A review by minibabble
Hearing Red by Nicole Maser

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

It's a very slow burn sapphic romance, and definitely needs a round of professional copy and plot edits. I spotted at least 5 glaring grammar errors, one of which is a capitalization error, but that is expected in a self-published book. Considering this is not printed by any publisher, it's not bad. 

I wish there were more flashbacks and details about the zombie infection, how it spread, and what the early days were like for Saff (when she was a doctor) or for Maddie (when she just graduated college and was at her family Lakehouse). More flashbacks about Saff's experiences in the raiders group, relationship with her father, and even some her childhoods (via nightmares or specific chapters) would've been cool to see and added more variety in the narrative. 

I liked the development of the relationship between Maddie and Saff. The slowburn was well executed and didn't feel like they just suddenly started liking each other out of no where. The voices of both characters is distinct, and I like the way Maddie's disability is represented. I appreciate that she is not dead weight and can hold her own. 

I like Maddie and Saff's character, but the story moves slow. It could've been 150-200 pages shorter. A lot of the sentences in the middle of the book have very similar structure. Overall, the story is good, but it didn't really blow me out of the water. I liked what I read, but couldn't help but notice some wasted potential regarding flushing out the plot and improving writing quality. 

Lots of potential with the plot and story arcs, horribly simplified execution and shallowness.