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A review by caffeinatedbibliophile
A Matter of Fate by Ellie Heller
3.0
This book was free, in exchange for a review.
I hate, hate, HATE giving low ratings when I thought I would love a book, but this one was just… I can’t think of a word to describe it right now in my sleep deprived state, so here’s the bad:
There were way too many grammatical errors throughout the book, which was very distracting and after about 5% of the book, it had surpassed “annoying.” So the book needs a LOT of editing. I have to knock it down about 1.5 stars just for that because it made enjoying the story almost impossible for me. Even at the beginning of the book, I kept going back and re-reading the same parts multiple times trying to figure out what was going on, who was talking, what it should have said, and so on.
Maybe I was alone in this, but I had a hard time following this story, and I think I would have even if the editing had been much more thorough. I felt like the author expected us to know what was going on without any explanation, and I found myself actually shaking my Kindle and growling, “I do not live in your head! Explain this shit!” Let me say now that while I’m not crazy for generic romances (I try to avoid them), I do sometimes enjoy paranormal romance and I read a lot of fantasy. A. LOT. So it wasn’t like I had never heard of some concepts from this book before, but I found myself going back and re-reading things to try to figure out WTF was going on. I think a bit more detail and explanation would be great for this book, because I wasn’t satisfied with what we got. Knocking off another star for that.
Because I’m not crazy about romance, I won’t go on a rant about them falling for each other so quickly, and blah blah blah. It’s fantasy, I get it, I’m over it now.
Now, for some good things, because this book was not all bad.
I really liked the concept of the story in general, but I think Ellie Heller did a great job with the shifter theory. I’ve read a few other explanations for how weres/shifters actually manage to pull off the shift/change, so reading her take on it in this universe was unique (in my experience) and I really liked it. In fact, I LOVED her explanation for how that worked (I do wish a bit more detail was provided, though).
I liked most of the characters, but I really liked a couple of the secondary characters. The main duo were not my favorites, but they didn’t annoy me, either. Overall, I think the characters were good, but maybe a bit more fleshing out would be nice.
I’m horrible with reviews, but I try to give a snapshot of what I thought without giving away spoilers. I’m afraid if I try to go into other things I enjoyed, I will give some away and I don’t want to do that.
Overall, I liked the book. I didn’t love it, it didn’t make me want to seek out other books by the author, but I didn’t hate it, either. With some editing, I think this book could be really good. I’d give it about 2.5 stars as is, but I’ll give it a half star bump for cuteness at the very end involving one of my favorite characters.
I hate, hate, HATE giving low ratings when I thought I would love a book, but this one was just… I can’t think of a word to describe it right now in my sleep deprived state, so here’s the bad:
There were way too many grammatical errors throughout the book, which was very distracting and after about 5% of the book, it had surpassed “annoying.” So the book needs a LOT of editing. I have to knock it down about 1.5 stars just for that because it made enjoying the story almost impossible for me. Even at the beginning of the book, I kept going back and re-reading the same parts multiple times trying to figure out what was going on, who was talking, what it should have said, and so on.
Maybe I was alone in this, but I had a hard time following this story, and I think I would have even if the editing had been much more thorough. I felt like the author expected us to know what was going on without any explanation, and I found myself actually shaking my Kindle and growling, “I do not live in your head! Explain this shit!” Let me say now that while I’m not crazy for generic romances (I try to avoid them), I do sometimes enjoy paranormal romance and I read a lot of fantasy. A. LOT. So it wasn’t like I had never heard of some concepts from this book before, but I found myself going back and re-reading things to try to figure out WTF was going on. I think a bit more detail and explanation would be great for this book, because I wasn’t satisfied with what we got. Knocking off another star for that.
Because I’m not crazy about romance, I won’t go on a rant about them falling for each other so quickly, and blah blah blah. It’s fantasy, I get it, I’m over it now.
Now, for some good things, because this book was not all bad.
I really liked the concept of the story in general, but I think Ellie Heller did a great job with the shifter theory. I’ve read a few other explanations for how weres/shifters actually manage to pull off the shift/change, so reading her take on it in this universe was unique (in my experience) and I really liked it. In fact, I LOVED her explanation for how that worked (I do wish a bit more detail was provided, though).
I liked most of the characters, but I really liked a couple of the secondary characters. The main duo were not my favorites, but they didn’t annoy me, either. Overall, I think the characters were good, but maybe a bit more fleshing out would be nice.
I’m horrible with reviews, but I try to give a snapshot of what I thought without giving away spoilers. I’m afraid if I try to go into other things I enjoyed, I will give some away and I don’t want to do that.
Overall, I liked the book. I didn’t love it, it didn’t make me want to seek out other books by the author, but I didn’t hate it, either. With some editing, I think this book could be really good. I’d give it about 2.5 stars as is, but I’ll give it a half star bump for cuteness at the very end involving one of my favorite characters.