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sarai0410 's review for:
How does it feel?
by Jeneane O'Riley
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Welp...it was something that's for sure. Before I get to far ahead of myself, I think the author had an interesting concept in mind for the plot and the characters. However, the execution was unbelievably lacking - I almost DNFed this 4+ times before I finally decided to power through it for a buddy read.
So my biggest issues...
Writing: This needed to go through a minimum of 5 more edits before being published. The writing was choppy throughout with unclear scene switches, characters falling out of conversation seemingly out of nowhere, inconsistent formatting, and a slew of other issues. One of my biggest pet peeves in dual-POV is the re-writing of a scene from a different point of view when it lends absolutely nothing to the story - it feels very bad fanficy. Of course the author choose to do this in the one scene that should have been kept a mystery, it legitimately could have been used later in the story or in the sequel as a cool reveal. But no. We find about what happens immediately, losing any kind of mystery and suspense.
Characters: How many times can you read the same description of a character or a repeated phrase from them before you want to smack them through a screen? Damn this tested my limits on that. It truly felt like the author wanted to make sure you understood that the one thing semi interesting about the character was super super important but also thought the reader was an idiot so needed to spell it out over 355 pages. The characters were bland, their relationship completely unbelievable and forced, and the MMC's personality switch towards the end...what was that??
Plot: Again, I think the author had a decently interesting plot concept for this, but the writing and characters lent nothing to it actually being good. While predictable, the twist and ending were decent enough but I found that I couldn't care about anything other than being done with the book by then because the characters did nothing but make me irritated and the writing was making my head hurt.
This had/has potential. I see where the author wanted to go with it, but it felt rushed, confusing, and ultimately disappointing.
So my biggest issues...
Writing: This needed to go through a minimum of 5 more edits before being published. The writing was choppy throughout with unclear scene switches, characters falling out of conversation seemingly out of nowhere, inconsistent formatting, and a slew of other issues. One of my biggest pet peeves in dual-POV is the re-writing of a scene from a different point of view when it lends absolutely nothing to the story - it feels very bad fanficy. Of course the author choose to do this in the one scene that should have been kept a mystery, it legitimately could have been used later in the story or in the sequel as a cool reveal. But no. We find about what happens immediately, losing any kind of mystery and suspense.
Characters: How many times can you read the same description of a character or a repeated phrase from them before you want to smack them through a screen? Damn this tested my limits on that. It truly felt like the author wanted to make sure you understood that the one thing semi interesting about the character was super super important but also thought the reader was an idiot so needed to spell it out over 355 pages. The characters were bland, their relationship completely unbelievable and forced, and the MMC's personality switch towards the end...what was that??
Plot: Again, I think the author had a decently interesting plot concept for this, but the writing and characters lent nothing to it actually being good. While predictable, the twist and ending were decent enough but I found that I couldn't care about anything other than being done with the book by then because the characters did nothing but make me irritated and the writing was making my head hurt.
This had/has potential. I see where the author wanted to go with it, but it felt rushed, confusing, and ultimately disappointing.