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the_magpie_reader 's review for:
I Can't Sleep
by JE Rowney
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. It is set to be published in October 2020.
"I Can't Sleep" by J.E. Rowney made for a very disappointing read.
It's neither a thriller, nor a mystery and definitely not a suspense novel. It's exactly what it says on the cover and - sadly - nothing more: the self-pitying inner monologue of a whiny, completely passive teenager who complains non-stop about her insomnia and does pretty much nothing else. For the WHOLE book.
She also has very poor vocabulary (has the author ever heard of something called a thesaurus?) and no logic thinking at all. "I realised that I was sitting in silence, and that I probably looked like an idiot. I think a lot about what other people think. Apart from when I don't. Sometimes I don't think about that at all." This paragraph is one of many examples of both flaws.
The narration drags on and on and on about the tiniest, most insignificant details of the protagonist's boring days, and nothing much happens.
Basically, the protagonist is the walking and talking caricature of the sulking, moody teenager, she "can't be bothered" to do just about anything. She repeats it again and again.
Yes, there are A LOT of repetitions in this novel. And typos. And grammar slipups.
And let's not even go into how many times the word "f#@k" is used. I counted it three times in one paragraph, six times in one page... I understand there can be swearing in a novel, but ANY word that gets repeated that often is going to annoy me, not just the word "f#@k".
As for the supposed thrill, or mystery, it's a pure travesty, and the "big reveal" in the end is anything but that.
And please, don't tell me this is an LGBT novel, because it's not! Just because a couple of characters obscurely imply in passing that they might - or might not - be attracted to people of the same sex? That's not enough to make a story an LGBT novel!
"I Can't Sleep" by J.E. Rowney made for a very disappointing read.
It's neither a thriller, nor a mystery and definitely not a suspense novel. It's exactly what it says on the cover and - sadly - nothing more: the self-pitying inner monologue of a whiny, completely passive teenager who complains non-stop about her insomnia and does pretty much nothing else. For the WHOLE book.
She also has very poor vocabulary (has the author ever heard of something called a thesaurus?) and no logic thinking at all. "I realised that I was sitting in silence, and that I probably looked like an idiot. I think a lot about what other people think. Apart from when I don't. Sometimes I don't think about that at all." This paragraph is one of many examples of both flaws.
The narration drags on and on and on about the tiniest, most insignificant details of the protagonist's boring days, and nothing much happens.
Basically, the protagonist is the walking and talking caricature of the sulking, moody teenager, she "can't be bothered" to do just about anything. She repeats it again and again.
Yes, there are A LOT of repetitions in this novel. And typos. And grammar slipups.
And let's not even go into how many times the word "f#@k" is used. I counted it three times in one paragraph, six times in one page... I understand there can be swearing in a novel, but ANY word that gets repeated that often is going to annoy me, not just the word "f#@k".
As for the supposed thrill, or mystery, it's a pure travesty, and the "big reveal" in the end is anything but that.
And please, don't tell me this is an LGBT novel, because it's not! Just because a couple of characters obscurely imply in passing that they might - or might not - be attracted to people of the same sex? That's not enough to make a story an LGBT novel!