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A review by lochnessvhs
Hardbacks and Hexes by Sue Hollowell
fast-paced
0.5
I don't say this lightly - this may be the worst book I've ever read in my life.
And, honestly, it has nothing to do with the story, which is a run-of-the-mill witchy small town murder mystery with a very obvious killer. While not my favorite trope, I know there are hundreds of books out there with that exact plot.
What I mean is this is the worst written book I've ever read in my life. There is a completely personality-free MC who's decisions and opinions on things literally shift from paragraph-to-paragraph. There is constant repetition of the same exact internal thoughts throughout the not even 200 pages. But then there is the technical writing skills. I'm not just talking about misspellings (of which there are a few, including "cow-toe"), but flat out words are consistently used in ways that make zero sense in the book. Either the author does not own a dictionary or this was written by a (very illiterate) computer. I'm truly not sure.
The last thing I'll harp on is the title. The MC visits a bookstore once and the only "hardback" she gets is a literal cookbook. There are no hexes.
I would be completely baffled as to how this got published, except I know how because I backed the series on Kickstarter and that's why I own it. From what I recall, the author is a retired empty nester who just writes for fun, so I hope she continues to enjoy herself. But I would get down on my knees and plead with anyone who so much as considered paying money for this.
And, honestly, it has nothing to do with the story, which is a run-of-the-mill witchy small town murder mystery with a very obvious killer. While not my favorite trope, I know there are hundreds of books out there with that exact plot.
What I mean is this is the worst written book I've ever read in my life. There is a completely personality-free MC who's decisions and opinions on things literally shift from paragraph-to-paragraph. There is constant repetition of the same exact internal thoughts throughout the not even 200 pages. But then there is the technical writing skills. I'm not just talking about misspellings (of which there are a few, including "cow-toe"), but flat out words are consistently used in ways that make zero sense in the book. Either the author does not own a dictionary or this was written by a (very illiterate) computer. I'm truly not sure.
The last thing I'll harp on is the title. The MC visits a bookstore once and the only "hardback" she gets is a literal cookbook. There are no hexes.
I would be completely baffled as to how this got published, except I know how because I backed the series on Kickstarter and that's why I own it. From what I recall, the author is a retired empty nester who just writes for fun, so I hope she continues to enjoy herself. But I would get down on my knees and plead with anyone who so much as considered paying money for this.