Review: Prophecy - The Fulfillment by Deborah A. Jaeger

I got this book, Prophecy - The Fulfillment by Deborah A. Jaeger through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program.

This book suffers from a tragic lack of decent editing. I was so distracted by odd phrases, typos, and the exorbitant number of adverbs that I had to re-read the first few chapters. Heck, one of the pitch sentences on the back cover read, “An urgent need to follow it's covenant.” Shameful.

Granted, I’m also a writer and I can’t turn off my editor-vision when I’m reviewing something. But the incorrect phrasing would have distracted me anyway. For example, “…worked himself to the brink of exhaustion physically” (should be “…worked himself to the brink of physical exhaustion.”). Or, “Unable to think of anything else to say, the gift touched him deeply" (I’ve never known my gifts to think, speak, or rub my shoulders, but perhaps I’m doing it wrong.).

And if I have to cull my adverbs, then everyone else does, too. One section toward the beginning of the book almost made my head explode. In the course of one paragraph the character does things finally, tenderly, tightly, gently, sharply, bloodily, and quickly. I had to set the book down for the day.

Mid-scene POV shifts, an abundance of qualifiers (the favorite seemed to be “Listen”), and—and this may be a purely style-related complaint—I found the contraction use stilted and inconsistent. It kept jumping out at me throughout the entire book. It’s hard to explain. “What is the way to the store?” “I do not know what is wrong.” “He does not know what is going on and I am nervous,” etc. It just didn’t seem like realistic dialogue. I tried to ignore it but it took me out of the story ALL THE TIME. If there were no contractions at all, it would’ve been better. Some people don’t believe in them, and that’s fine, but the inconsistency made it worse. “I’m here because I am having dreams and I have not been able to tell what they are about.” People don’t talk like that. Am I crazy?

Moving on. The characters started out too idealistic. Everything in their lives went exactly as they wished, forever and ever, amen. I could almost see them skipping through the meadows, tossing flower petals into the air as they told tales of their perfect lives. Jillian’s mother says this about her marriage: “in all their married life, she’d never been bored.” Really? Never? Every single moment of the last 20 years was a paradigm of joy and adventure? Never a tedious night in front of the television? Never a sex-withholding, I-can-last-longer-than-you, silent-treatment-filled weekend? I don’t think so. I got that the author wanted to highlight the difference between the veritable utopia of their lives before their darling daughter got pregnant and the chaos it degenerated into afterward, but I didn’t believe it.

I also didn’t get why everyone flocked to the hospital so fast. People may take a 19-hour bus ride to look at a piece of toast with the imprint of the Virgin Mary on it, but they don’t want to just look at the house where the person who ate the toast lives. So why gather around to stare at a hospital when no one knows what (if anything) happened? Countless people overwhelm the city before the first news report. And even then, where was the skepticism? Why didn’t anyone, at least at first, think or even suggest that the doctor who was “miraculously healed” just hadn’t been that badly injured, or perhaps he’d spilled blood on his hand and had never been hurt in the first place? Without those X-rays showing otherwise, which nobody saw except the doctors, the whole “miracle” thing is nothing but hearsay. But no. The whole world jumps straight to “miracle.” I don’t buy it.

But let’s just say throngs of desperate miracle-seekers did surround the hospital. Would they really lock sick and dying people outside behind police barricades in the middle of a heat wave? It’s a HOSPITAL. And that press statement? REALLY? The hospital representative essentially blurts out, “Yes! We witnessed a miracle healing!” and goes back inside. No one does that. It creates hysteria and attracts crazy people. Heck, Obama took his time announcing that bin Laden was dead, and we already knew about it.

The “telling” really got to me, too. Characters said things like, “I’m scared and confused,” and “I’m just so tired and worried.” It reminded me of that episode of Futurama where the Robot Devil says, “You can’t have your characters just come right out and SAY how they feel. That makes me angry!”

I had a tough time powering through this one, what with the ridiculous number of punctuation errors and the weird lack of contractions. The story itself was ok. It got a lot better about halfway through, when Jackson almost cuts his arm off to experiment with the miraculous amniotic fluid, then injects more of it into random patients. That was pretty cool. But overall this book lacks subtlety, suffers from too much “telling,” and the editing was just abysmal. I give this two stars, tops, and a “pleh.”

Prophecy – The Fulfillment – by Deborah A. Jaeger

· ISBN-13: 978-0982889107
· ISBN-10: 0982889100

Publisher: Hampton House Publishing; First edition (June 14, 2011
Publisher's page

Amazon page for Prophecy - The Fulfillment by Deborah A. Jaeger

Book Review: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a good epic fantasy. The operative word being “enjoyed.” 

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson may have been over 1,000 pages long, but it didn’t read like it. He’s one of my favorite authors – I’ve read Elantris 7 or 8 times by itself – and I’d been looking forward to this book for some time. 

The main storyline revolves around the war sparked when the black-and-red-skinned Parshendi assassinated the Alethi King. Ten years after the war began, it has devolved into a competition between the Alethi princes for the gemstone hearts of the giant crustacean-like monsters who inhabit the battlefield. Only one of the princes, the Brightlord Dalinar Kholin, sees a problem with this, but his nightmarish visions of the end of the world have alienated him from his peers and made his judgment suspect.

The plot was incredible complex, mostly following the stories of several main characters: a former soldier turned slave, forced to labor under the infamous “bridge crews” who are essentially human shields to protect the real warriors from enemy arrows. A thief masquerading as a scholar to steal a priceless magical artifact and save her family. A paranoid young king who sees assassination plots in even his most trusted of advisors. An enslaved assassin with the ability to manipulate the forces of gravity who despises the murderous acts his masters force him to commit. A spren – largely unintelligent, fairy-like creatures attuned to very specific elements like pain, wind, or glory – who is becoming sentient as the human she is fixated with grows back his soul.

All the worldbuilding is detailed and very well done, but it does make for a somewhat slow start. So if you mean to dive into it, bring your patience.There was a good amount of repetition throughout the book; for example, I lost count of how many times Sanderson repeated that the Parshendi were not the same creatures as the enslaved parshmen, even though they looked exactly alike. I kept waiting for that to become relevant, but it didn’t – at least in this book. There isn’t much action for it being 1,000 pages long, and, as it is apparently the first novel in an anticipated 10-novel-long series, nothing is really wrapped up by the end. It’s a thousand pages long, but at the end you feel like nothing’s happened yet. 

That being said, it was brilliantly written and engaging, I cared about all of the characters, and it read very quickly despite its length. I’m definitely going to read the next one even if it’s 2,000 pages. The world itself was staggering in scope but not so unfamiliar that it alienated the reader; humans are humans and dogs are dogs, although most other life forms seem to be giant crustaceans (which is actually kinda cool; the last time I encountered any kind of giant crustacean was in Stephen King’s The Drawing of the Three).  Each nation was well-crafted and explored, and each vastly different that the last.  One nation is plagued by 'Highstorms' so powerful that they whip building-sized boulders through the air likfe confetti and the plants themselves have learned how to move out of the way.  Another is filled with creatures who consider all forms of stone holy.

I could go on for a long, long time about this book.   But if you enjoy epic fantasy, you’ll enjoy this.  I really liked it, and I'll probably read it again just before the next book comes out.

Amazon page for The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Publisher’s Info for The Way of Kings:

· Hardcover: 1008 pages
· Publisher: Tor Books (August 31, 2010) 
· ISBN-10: 0765326353
· ISBN-13: 978-0765326355

Book Review: Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

I finished this up a few weeks ago, but I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to write a review of it until now.

Full Dark, No Stars is Stephen King’s latest collection of novellas. And boy, is it dark. Not quite as much of the supernatural as I’d like, but then, I tend to prefer the fantasy & sci-fi stuff. Still, it was a really enjoyable book, just like Under the Dome and Duma Key before it, so I think it’s safe to say that Mr. King is out of his writing funk (thank you, dear Lord in Heaven!).

1922 is the story of a pre-depression farmer who talks his son into helping him kill his wife to prevent her from selling their farmland to a hog farm. The business is messier than anticipated, and the son has second thoughts almost immediately. Then things begin to go wrong. You’re never quite sure if the murderous duo are being haunted or have simply gone mad. The end was a little slow, and the story has definitely been told before, but it was dark and gruesome and chock full of rats.

Big Driver was straight horror, nothing supernatural about it, although it did inspire me to write my little rant a few weeks ago about how everyone should know how to change a tire. When Tess, a cozy mystery writer coming back from a speaking engagement, takes a shortcut through a small town, she finds a trap laid in the form of nail-riddled boards scattered all over the road. Unable to change her own dang tire, she waits helplessly until a seven-foot-tall psychopath comes along. He taunts her, rapes her, and leaves her for dead in a culvert alongside his other victims. But Tess survives, and she emerges from the ditch a different woman with revenge on her mind.

Fair Extension is a tale we’ve all heard before; Dave is dying of cancer and makes a deal with the devil for a little more time on Earth. But the price for this ‘fair extension’ is much different this time. Dave must trade his place with someone else, so he chooses to sacrifice his best friend, who’s always had better luck than Dave. The rest of the story chronicles Dave’s advancement and his friend’s slow spiral into hell on Earth. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this tale is Dave’s satisfaction at the deal he struck.

A Good Marriage felt a lot like a certain television show I enjoy quite a bit. I won’t say which one, since that would be giving a little too much away. It’s the tale of an average housewife with an average marriage who suddenly finds something terrible about her husband of 27 years. This dark and horrifying secret haunts her as she considers what will happen to her and her family if this information were to get out, and in the end she makes a somewhat surprising decision.

As I said, this was a dark book. At the end Stephen King even quasi-apologizes for how bleak the tales are, and promises something a little brighter next time. I, however, really enjoy a good dark tale every once in awhile. If you like horror, if you’re in the mood for something a little dreary and twisted, by all means pick up Full Dark, No Stars. It’s nice to see him writing good stuff again after spitting out literary abominations like Lisey’s Story and Cell. 

Amazon page for Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

Publisher's Information:

· Hardcover: 384 pages
· Publisher: Scribner; First Edition (November 9, 2010)
· ISBN-10: 1439192561
· ISBN-13: 978-1439192566

Review: The Inheritance: And Other Stories by Robin Hobb & Megan Lindholm

I’m not usually much of a short story reader. I like my novels. But I snagged an Early Reviewer copy of Robin Hobb’s The Inheritance: And Other Stories, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE her Mad Ship Trilogy and the Dragon Wilds Chronicles, so I was actually kind of excited to win this one. I’d never read anything by her alter ego, Megan Lindholm. I was dubious at first about that portion of the book, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Great stuff. Solid Science fiction and fantasy, excellent characters and storylines. It was a real pleasure to read. Each short story is prefaced by a personal note from the author describing why/how she wrote each piece. It was a nice little peek into her brain.

A Touch of Lavender – I thought this was a literary piece at first and was unhappy, but it turned out to be an intriguing sci-fi story about an alien named Lavender who falls in love with a human woman. The story is told from her son’s point of view, who watches in horror as his mother becomes addicted to the slimy excretion of the alien’s skin and falls into the all-too-familiar downward spiral of a junkie’s life.

Silver Lady and the Fortyish Man – Not my favorite, but short and sweet. A writer who has given up on her dreams finds mystery and romance with a customer who claims to be a magician, but keeps vanishing at inopportune moments – often leaving her to pay the check.

Cut – This one gave me the heebie-jeebies. A somewhat morbid and perhaps a tad too realistic tale set in the not-too-distant future. It’s about a teenage girl who wants to free herself from the ‘bondage’ of sexual desire, and her mother and grandmother’s desperate attempts to keep her from mutilating herself.

The Fifth Squashed Cat – A hitchhiker shows two women how a special bone from the fifth dead cat you pass in the road contains a special kind of magic…for some.

Strays – A strange young woman escapes into a hoard of stray cats to escape her abusive family life.

Finis – A vampire story, with a bit of a twist. Better than some I’ve read, and short enough to keep me from becoming impatient from yet another vampiric tale.

Drum Machine – One of the more forgettable stories in the book, in my opinion. I’m honestly having trouble remembering what it was about. Something to do with standardizing standardization. Everyone’s the same, all the time, even the music.

Homecoming – Yay, Rain Wilds! This was my favorite story in the book. A peek into the history of Bingtown. This is the tale of the very first settlers in the Rain Wilds and their struggle to fend off the madness enough to survive in that harsh and magical land.

The Inheritance – Title story. A grandmother dies, leaving her granddaughter with nothing – except a wizardwood pendant, which comes to life and helps the cast-out grandchild of a Bingtown Trader reclaim what is hers.

Cats Meat – Yet another cat story, although it was a good one. The father of Rosemary’s son returns after abandoning them three years ago. He demands access to the home and the life she has built up from nothing but a run-down cottage. He threatens Rosemary and her son, and their only hope for salvation comes in the form of the disgruntled cat who shares their home.

Altogether, it was a delightful anthology. Very original, and I loved getting to revisit the worlds she’s created. I may have to re-read the Liveship trilogy again, even though I have a stack of new books a mile high awaiting my attention.

My only complaint is that there were too many cat stories, and that most of them involved dead or dying cats. I’m not a cat person anyway. I don’t think they’re smarter than people or dogs, they can’t solve mysteries, and they’re neither sensitive nor special. Take them away, thank you. That being said, I also don’t enjoy reading about them being tortured, boiled, poisoned, or eaten.

I hope she writes some more Rain Wilds books soon.

Amazon page for The Inheritance: And Other Stories

The Inheritance: And Other Stories by Robin Hobb & Megan Lindholm
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Harper Voyager; Original edition (May 3, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061561649
ISBN-13: 978-0061561641



**Oh, also; for all my blogging buddies, I have created a coupon should any of you feel the urge to spend some time at My Etsy shop.  Use the code WritingGods  (no spaces) for 15% off. :D **

Book Review - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:  Dreadfully Ever After - by Steve Hockensmith

The last book in the mash-up trilogy Pride and Prejudice and Zombies starts out a few years into Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam’s marriage.  As a married lady, Elizabeth is no longer allowed to carry a sword, although her hand-to-hand combat skills are just as deadly as ever.  During a walk home from her sister’s house, Elizabeth reluctantly confesses to her husband that she finds the thought of motherhood somewhat… unappealing.  In his shock, Mr. Darcy allows an unmentionable to get too close, and it bites him.  Elizabeth knows she must kill her husband, but cannot bring herself to do it.  Instead, she seeks the aid of the legendary Lady Catherine.  Lady Catherine reveals that she knows how to cure her nephew – but the price for her assistance is high.  Perhaps too high.  Elizabeth boldly agrees to whatever terms the Lady Catherine requires, which may cure her husband but kill her marriage.  She sets out or London, her family at her side, to slay zombies, fight off ninjas, and seek the cure before Darcy is lost forever.

As with the previous two books, Dreadfully Ever After was action-packed, fast-paced, and full of humor, suspense, and even a few surprises.  I’m not a big reader of the ‘classics’ (your gasps of horror inserted here), so these horror/regency/classics mash-ups are perfect for me.  Modern apocalyptic twists make stuff I probably should have read a long time ago more appealing. 

This one takes itself a little more seriously than the first two books, but it still has the wit and humor I’ve come to expect from the series.  It was nice to see Mary and Kitty enjoy some limelight, although I did miss spending more time with Elizabeth and Darcy, who are separated for the majority of the novel.  The middle of the book was a bit draggy, with more angst and less action than I’d like, but the love scenes are still interrupted by frequent bouts of violence and entrails flying through the air. 

If you enjoyed the first two in this series, you’ll enjoy this book. 

4 out of 5 stars

·         Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After by Steve Hockensmith

·         Paperback: 320 pages

·         Publisher: Quirk Books  

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-13: 978-1594745027

·         ISBN-10: 1594745021

Amazon Page for Dreadfully Ever After

Book Review - Dexter is Delicious

The newest book in the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay is called Dexter is Delicious. Best. Dexter. Title. Ever. Why? Because this book’s about cannibals. Fantastic.

I think this is perhaps the best book so far in the Dexter series. It was humorous and witty, and gave us a rare glimpse into the psyche of a serial killer who has inconveniently grown a soul. The book begins just after the birth of Dexter’s daughter, who sparks feelings of real love in his heart for the first time. In his zeal to protect his bundle of joy from monsters like himself, Dexter swears off killing forever. His Dark Passenger finds this sudden change of heart first amusing, then annoying, and in a fit of pique abandons Dexter just when he needs his help the most.

A cannibalistic coven has taken up residence in Miami, led by the son of a wealthy and powerful government official. Dexter must help his moody and foul-mouthed sister Deborah find the flesh-eaters before they devour a young woman they’ve kidnapped. Even without his Dark Passenger’s leathery assistance, Dexter is able to use his predatory instincts to locate the girl—only to find she’s not exactly what they thought.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The previous two were a little slow and a tad disappointing, so I wasn’t truly looking forward to reading this one. But I am a HUGE fan of the Showtime series, so I had to read it, and oh, what a delightful surprise! I adore witty writing, and book made me smile and chuckle and gasp in horror.

Mr. Lindsay did an excellent job of immersing me in Dexter’s struggle to cope with his newfound humanity. How does a soulless monster react when he suddenly cares about the people he’s only pretended to care about until now? How does he handle his stepchildren’s own dark and deadly desires, when he has resolved to put his own away forever? I especially love Dexter’s ‘conversations’ with his Dark Passenger; a character in and of itself who chuckles, snarls, or sulks as the need arises.

Delicious, indeed.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Amazon page for Dexter is Delicious, by Jeff Lindsay

Hardcover: 368 pages
Paperback: 384 pages
Language: English
Publisher: Doubleday; First Edition - September 7, 2010
ISBN-10: 9780385532358
ISBN-13: 978-0385532358


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Book Review: Meg: Hell's Aquarium by Steve Alten

I started to write this review yesterday, but it degenerated into a tirade about how cheap I am.

I realize that Meg: Hell’s Aquarium by Steve Alten is 2 years old, but I just got around to reading it.  That’s because I just got around to buying it.  Why?  Because…drumroll please…I’m cheap (also poor).  Few authors can escape the gravitational pull of my stinginess.  Unless you’re one of my very favorites, such as Anne McCaffrey, Naomi Novik, Robin Hobb, Elizabeth Kerner, etc., my literary hunger must wait until I can find a copy at Half Price Books or a discount pre-owned version on Amazon.  And I take online surveys for Amazon gift cards to offset the cost of those favorite authors’ new releases.  Even Stephen King doesn’t qualify as a full-price purchase anymore…not after Cell, Lisey’s Story, and The Dark Tower (and yes, I’m still upset about his temper tantrum at the end of the Dark Tower).

So it took me 2 years to get my hands on a copy of Hell's Aquarium, which is the 4th book in Steve Alten’s Meg series about a prehistoric monster shark invading the modern world.

Steve Alten himself called this "the best of the Meg series," and I think he's right.  I really enjoyed it.  I remember thinking the previous book in the series was slow and disappointing, but I devoured Hell’s Aquarium (no pun intended).  Angel, the captured Megaladon, is just as terrifying and bloodthirsty as ever…only now she has a litter of five pups to help her terrorize the aquarium’s visitors.  It was fast-paced and full of bloody scenes of carnage and prehistoric terror, and every time you think the scientists are safe…they’re not.  Awesome.  I couldn’t put it down.  I brought it to work and I confess I stretched out my lunch break a couple of times so I could keep reading it a little longer.

When I first read the description of the book, I thought, “Kronosaurs?  Liopleurodons?  Really?  Are they magical Liopleurodons that will show me the way to Candy Mountain and joy and joyness?”  I sighed, settled in, and braced my self for cringing disappointment.  After all, I’d read the first three books and I’m a completest so I had to read this one.  But it was done surprisingly well.  I think Alten did a great job with his research.  I actually believed there was another world below the ocean floor, teeming with antediluvian monsters.  I kept Google Images up the whole time so I could get an idea of what those neat prehistoric monsters looked like as I read.

My only complaint was the exclamation points. Heaven save me from the exclamation points.

Alten must have really pissed off his editor, because I felt like I was reliving that episode of Seinfeld where Elaine dates an author and puts exclamation points on everything.  I was so distracted that more than once I pulled out my trusty highlighter and catalogued them as I read, as though I planned to hold it up to anyone who would listen and cry out, “Do you see them?  Am I insane?  How can I read with all these yellow slashes on the page?”  I counted seven exclamation points on one-half of one page.  Seven.  Not even during dialogue, which would be forgivable, and this happened more than once.  It took me out of it every single time.  “The shark ate its dinner!  Then it swam around!  Then it surfaced!  Then it dove!  Shark!  There’s a shark!  There's another shark!  So many sharks!”  Not necessary to the scene.  Not even a little.  They clustered together like little schools of annoying, biting fish and at times I actually wanted to set the book on fire.

But I powered through, and aside from the %$*#ing exclamation points, I give this 4 out of 5 stars and I'm eagerly anticipating book 5 in the series.  Probably not quite enough to pay full price for it, though.

Book details:

Meg: Hell’s Aquarium by Steve Alten
Hardcover: 342 pages
Language: English
Publisher: Variance Publishing LLC (May 19, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-1935142041
ISBN-10: 9781935142041

Amazon page:   Meg: Hell's Aquarium


(I'm halfway through Dexter is Delicious and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After, both of which I am enjoying thoroughly, so look forward to those reviews soon...exclamation point!)

Book Review: Spin the Plate

My first book review on my blog!  Huzzah!  I hope I don't screw it up too badly. :)

I just finished reading Spin the Plate by Donna Anastasi, published by Black Rose Writing.

First off, I have to say that this book smelled wonderful.  I know that’s an odd thing to come out of the gates with.  However, of the last two books I received, one smelled so strongly of cigarettes that I probably need a lung cancer screening, and the other reeked of cats to the point that I’ve developed an allergy.  I almost threw them both away.  So, to receive a fresh new bookie that didn’t give me a new or exciting disease made my day.

Anyway.  Spin the Plate is the tale of Jo, a talented tattoo artist with a dark and terrible childhood who has given up on men until Francis, a secret billionaire philanthropist, comes along and teaches her how to love & trust again.

This book is a Christian romance—not exactly my genre—so it wasn’t the bestest thing I’ve ever read.  Even so, I found parts of this book, especially near the end, both heartwarming and moving.  In particular, I loved the insight into salvation and forgiveness.  So many people have trouble dealing with their pasts, and this book has some keen insight into how letting go and forgiving those who have wronged us can lead to a freer and more fulfilling life.  There were several portions where I couldn't put it down, because the dialogue drew me in and didn't want to let go.  Bravo for that; it's hard to make me forget what time it is while I'm reading.

That being said, I think the book needed to be longer.  The whole thing felt very...abrupt.  Jo's sexual abuse instilled in her a deep-seated distrust and rage toward men, and she pushes herself to extreme physical exhaustion every night to avoid thinking or dreaming about the memories of her abuse.  Yet she accepts a date from Francis—a total stranger—without any convincing/worry/trepidation that I saw, and almost immediately blurts out every detail of her terrible past.  I just didn’t buy it.  Perhaps if the book had been longer, those details could have been spread out more and developed naturally, like the flavors in a gourmet dish, rather than dumped out all at once.

I think character development suffered in the name of expediency, as well.  I kept thinking, why is this billionaire Francis so fascinated with Jo, who goes to such lengths to appear menacing and violent to keep people at arm's length?  I didn't find out until the end of the book, and I really didn’t learn much about who Francis was until then.  I couldn’t connect with him.  The other characters seemed hurried as well, with their personas described in a quick paragraph with as many details crammed into it as possible, and that was it. 

As for SPaG-related issues…I'm going to wag my finger at the editor for this one.  In addition to the multiple misused commas that made me have to re-read sentences 3 or 4 times to understand what the author meant, my biggest problem with this book was the head-hopping.  Like the Easter bunny on a pogo stick. 

Now, I want to say that I personally enjoy third-person-omniscient.  I really do.  I wish it wasn’t frowned upon so much because I’d love to use it more often myself.  However, in this book the POV frequently changes in mid-paragraph—sometimes 2-3 times per paragraph—and it jolted me right out of the story every time.  At one point, the POV even jumps to a character on a television show in the middle of Jo & Francis’s conversation.  Again, I had to re-read passages multiple times because I couldn’t keep track of who was talking/thinking/walking across the room, etc.  Some judicious editing would have greatly improved the flow of this book.  Like hitting the 'enter' key right before we jump back to Jo's inner monologue.

Overall, on a scale of 1-5 stars, I give this about a 3.  Maybe 2 & 3/4.   Not bad, considering I don’t read this genre and the grammar police in me was loudly demanding I bust out with the highlighters and editing symbols.  But the redemption & salvation stuff truly did move me, and Ms. Anastasi gets points for that.

Spin the Plate by Donna Anastasi

Black Rose Writing

ISBN 978-1-935605-39-3

196 pages

Paperback

Publisher's page for Spin the Plate 

Amazon page for Spin the Plate