Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Review: Last Regress

Title Last Regress
By Rachel J. Thorne
Genre Adult supernatural/paranormal
Pages 219
Recommended by Rachel J. Thorne

First sentence Five o'clock on a Friday evening is a time that fills most people with a sense of joy, expectation  and excitement.

Synopsis
Alyssa is a skeptical paranormal investigator. She's never had proof that ghosts exist until a dark shadow appears in her room and she's attacked by frightening creatures. And when a handsome stranger appears to save her she begins to question her sanity. Either ghosts really do exist or Alyssa is going crazy.


What it has going for it
Any time an author contacts me to read and review their book I always download a sample first to see if I'm really interested. The first chapters of this book had some fun set up, a snarky character, and some clever writing so I accepted. This book had potential. It really did. It's not as if there was anything we haven't seen before but I love a good romantic ghost story and I was hoping this one would be just that. It started out promising and had an urban fantasy feel to it. I adore urban fantasy. I also liked how sacrificing the characters were. Unfortunately, besides it's potential, this one just didn't do it for me.

What's lacking
This one was lacking a lot and I feel terrible saying anything negative on these independently published books. I know I usually just bash a book to death if I didn't like it but that's because I hold traditionally published books on a higher standard. Anywho, here's what bothered me about this one.

  • Omniscient viewpoint. Not a huge fan. Jumping from one characters head to another without any breaks to show that we're changing heads is just hard to get used to. 
  • For the first half of the book nothing really happened. It was just a repetitive play by play of whether Alyssa was crazy or not. 
  • Insta-love. Not a fan. This one wasn't completely instant but pretty dang quick.
  • Cain. No not the character; the name. What a horrible name to give a character. I guess if you're not a bible reader you might not get that but, yeah. 
  • The sex chapter. Yep, that's right, this one got not just a scene but a chapter. What bothered me wasn't the sex scene it was actually pretty sad and understandable but it felt like it came out of nowhere! 
  • I really would have liked to see more of the city and Alyssa's work. There just wasn't enough world building.
  • Telling not showing. I can easily overlook this fault but it got a little tiresome in this one.

Favorite moment
When Nathaniel comforted Cain. Very sweet

Yea or Nay?
With a little bit of work this one would have been quite good. Without it, I just don't know if I can  make a recommendation.

22 comments:

  1. It's always harder reviewing self-pubbed novels.

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  2. This is why a lot of bloggers don't review self-published books. It sounds like it has potential though. This author should get an agent.

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    1. Yeah, I am very selective with what I choose to read and am a lot of the time disappointed in traditionally published books so...

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  3. Insta-love has got to go. I feel that more and more authors are relying on it instead of building a relationship between the characters. I'm fine with instant infatuation, but not with insta-love.

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  4. Ah, bummer, sorry to hear you didn't like this one! I really struggle with omniscent POV. I think it's the most difficult POV to pull off. If the author doens't nail it, it just feels disorganized.

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    1. I'm just not a fan of it. It's too hard to connect to the characters.

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  5. I have this same issue about whether or not I should take on more self pubbed books to review. It's always so hit and miss (although I would say the same about traditionally pubbed books cos I seem to not like anything these days!). Then I figure, if they've put their work out there then they have to be tough enough to take the feedback.

    A whole sex chapter? I'm not a prude but how can someone write a whole chapter with just sex??

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    1. I guess they need to be strong but I still feel horrible being mean if I didn't like it.

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  6. I always feel bad reviewing self-pubbed books....which is why I don't really do it anymore. It's always so sad when a book has promise and then you don't feel that it lives up to your expectations. Also, sex chapter...I'm guessing you've never read the Night Huntress books haha?

    Also side note, currently reading the Kate Daniels books which I am pretty sure you recommended to me...love them. On book 3 and I started reading them on Sunday :P

    Cait x

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    1. :-) I don't think I did recommend that series. I haven't read them so...

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  7. I don't review many self-published works anymore, but I never even considered downloading a sample first, clearly because I'm an idiot. I always feel guilty when I write negatively about self-pubbed authors and their works, but honesty above all, right? :)
    I doubt I'd enjoy this one. Thank you for the lovely and detailed review.

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    1. Yeah I feel bad but I felt like it would be worse to lie.

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  8. Sorry you didn't like the book more. I'm like you, I'm not a fan of switching view points without clear indication that it's happening.

    Also,despite the fact that we are on opposite sides of the US I'm pretty sure I have the same cold you did. This recurring cold business is getting old fast!

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    1. Ugh! Stupid cold. If mine comes back I'm going to lose it.

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  9. Insta-love has been bothering me more and more lately. I just don't believe it in most circumstances.

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  10. That's so tough when you don't love a book that the author personally asked you to read. I hate it so much I've just started turning them all down. Because I am a wimp. :)
    And I'm so done with the insta-love, too.

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    1. I hate accepting them sometimes but I've gotten amazing ones too so you just never know. N

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  11. Bummer that this one didn't work out. It's always a gamble to accept self-published books for review, but then it is with traditionally published books too, I guess. I'm not a fan of abrupt sex scenes that come out of nowhere or the insta-love. Maybe a bit of editing would improve this one and it would be more readable in the future. Thanks for your honest review!

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    1. Every time we read a book it's a gamble. Such is life. The good ones help ease the pain of the bad ones, though.

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