I wanted to give this book two stars. There were that many things wrong with it. But I kept reading and wanted to finish it to find out what happens. For that and that alone I’m giving it three stars.

The book’s written in the first person, a technique very few authors pull off well and to me is, more often than not, detrimental to the story. The narrative also jumps from viewpoint to viewpoint, chapter to chapter amongst the three main characters of the story. This device is becoming more popular and I’ve always found it annoying. As you settle in with what Character A is doing you then jump to someone else’s viewpoint.

My biggest problem with the book is one of the main plot devices; Willy Finneran’s arrest, trial and conviction were ludicrous. They heavily draw the three characters of the book together, two would never had met otherwise, and it could NOT, ever have happened as written. It’s wholly, entirely unbelievable. It isn’t even implausible it’s impossible. As written the scene with Children’s Services is also entirely impossible. Chikd Sservices will not show up at your door, hand you a kid and say “This is yours, bye!” it doesn’t work that way. These utter impossibilities hurt the story badly for me.

As badly as it was hurt, and it took me a couple days to pick the novel back up after getting annoyed with the above twists. I DID finish reading it and I didn’t hate the novel. A bit of research, a week of watching Law & Order re-runs even, could have smoothed out the implausible parts and made it a far better story.

Three Stars

First I have to say I respect the courage and dedication it took to complete the task of rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. That being said I just wasn’t impressed by the story. I recommend not looking at the end papers they give away the gist of the story. The writing was good but flat, the thrill, the sense of excitement and danger that should exist in such a tale just aren’t conveyed well or at all. All in all the story is rather bland and a bit boring.
I also honestly have to say I didn’t like the Roz Savage I met in this book. At an early age during a trip to California she became convinced that materialism was the solution to everything, she also became hooked on self-help and quick fix nonsense books. She carried on a year long affair while married and when the affair is exposed and her husband doesn’t toss her out she’s relieved. She then turns around and makes plans to run away and start a new life with her boyfriend. Those plans she almost immediately given up on as well. While preparing for the journey she take up with an employee of the boatyard outfitting her craft who’s half her age. At her first job she makes a simple mistake, wasting all of an hour, and she “never recovered [her] confidence”. I was also confused that all her inner voices, ’self-doubt’, ’self-critical’, ‘competitive’ and ‘guilt’ are all referred to as being male. She’s having a mid life crisis and looking for anything to fill some void she has inside her. I just wasn’t impressed with her as a person and that, more than anything, detracted from the story.

Three Stars

Heh, just be glad I didn’t take any pictures

Rollicking good fun! This is top notch B-Movie style science fiction. Over the top characters, situations, aliens, monsters and planets. Everything’s exaggerated but still, on some level, believable.

Perhaps a bit too ‘over the top’ in some places for adult readers (I’m one and I enjoyed the book) the characters wear their hearts, greed and for some, stupidity, on their sleeves for all to see.

This would be a great introduction into the world of science fiction stories for middle school students but beware there are some intense battle scenes that might be a bit much for younger or more sensitive kids.

The book is well bound and printed on heavy gloss stock it is also cleverly illustrated with well done artwork by the author. Well worth reading!

Four Stars

Elyssa East’s favorite artist produced a series of paintings based on the abandoned Dogtown wilderness near Gloucester, MA. Trying to find some spiritual growth she visited the area, heard some of the typical small town New England gossip that surrounds any area that’s been inhabited for hundreds of years and decided to write a book about the place.

It feels like she started out to write a biography of the artist, Marsden Hartley, found that wouldn’t make more than a short story then decided to add in the tale of a recent (1980’s) murder that took place inside of the Dogtown wilderness when THAT turned out to not be enough to flesh out a book the author then dug up every and any bit of trivia, folklore, rumor and anecdote she could find no matter how distantly related to the main subject, Dogtown. As an example when a somewhat famous poet is mentioned as having spent time in the area we’re also treated to the details of a school he taught at, every famous person who also taught at the school even if they had nothing to do with Dogtown. The story meanders; wandering from the past to the present while infrequently touching back on the 1980’s murder story.

There’s far too much padding added to the book. I struggled for far longer than necessary for a book of this length. In the end the I found it hard to follow and just wanted it to end. I’m sure there are better histories of the Gloucester area out there and while they may not touch on or even mention Dogtown that’s probably because in the grand scheme of things very little of real interest ever did happened there in it’s hundreds of years of existence.

Two Stars

Teenage Darren is dealing with many of the things typical teenagers do; Divorced and inattentive parents. A sibling who is a jerk, a drunk and possibly a drug dealer. Popularity or the lack thereof at school. Darren is also an artist and is planning out his own blockbuster movie and book series.
Enter Eric, a kindred nerd spirit who jumps wholeheartedly into Darren’s project helping flesh out and expand their stories. Eric also has a secret, one he’s terrified ‘they’ will find out about. Those he’s told in the past have dismissed it or thought him crazy. Eric can’t sleep and never has.
After fighting over a girl as only teenagers can Darren in anger blabs Eric’s secret to his brother who of course can’t keep it to himself. Things take a dark and sinister turn shortly thereafter.
Decent writing and an interesting plot line kept me reading late into the night. This one’s worth checking out.
{edit}
I normally don’t read the professional or other Amazon review until after I’ve written my own reviews. I must agree with the other reviewers who’ve commented on the ‘professional’ reviews. I didn’t find this ‘hilarious’, ‘funny as hell’ and I saw no ‘great jokes’. It WAS a good story but I didn’t feel it was in any way a comedy.

Four Stars