Reviews

The Lightning Charmer by Kathryn Magendie

cokiereads's review against another edition

1.0

this book was weird even for me.

skelleycat's review

I wanted to read this book because the main character has synesthesia, and the overall premise seemed like a sort of fantasy type that I might enjoy. Sadly, this book was just not for me. The main character was (I assume) supposed to be clumsy and quirky, but she ended up just grating on my nerves with her ridiculous personality. I was expecting to see more of her synesthesia, but all I got was a few mentions of color here and there that were so vague I wasn't sure what was going on (and this is coming from a synesthete). Meanwhile, all of the characters seemed to be preoccupied with sex and couldn't seem to interact with each other without wanting to debauch constantly. Maybe if they'd been more believable and less self-absorbed, maybe if there was more depth to the story, I could have stuck with it all the way to the end. As it is, I had to mark this one as DNF (did not finish) about halfway through.

elephant's review against another edition

2.0

Sorry, sorry, sorry. Strange, strange, strange. When an author cannot express her character's emotion in any other way than repeating the same word over and over - usually 3 times - is 3 times the charm? - then it is time for the author to increase her vocabulary a bit I think. The book is not well written and is poorly edited and is rambling and confusing and contains inconsistencies. I received it free to review from Netgalley. I am giving it a two star review rather than a one star because there is a bit of a plot in there somewhere trying to be found and I was able to actually finish the book although I did want to just give up on it for a while because parts of it are so bad. I don't recommend this book.

susanscribs's review

2.0

I really wanted to like this novel because it was recommended by my favorite author, Deborah Smith, and published by her company, Belle Books. But all I could do is think about how much better it would have been if Smith had been the author instead of Kathryn Magendie. The major problem is that the author keeps telling us that Laura and Ayron are meant to be together and perfect for each other, but their actual interactions are very limited and stilted at best, so I didn't believe in their love and had no investment in their HEA. Ayron appears to be a stereotypical "noble savage," not a real person, and Laura's synesthesia doesn't serve any real purpose. The villain is so completely one-dimensional EEEEvil that I was surprised he wasn't portrayed as having devil ears and tail.

I actually enjoyed the secondary characters, including Laura's brother Bryan and her neighbor Betty, more than Laura and Ayron, which makes me think Magendie should try writing a different type of novel. Next time, show me the romance, don't tell me and expect me to accept it on faith.