Review: Love Me in Shadows (Behind the Mask, #1) by Tess Harper
Love Me in Shadows (Behind the Mask, #1) by Tess Harper
(Good Reads): It seemed so innocent at first. I don't know, maybe I should have told someone, but they were just letters. I got so I looked forward to them. I started to depend on them. Until, when he finally asked to meet me, I felt as if I already knew him.
But I didn't.
I wanted him. It didn't matter that I didn't know his name. It didn't matter that he always hid his face from me. He had his secrets, but then again, I had my own. But some secrets are more dangerous than others, and soon I found myself sinking into a dark world I knew nothing about.
I thought I understood the consequences. I thought I could face anything with him by my side.
Review:
Tess Harper is a new author. I happened to stumble across this first book of hers on my eReader and it was cheap so I decided to give it a try.
Unfortunately, Love Me in Shadows screams amateur. The book at the time of purchase (June 11th, 2013) was not professionally edited, and frankly, I'm unsure if Ms. Harper did a second read through herself. This is the exact reason why many reviewers shy away from self published work. One can assume that the author honestly missed very basic editing errors, however, there gets to be a tipping point when you wonder why and how they missed so many fundamental basics?
The theme of the book has potential. As a 'mystery man seduces unsuspecting/innocent girl through mysterious letters/encounters' story, it has that dark edge that draws you in from the surface. However, you kind of get left at the surface digging your way through grammatical issues and overall poor writing.
I don't normally point out all of the flaws in a book detail by detail. I don't enjoy putting someones art to shame or making it sound like they put no effort in all. Authors are passionate about what they do and that love comes through even in the poorest quality of books. However, these are common issues that I have been finding with MANY books. I don't understand why they are not being caught by editors. Even if not professional, the friends, family, and colleagues that drafts are sent to should be able to pick up on these mistakes. Heck, a second read through by the author should catch many of them! And because I'm someone that does review self-published work.
Please, skip to the end for ratings if you're not interested in an editing/opinionated writing style rampage.
These are just some of the issues that I ran across in the first TWO chapters:
Hold up! One more for the road, folks. This one is my favorite:
Multiply that over several chapters and you have yourself Love Me in Shadows.
Wait, so what was this story about again? That's right, I got so caught up in the errors that I completely forgot how the plot developed. I'm not even sure of the guys name or if they ever got "behind the mask". I'm utterly confused. Oh and it has a cliffhanger...
Not that I'm knocking cliffhangers. That subject is a whole different thing itself. However, it was an uncalled cliffhanger given the context of the book.
There's at least a second book is on its way. Hopefully that one gets a decent editing. It really is quite unfortunate. As a young author starting out, Tess is going to have her fair share of bumps. But some general creative writing instruction would do her good. She shows promise though. She wrote a fairly lengthy book as her first and it has a decent plot that can be developed into something great!
Ratings:
Steam (character connection):*
Characters development: *
Writing Quality: *
Plot (progression and originality): **
My Rating:
Amazon: 3.3
Good Reads: 3.31
(Good Reads): It seemed so innocent at first. I don't know, maybe I should have told someone, but they were just letters. I got so I looked forward to them. I started to depend on them. Until, when he finally asked to meet me, I felt as if I already knew him.
But I didn't.
I wanted him. It didn't matter that I didn't know his name. It didn't matter that he always hid his face from me. He had his secrets, but then again, I had my own. But some secrets are more dangerous than others, and soon I found myself sinking into a dark world I knew nothing about.
I thought I understood the consequences. I thought I could face anything with him by my side.
Review:
Tess Harper is a new author. I happened to stumble across this first book of hers on my eReader and it was cheap so I decided to give it a try.
Unfortunately, Love Me in Shadows screams amateur. The book at the time of purchase (June 11th, 2013) was not professionally edited, and frankly, I'm unsure if Ms. Harper did a second read through herself. This is the exact reason why many reviewers shy away from self published work. One can assume that the author honestly missed very basic editing errors, however, there gets to be a tipping point when you wonder why and how they missed so many fundamental basics?
The theme of the book has potential. As a 'mystery man seduces unsuspecting/innocent girl through mysterious letters/encounters' story, it has that dark edge that draws you in from the surface. However, you kind of get left at the surface digging your way through grammatical issues and overall poor writing.
I don't normally point out all of the flaws in a book detail by detail. I don't enjoy putting someones art to shame or making it sound like they put no effort in all. Authors are passionate about what they do and that love comes through even in the poorest quality of books. However, these are common issues that I have been finding with MANY books. I don't understand why they are not being caught by editors. Even if not professional, the friends, family, and colleagues that drafts are sent to should be able to pick up on these mistakes. Heck, a second read through by the author should catch many of them! And because I'm someone that does review self-published work.
Please, skip to the end for ratings if you're not interested in an editing/opinionated writing style rampage.
These are just some of the issues that I ran across in the first TWO chapters:
Reinventions - "Oh, and we watched The Notepad." - Really? Just say the name of the movie and give credit where credit is due. No use trying to reinvent the wheel.
Overuse of ellipsis - I counted 6 over a whole two pages. I appreciate the character being in deep thought, but that can be conveyed in other less annoying ways.
Unnecessary descriptions - ""Perfect," Cassie grins as Anna unsuccessfully tries to hide her laughter by placing her hand over her mouth." The dialog before this didn't suggest anything remotely funny and this makes it sound like the girls about to die in a fit of laughter or something.
Over reaching statements - We're still in chapter 1 and there are many contradictory statements regarding whether or not the girl has actually met her mystery man.
Fear of the period - And don't get me started on the long winded sentences! The above example was a mild case of "fear of the period".
Choppy writing -
Word smithing - Starting every sentence with "I" and "I'm" - First person is a difficult writing style. It takes a special something to make it sound intelligent (e.g., not sounding self-centered, or lacking depth) and real (as a writer, can you properly convey emotion in 1st person? It's harder than it seems because it's not from a "watching" POV).
8. And finally, just overall obvious errors that should have been caught -
"I think of these things as someone right stops next to my cello case." Come on!!! There were multiple of these types.
Hold up! One more for the road, folks. This one is my favorite:
"I'm never that careless, especially with my cello, but at that moment it doesn't matter if my carelessness is strange because it's unforgivable, because I'm so careless that I smash the gift he left me: a single white rose." WHAT???
Multiply that over several chapters and you have yourself Love Me in Shadows.
Wait, so what was this story about again? That's right, I got so caught up in the errors that I completely forgot how the plot developed. I'm not even sure of the guys name or if they ever got "behind the mask". I'm utterly confused. Oh and it has a cliffhanger...
Not that I'm knocking cliffhangers. That subject is a whole different thing itself. However, it was an uncalled cliffhanger given the context of the book.
There's at least a second book is on its way. Hopefully that one gets a decent editing. It really is quite unfortunate. As a young author starting out, Tess is going to have her fair share of bumps. But some general creative writing instruction would do her good. She shows promise though. She wrote a fairly lengthy book as her first and it has a decent plot that can be developed into something great!
Ratings:
Steam (character connection):*
Characters development: *
Writing Quality: *
Plot (progression and originality): **
My Rating:
Amazon: 3.3
Good Reads: 3.31
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