of that onpage.

That all aside though, there are a few new characters and magics and tons of sarcastic banter to keep things interesting. It got a lot darker than I thought it would!

I’m definitely enjoying this series more because of the audiobook. On page, I’m not sure how much I’d love the series but Michael David Axtell is a gem and I love the voices he does for everyone.

My favorite parts of the whole book include those with Spider the cat, and one scene where Vic’s mom gives some phenomenal relationship advice about forgiving and moving on. Overall, I like that these books aren’t super long and I still feel like I got decent progress from the overall story arc.

I’m a little bummed at lack of access to the audio for book three, so I’m keeping an eye out for it but the review may be delayed.

Thanks for checking out my book & audiobook review of Trailer Park Trickster by David R Slayton! I obtained my copy through my audible membership and as always, all thoughts are my own ♥️

White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton (Audiobook Review)

This was 100% a Bookstagram made me do it read. I had a lot of friends who read and enjoyed the series it so when I saw the first two books free on Audible, I didn’t want to miss out.

Bookish quick facts:

Title: White Track Warlock
Series: Adam Binder #1
Author: David R. Slayton
Publisher & Release: Blackstone Publishing, 2020
Length: 320 pages
Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ for urban fantasy fans (I get into content a bit below)

The audio is narrated by Michael David Axtell and he rocks. It is 9 hours and 19 minutes run time thru Blackstone Audio, 2020, and I recommend that route if you like audio!

Here’s the synopsis from Am*zon:

The complex world-building, well-shaded depictions of poverty, emotional nuance, and thrilling action sequences make this stand out. Slayton is sure to win plenty of fans.”–Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Not all magicians go to schools of magic.

Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. But for much of Adam’s life, that power has been a curse, hindering friendships, worrying his backwoods family, and fueling his abusive father’s rage.

Years after his brother, Bobby, had him committed to a psych ward, Adam is ready to come to grips with who he is, to live his life on his terms, to find love, and maybe even use his magic to do some good. Hoping to track down his missing father, Adam follows a trail of cursed artifacts to Denver, only to discover that an ancient and horrifying spirit has taken possession of Bobby’s wife.

It isn’t long before Adam becomes the spirit’s next target. To survive the confrontation, save his sister-in-law, and learn the truth about his father, Adam will have to risk bargaining with very dangerous beings … including his first love.

My thoughts:

Overall, I agree with the starred review snippet in the synopsis but I have a few mixed feelings. White Trash Warlock is a very good urban fantasy with a great narrator and surprisingly serious tone, but I absolutely have no interest in reading so much (fairly tame, pretty vanilla) m/m content. I enjoyed the book quite a bit either way.

I am not a huge urban fantasy fan but have found myself reading a lot of it recently, and this is one of the better woven ones that I’ve found. The plot is interesting. There’s a spirit hovering over Denver, wreaking all sorts of magical devastation, and the family needs Adam’s help to fix things. It’s obviously a lot more complicated than that and we see everything from leprechauns to elves to Death herself on the search for answers. There’s good action and a sad but real examination of alcoholism, child abuse, and poverty. There’s a difference between poor and white trash and I’m glad he included this within! I loved seeing how the brothers started to work through their past, just, I can’t even imagine after that kind of childhood.

I liked the magic, both big and small. It wasn’t explained so much as just a part of the world. The magic ties into the various magical races a lot which I also liked. The characters are good too, Vic and Jesse are absolute treasures. I liked those two more than Adam and Robert, although I thought all of the characters are well done and I want them ALL to succeed and stop getting hurt! They have a lot to work through and show tons of development & acceptance as the book goes.

Plus there are all the twists and action you’d expect from an urban fantasy. I’d recommend this one for sure if you can do serious content considerations for child abuse, family dysfunction, and m/m romance.

And as a quick note on the audiobook, Michael David Axtell is a fantastic narrator! He did great voices and showed a lot of great emotional inflection, as well as making action scenes exciting and sad things, well, sad. I was impressed overall and especially really liked his voicing of Vic and Jesse.

TLDR: this is definitely one I’d recommend if you like or are on the fence about urban fantasy and supernatural books

Thanks for checking out my audiobook & book review of White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton! I got the audiobook included through my audible membership and as always, all opinions are my own ♥️