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Restraint Trilogy #1
Restraint
Tragic circumstances bring two sisters, Laura and Linda, to a foreign land where they are stripped of their fortune and are at the mercy of their estranged uncle. However, strange happenings force Laura to believe their current situation was no accident. Something is after her. (YA Fiction Novel, intended for ages 16 and up)
After the abrupt death of her father, Laura Carter and her sister, Linda, are shipped off to England by an uncle they barely know. They are taken to a large house in Annesley to begin a life of service. When Laura becomes a governess to a young boy named Marcus, she begins to experience strange things in the night... horrible things.
Creatures in the night. Bite marks on her body.
Laura is about to discover a secret that has existed in her family for generations... Something wants to possess her. It wants her blood, but it didn't expect her to resist and lose all restraint.
"Indie, or self-published books, are doing good in the book world. Madera's book is no different! I enjoyed reading this book, and the best part, the story isn't over." - Nicole, Books Complete Me Blog
After the abrupt death of her father, Laura Carter and her sister, Linda, are shipped off to England by an uncle they barely know. They are taken to a large house in Annesley to begin a life of service. When Laura becomes a governess to a young boy named Marcus, she begins to experience strange things in the night... horrible things.
Creatures in the night. Bite marks on her body.
Laura is about to discover a secret that has existed in her family for generations... Something wants to possess her. It wants her blood, but it didn't expect her to resist and lose all restraint.
"Indie, or self-published books, are doing good in the book world. Madera's book is no different! I enjoyed reading this book, and the best part, the story isn't over." - Nicole, Books Complete Me Blog
276 pages, ebook
First published May 22, 2011
19 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Madera
18 books26 followersSandra Madera currently resides in New York and is a recent college grad, obtaining her bachelor's degree in science. However, her true passion has always been reading and writing. She has been writing short stories since she was a child. She recently published her first full-length YA novel entitled Restraint. For free YA short story downloads and for information on upcoming novels visit www.sandramadera.com and http://sandra-madera.blogspot.com.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 20, 2012
I wasn't going to read this book, because I wasn't sure if I would like it. I don't usually read books about this time period. But I have to say I was surprised. I found this book to be suspenseful and interesting. I loved Laura. She had a headstrong personality which I can relate to. Loved! Loved! Loved this book! Give it a try.
August 2, 2012
I thought this was a unique twist on the traditional vampire storylines. Although there are some spelling and grammar issues, the story still captured my interest. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
July 30, 2011
Took awhile for this book to keep my attention. The beginning was slow but the further I read the better it became! Good vampire book!
March 20, 2012
This was a page turner for me. I loved it! It was suspenseful, and I got sucked into the story. I recommend to those that are fans of Victorian era vampire stories.
November 3, 2011
I just started another book by sandra and finished it this afternoon
December 8, 2011
This was a great read. Love the journey and ending. I am looking forward to reading more.
May 8, 2012
Restraint
By: Sandra Madera
Genre: Paranormal Thriller (possibly YA, but I didn’t classify it that way because I didn’t get the feeling that’s what the author intended when she wrote it)
Rating: PG
Coffee Beans: 2/5 – the story has the potential to be interesting
Spoilers: No. Well, maybe a little.
Favorite Line: “…she answered briskly, brushing off Laura’s concern as if it were a fly that needed to be swatted.” (ebook, pg 54)
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free in exchange for this honest review
Sometimes it’s hard to review a book.
Sometimes, there’s just so much you want to comment on, but it all gets scrambled in your head and you can’t figure out how to put it all down so that it makes sense. That’s what I ran into with this book so I’m going to try and limit what I bring up and try to keep it as on point as I can.
Here we go.
Restraint is the illegitimate child that resulted from a one-night stand between Jane Austin and Bram Stoker. Set in 1884 America and England, Restraint is a story about two sisters whose father dies, leaving them to be shipped off to live with an estranged uncle in England. The only problem is, there are vampires in the mix. And they’re after Laura (Even though that’s the crux of the story, you don’t find that out until well after the halfway point).
The idea of the book is interesting. I like that the vampires are cruel, cold beasts. It’s about time vampire stories get back to their roots. But the author’s execution in telling the story is poor. Also, I felt the first 125 pages could’ve been summed up (or given as snippets of back story later on in the book) and the book should have started on 126 with the discovery of her father’s journal.
Now onto specifics:
First of all, head hopping. I’m pretty sure I was supposed to be in the protagonist’s head throughout the entire book, but there were countless times the reader was told things there’s no way the protag could’ve known.
Secondly, vocabulary. We’re in 1884, stick with the language and sayings from that period. For the most part, Madera did a good job getting down the vernacular and vocabulary (from what I would expect it to be, anyway), but there were times she would throw in word or phrase that just didn’t fit and would completely pull me out of the story.
While reading through the book, one thing kept standing out to me. The story was overworked while at the same time still extremely raw. There were a lot of little things (and some not so little things) that could’ve been fixed by tightening up the book.
Showing versus telling. There was a lot of telling (sometimes telling the reader the same thing 3 or 4 different times in the same paragraph). It’s like Madera didn’t trust the reader to figure out on their own what she was hinting at. I think this issue also affected the fact that there wasn’t any real sense of urgency or risk in the story. If we’d gone through what Laura was going through, then maybe there could’ve been.
Incorrect use of many things. Exclamation points! ….ellipses…. and adjectives, to name a few. A lot of times, a adjective was used in the completely wrong context, giving the reader a wrong impression of what the character was feeling at the time. It threw me out of the story more than once. For example, there’s a scene (well, several scenes, actually) where Laura is very tired/sick/drained/etc and “hops” out of bed. WRONG. Maybe she crawls/slides/slinks out of bed, but with what she went through, she most certainly didn’t hop out of bed.
I felt that Laura, the main character, was a very inconsistent and unreliable character. Her thoughts and emotions were all over the board and couldn’t be relied upon. Also, she didn’t have a strong enough arc.
And lastly, the cover.
The cover is an author’s first impression on their reader. It’s so, so, so important to have the right cover for your book, for traditionally published authors, but even more so for self-published authors. With traditionally published books, covers can go through dozens and dozens of designs, focus groups, restarts, votes, etc before the final product hits the shelf. You get lots of input and opinions. Unfortunately, with it’s usually not the case with self-published books. The same thing is true with editing.
Madera designed her covers herself, she tells you on her blog it’s her own artwork. And while she’s a talented artist, using drawings for the covers made the books appear a bit amateurish. Had I been browsing for a book to read and I came across this one, it wouldn’t have been one I picked up. I strongly suggest for any self-publishing author to spend the extra money and get your cover professionally designed as well as your book professionally edited.
Okay, I know this review might sound a little harsh, I tried everything in my power for it not to seem that way, but at the end of the day, it’s my job to be honest and give you guys my candid review about a book. It’s up to you if you like it or not. And as I always say, pick it up and read it for yourself. Your opinion might be very different than mine.
Happy reading, my friends!
http://RaeLynnFry.Blogspot.com
By: Sandra Madera
Genre: Paranormal Thriller (possibly YA, but I didn’t classify it that way because I didn’t get the feeling that’s what the author intended when she wrote it)
Rating: PG
Coffee Beans: 2/5 – the story has the potential to be interesting
Spoilers: No. Well, maybe a little.
Favorite Line: “…she answered briskly, brushing off Laura’s concern as if it were a fly that needed to be swatted.” (ebook, pg 54)
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free in exchange for this honest review
Sometimes it’s hard to review a book.
Sometimes, there’s just so much you want to comment on, but it all gets scrambled in your head and you can’t figure out how to put it all down so that it makes sense. That’s what I ran into with this book so I’m going to try and limit what I bring up and try to keep it as on point as I can.
Here we go.
Restraint is the illegitimate child that resulted from a one-night stand between Jane Austin and Bram Stoker. Set in 1884 America and England, Restraint is a story about two sisters whose father dies, leaving them to be shipped off to live with an estranged uncle in England. The only problem is, there are vampires in the mix. And they’re after Laura (Even though that’s the crux of the story, you don’t find that out until well after the halfway point).
The idea of the book is interesting. I like that the vampires are cruel, cold beasts. It’s about time vampire stories get back to their roots. But the author’s execution in telling the story is poor. Also, I felt the first 125 pages could’ve been summed up (or given as snippets of back story later on in the book) and the book should have started on 126 with the discovery of her father’s journal.
Now onto specifics:
First of all, head hopping. I’m pretty sure I was supposed to be in the protagonist’s head throughout the entire book, but there were countless times the reader was told things there’s no way the protag could’ve known.
Secondly, vocabulary. We’re in 1884, stick with the language and sayings from that period. For the most part, Madera did a good job getting down the vernacular and vocabulary (from what I would expect it to be, anyway), but there were times she would throw in word or phrase that just didn’t fit and would completely pull me out of the story.
While reading through the book, one thing kept standing out to me. The story was overworked while at the same time still extremely raw. There were a lot of little things (and some not so little things) that could’ve been fixed by tightening up the book.
Showing versus telling. There was a lot of telling (sometimes telling the reader the same thing 3 or 4 different times in the same paragraph). It’s like Madera didn’t trust the reader to figure out on their own what she was hinting at. I think this issue also affected the fact that there wasn’t any real sense of urgency or risk in the story. If we’d gone through what Laura was going through, then maybe there could’ve been.
Incorrect use of many things. Exclamation points! ….ellipses…. and adjectives, to name a few. A lot of times, a adjective was used in the completely wrong context, giving the reader a wrong impression of what the character was feeling at the time. It threw me out of the story more than once. For example, there’s a scene (well, several scenes, actually) where Laura is very tired/sick/drained/etc and “hops” out of bed. WRONG. Maybe she crawls/slides/slinks out of bed, but with what she went through, she most certainly didn’t hop out of bed.
I felt that Laura, the main character, was a very inconsistent and unreliable character. Her thoughts and emotions were all over the board and couldn’t be relied upon. Also, she didn’t have a strong enough arc.
And lastly, the cover.
The cover is an author’s first impression on their reader. It’s so, so, so important to have the right cover for your book, for traditionally published authors, but even more so for self-published authors. With traditionally published books, covers can go through dozens and dozens of designs, focus groups, restarts, votes, etc before the final product hits the shelf. You get lots of input and opinions. Unfortunately, with it’s usually not the case with self-published books. The same thing is true with editing.
Madera designed her covers herself, she tells you on her blog it’s her own artwork. And while she’s a talented artist, using drawings for the covers made the books appear a bit amateurish. Had I been browsing for a book to read and I came across this one, it wouldn’t have been one I picked up. I strongly suggest for any self-publishing author to spend the extra money and get your cover professionally designed as well as your book professionally edited.
Okay, I know this review might sound a little harsh, I tried everything in my power for it not to seem that way, but at the end of the day, it’s my job to be honest and give you guys my candid review about a book. It’s up to you if you like it or not. And as I always say, pick it up and read it for yourself. Your opinion might be very different than mine.
Happy reading, my friends!
http://RaeLynnFry.Blogspot.com
March 26, 2012
This was the second title that I've read from Sandra, and with both titles I was easily drawn into the story line. It takes a special kind of author to pull off a novel like this and Sandra's writing style makes it seems easy. Great book!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews