Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsMeh ... needs more work and an editor.
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2018
I really tried to like this book. I came across this author in one of my book groups on Facebook and was eagerly looking forward to this release. Sadly, I'm wondering what all of these 5-star reviews are. Not to mention they are super-short and not very well constructed, so it leads me to ask myself if they are even legitimate reviews. I feel the author wasted serious word count on things that were inconsequential to the story. And if they DID have meaning, I felt some of it was grossly overdone. I found myself wanting to put the book down so many times but kept hoping it would get better. I see an editor listed in the credits, but I wonder if this editor has any experience in this genre. So much could have been removed to help the story move along. While I feel there was too much "over-explaining", I also feel the author could have used that word count for a stronger story development. It's like he was telling us so much more than showing us, which really ruined the reading experience. I had zero connection to the characters and the storyline. Also, I kept "editing" the book as I read due to grammatical and punctuation errors. Misplaced commas, em dashes, and semicolons are highly distracting when you have to go back and re-read the sentence several times just to try to figure out its true meaning. I strongly suggest the author find a new editor—someone who knows the genre and editing rules well—and try to republish this book. I feel it has serious potential but just really missed the mark. I see the second book is out. I will give it a chance as I do understand first books can be the toughest.
