Only me….and the book review

Let me preface this by saying….all I was looking to do was to read a few good books (for free and early) and then write a nice little review on them. Of course it couldn’t be that easy!

 I’ve been lamenting and stressing over this darn review for weeks. Those of you that know me know that I can read a good book in a day. This book took me a couple weeks to read. I’m just one of those people that once I start something…I need to finish it!

I signed up for a website a month or so ago that gives you the opportunity to get early release books and then you repay that kindness by writing a review on the book. My VERY first book that I won was a book called “Falling into Green” by Cher Fischer. The following is the review I submitted….I also included the email I sent to the editor.

Review:

 “As an Eco psychologist, Dr. Esmeralda Green is skilled at solving the mysteries of the mind, especially if they collide with the laws of nature. But when a body is found below the crumbling cliffs near her Los Angeles home, she is pulled back in time to a tragedy that defies all understanding. When a young girl is murdered at the same cliff that took the life of her best childhood friend, Ez suspects the two are connected - and, having always lived up to her ecological name, she has learned to trust her intuition and the cues that the natural world can offer.”(Book synopsis from Goodreads)

I love a good, strong female character and Esmeralda Green is one. She speaks her mind and does life her way! Her leading man is the hunky TV news reporter Gabriel Hugo Garcia and he keeps her on her toes throughout the story.

The author had very thorough and interesting characters with a very well thought-out plot line that was anything but predictable. I went into reading this book hoping for the best. The story write-up sounded intriguing and something right up my alley. It had a refreshingly new take on a murder mystery, but I had a hard time getting involved with the characters. I think with some more editing of the overly descriptive character descriptions that this book could be much better! It was very distracting to have the same descriptions restated multiple times. I looked forward to the book/characters being ecologically friendly but felt that the emphasis on this could have been toned down just a bit.

When requested for a review I feel compelled to write one, I know all the hard work from the writer and editors that went into this piece of work and hate to take away from any of that.

My email to the editor:

John,

 I wanted to thank you guys for giving me the opportunity to read this book early. I apologize for the delayed review. I actually agonized over writing my review. I wanted so badly to like this book and was very excited about the story line and characters, but the detractors unfortunately won out on this one. I know all of you have to put so much work into each and every book that goes out there…and I by no means want to detract from that! If I can be of any help…please let me know…I just didn’t want any comments I made to come out snarky…so I kept any details to a minimum.

 Thanks,

Anissa