Back to books!

First, though, I want to jabber on about the problem I ran into this week. It is so hard to force myself to write a scene when I’m not feeling it. I’m actually happy with the scene and my notes on it, as well as how it sets up the story, but I was so distracted by other scenes further in the book that I wanted to get to. Maybe I should have just jumped ahead, but I stuck with it. The first draft of the prologue is finished! Not a huge win, but a win nonetheless.

Insert ‘Happy Dance’ here!

I hope you guys are ready to see how Charles and Helen are adjusting to their new Dreamland life!

As far as my watch schedule, we’ve made it to season 5 of the Expanse. This show is just filled with one ‘oh shit’ plotline that leads to another ‘oh shit’ plotline, and it’s really hard for me to not hit that ‘play next episode’ button every time. However, my husband is a 1 episode a day kinda watcher, where I’m a one season a day kinda watcher, but we’re still making it work. I know it’s actually better this way since the last season isn’t released yet, so I still have a while before I have to find something to fill that hangover void. Y’all know the one I’m talking about…

Anyway, on to the review.

This is another little indie book that I was actually surprised with how much I enjoyed it. Now, to preface this review, this book is actually the fifth in the series. However, the author was asking for reviews on this specific book, and states it’s a standalone, as long as you skip the prologue. For the most part, I believe that to be true, but being the nerd I am, I totally read the prologue. I’m glad I did because it really did open up more mystery about the main characters, even though it doesn’t actually address it in the story. The author is correct that this book is a standalone. Although there are some hints within the text, nothing is there to really tie the book in with the rest of the series.

Aside from all that, I thought the story was pretty fun overall. There were some issues, but it being short I think helped with those. If it had been longer and more drawn out, that would have given more time for certain issues to arise. Grammar and formatting wasn’t perfect, but the prose was decent. One of the flaws that stood out to me was the Chekhov’s gun (or knife in this case) mentioned early on and set up towards the middle of the book, but then it just disappeared. I think if Patrick would have been able to use a knife, which had personal meaning for him instead of a gun, the climax could have been more satisfying.

I don’t think any of those things really warrant a star removed, as I quite enjoyed the book. Aside from the prologue, there are some supernatural elements that aren’t fully explained, but other than that, the story wraps up quite nicely. I thought the new take on the Jekyll and Hyde elements were done really well. It was written so that the original Jekyll/Hyde story wasn’t overpowering or distracting at all while reading. The story was uniquely its own. I would recommend this if you like crime dramas with a little bit of a supernatural twist. There is also some light romance, but I wouldn’t call this a romance novel as it does have a solid story aside from the relationship between the two main characters. Good pick!

And that’s it for this week! I will be furiously writing all through next week and hope to make some good progress on Westgate. I have most of the knots worked out now, and I am super happy with the outline. Now to just write!

Have a safe and relaxing weekend, everyone, and Happy Reading!