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A review by dr_deb_b
Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven by Bella Forrest
2.0
While the overall storyline is entertaining enough, I felt like I was reading something written by a high schooler. I am always skeptical of authors that churn out too many books too soon, it’s often an indicator of sloppy work and poor development. For a book about an empath, the range of emotions expressed was limited. The author seems to be in desperate need of a thesaurus (i.e. too many chuckles and smirks). There are also grammatical errors and odd phrasing throughout, for example the cover art features the line: “From Million-bestselling author”. Million what? Books? Copies sold? It seems like someone just slapped that on the front to increase the author’s credibility. I don’t buy it, especially since I can’t find much about her.
This book is in serious need of an editor. I think it has potential, but another round of drafts and revisions would have made it better. Wonky word choice, lack of emotional range, shallow character development. A lot of work seems to go into the banter between Harley and Wade, but the same kind of attention isn’t given to the actual plot and character motivations. I also question the setting. As someone who lives in San Diego, I don’t know what kind of research the author did on this city even with actual street names and locations, it reads as “off”, like she created the setting from a couple of Google searches. Because really, all Harley eats is pizza and Chinese? Not a single mention of Mexican food? That is a go-to for ALL locals. Besides other issues that don’t make it believable, maybe it is for tweens or people who don’t live here, but I don’t buy it and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Lastly, to market this book as a must-read for HP fans and liken it to that level of fiction is outrageous! While there are similarities in concept, clearly the author was inspired by JK Rowling and perhaps even Lev Grossman, it not anywhere close to the level of craftsmanship displayed in “Harry Potter”, “The Magicians”, or even “Twilight” (and I thought that series was poorly written). Whoever Bella Forrest is I think it would behoove her to focus more on the Quality of the stories she wants to tell and not the Quanity of books she’s pumping out.
2 stars because it was fairly entertaining, but I doubt I will read any more in this series.
This book is in serious need of an editor. I think it has potential, but another round of drafts and revisions would have made it better. Wonky word choice, lack of emotional range, shallow character development. A lot of work seems to go into the banter between Harley and Wade, but the same kind of attention isn’t given to the actual plot and character motivations. I also question the setting. As someone who lives in San Diego, I don’t know what kind of research the author did on this city even with actual street names and locations, it reads as “off”, like she created the setting from a couple of Google searches. Because really, all Harley eats is pizza and Chinese? Not a single mention of Mexican food? That is a go-to for ALL locals. Besides other issues that don’t make it believable, maybe it is for tweens or people who don’t live here, but I don’t buy it and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Lastly, to market this book as a must-read for HP fans and liken it to that level of fiction is outrageous! While there are similarities in concept, clearly the author was inspired by JK Rowling and perhaps even Lev Grossman, it not anywhere close to the level of craftsmanship displayed in “Harry Potter”, “The Magicians”, or even “Twilight” (and I thought that series was poorly written). Whoever Bella Forrest is I think it would behoove her to focus more on the Quality of the stories she wants to tell and not the Quanity of books she’s pumping out.
2 stars because it was fairly entertaining, but I doubt I will read any more in this series.