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A review by sephlav
Shattered Hearts by Shae Ruby
3.0
Okay okay - hear me out: this review comes from a place from my own bias as a reader and is in no way indicative that I think the book is bad. Okay? Okay.
So I was given an ARC copy from Shae and I am so honoured to have read her work and am very proud for what she’s accomplished. What I loved about this book most of all is her writing style. She has the talent and the skill. A lot of lines really aimed for the jugular and hit in all the right places. Her prose is beautiful and poetic and boy oh boy does she sure know how to end a chapter.
Where the book lost points for me is just on a personal level. I found the plot a little repetitive, which was likely a stylistic choice because of the trauma and cyclical nature of the book, which may not be a problem for some readers, but I still felt like I was re-reading scenes at times. Moreover, I would have liked to feel a little more excited and morally torn by the toxicity, but I personally found myself feeling mostly sadness and pity for Zayne and Hallie, and I didn’t find myself rooting for them. The last thing that took me a little out of the story was that I felt there was a lot of telling things that could have been shown and I found Shae’s gorgeous prose bleeding into the character dialogue in a way that just didn’t feel natural to me.
However, I would absolutely read more of her work and cannot wait to see what else she comes up with. So proud of you and your debut novel, Shae!
So I was given an ARC copy from Shae and I am so honoured to have read her work and am very proud for what she’s accomplished. What I loved about this book most of all is her writing style. She has the talent and the skill. A lot of lines really aimed for the jugular and hit in all the right places. Her prose is beautiful and poetic and boy oh boy does she sure know how to end a chapter.
Where the book lost points for me is just on a personal level. I found the plot a little repetitive, which was likely a stylistic choice because of the trauma and cyclical nature of the book, which may not be a problem for some readers, but I still felt like I was re-reading scenes at times. Moreover, I would have liked to feel a little more excited and morally torn by the toxicity, but I personally found myself feeling mostly sadness and pity for Zayne and Hallie, and I didn’t find myself rooting for them. The last thing that took me a little out of the story was that I felt there was a lot of telling things that could have been shown and I found Shae’s gorgeous prose bleeding into the character dialogue in a way that just didn’t feel natural to me.
However, I would absolutely read more of her work and cannot wait to see what else she comes up with. So proud of you and your debut novel, Shae!