maryelmccoy's profile picture

maryelmccoy 's review for:

Dead to Me by Mary McCoy
4.0

Having a little distance on this book, I think I can now review it objectively despite being the person who wrote it.

I did some cool things with both gender and genre. I love how the relationship between the sisters turned out. The plotting is tight. There's this scene between approximately pgs. 215-230 that is excellent. And I totally nailed the last line.

There are also some things I could have done better.

I might have written a more complex Big Bad. I wish I'd gone emotionally deeper with the main character, but also with a few others. I wish I'd worked the ciphers into the story a bit more. I sure as hell wish I hadn't given both sisters names that started with the letter A. So confusing.

I write this not in a pat-me-on-the-back-reassure-me-I'm-great kind of way. It's just how I feel about it.

This book is an artifact of the person I was and the kind of writer I was in 2013, and that's interesting, especially because in some ways, I'm a very different person and writer now.

I hope that I never write a book that I feel compelled to give 5 stars. I hope I'm always finding things I could do better. I hope my best work is always ahead of me.