Review: Shake It Up

Shake It Up by J. Kenner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Shake It Up is the eighth book in J. Kenner’s Man of the Month series, and it’s yet another winner. I’ve been a fan of this series since book one, yet each additional book sucks me in ever deeper. I find myself desperately awaiting the release of the next book, counting down the days until it appears on my Kindle. Each time a new one appears, I devour it, starting the cycle all over again. Knowing we’re nearing the end of the series is not doing me much good – I’m already starting to panic about what series I can addictively read next. Until that moment comes, however, I will continue to consume these books as though they are more vital than oxygen.

The Man of the Month series is a collection of interconnected romance stories, proving individual stories as a larger story plays out. Each novel features a favourite romance trope, ensuring there is something for everyone. The first book, Down on Me, provided us with the friends-to-lovers trope; the second book, Hold on Tight, provided us with the second chance romance; the third book, Need You Now, provided us with the brother’s best friend trope; the fourth book, Start Me Up, provided us with the one-night stand; the fifth book, Get It On, provided us with the secret baby trope; the sixth book, In Your Eyes, provided us with the bad boy billionaire; the seventh book, Turn Me On, provided us with the friends with benefits trope. With book eight, Shake It Up, we’re given a handful of things – the main one being the May-December romance, the age gap.

Although each book is an individual story with a start and an end, I would recommend reading these books in order. To understand some of the details of the story in full, you need to understand how things came to be throughout the prior books. You’re certainly told, to ensure you have the basic facts to understand the story, but it is not the same as experiencing all that happened – for a bigger picture, read the series in order. Now that we’re over half way through the series, there are a lot of nods to past events and other couples – plus, you start to notice when prior books were making nods towards the events that are now playing out. By no means am I saying you need to go back and read all the books, but I am saying you will appreciate this series much more if you read things in order. Plus, it’s nice to watch how the underlying story is playing out.

With each book in this series you go in with certain expectations – you have an idea of how the trope plays out and you know who is to be the man of the month. Despite this, you’re interested in seeing how the little details play out – and for those following the series, you’re interested in seeing the additional elements added to the overall story. Although we’re never given anything new to the genre, we’re always given something unique to keep us wanting more. In this case, we’re given more through a number of favourite elements being thrown into one story. As I mentioned, we have the age gap – we also have the favourite of female running from her past, police officer being sucked into said past, and the romance that blooms between two unlikely individuals. These things more than make the book worth the read.

In truth, this did make the book a bit predictable in places. I feel as though it was overly easy to work out how certain elements would play out, along with these elements overshadowing the age gap (honestly, I felt as though that disappeared for most of the book only to rear up every so often as a single sentence reminder), yet despite these things I would label Shake It Up one of my favourite books in the series. It is not my favourite in the series, but it is one of the ones I’ll most remember.

Overall, a must read for fans of the Man of the Month series. I’m not crazy excited about the couple in the next book, but I’m positive I’ll love the story. The last few books, however, have me insanely excited.

Book nine, here I come!

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