What do you think?
Rate this book
The Lost Eighty
The Lost Eighty is fiction novel loaded with mystery, fantasy and paranormal activity plus a cast of very colorful characters, a fun and wild read, written for young adults and up.
414 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 2013
265 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 17, 2014
Full disclaimer for my review. I am very thankful to have received my copy in a Good reads Giveaway. I have also not finished the book. I've gotten to page 211 of 414, and if I hadn't received it I would have stopped reading earlier.
Goodness, this book is self-published and it shows. My first impressions are incredibly negative. The phrasing is very awkward and difficult to read. Much of the phrasing could be easily altered into something much more readable.
There are also some really glaring errors that drew me out of the book. In chapter two, one character refers to another as a "robbing hood" instead of "Robin Hood." No, this is not a deliberate play on words; it is just a glaring mistake. There is also a kitten that was hit by a car and has a broken jaw... I'm sorry, but a kitten would be flat as a pancake.
There's also a weird disparity about the restaurant in the book. One character eats a huge breakfast there and leaves a $5 tip which is apparently very generous. This is a little odd, but okay. Then more characters went there and had grouse and pheasant? Suddenly this doesn't make any sense.
There were also a few instances of painful alliteration such as “...the dauntless, dazzling damsels danced with delight...” I know these seem like petty complaints, but it really draws you out of the story.
On to more important issues. The characters also seem to act very bizarrely in many cases, like the sheriff calls a psychiatrist (or psychologist?) because he’s wondering if he’s going crazy. She arrives and then they go out for fun together, then they go out on a dinner date, and then they go home together that night. If that’s not enough, the dinner is also attended by three other single women. If that’s not enough, that is essentially the first day they meet. If that’s not still not enough, the two start laughing so hard the sheriff passes gas; this happens twice.
The characters are not particularly interesting and instead only seem to spout the same opinions. Everyone seems to agree that aliens are possible. Everyone seems comfortable with psychokinesis. What’s worse is that a physicist gets said psychokinesis, she doesn’t say a thing about it, this thing that can break the laws of physics and not a comment beyond some gushing about magic.
It’s just a mess. I’m calling it quits for the time being though I may update this review later if I finish it.
I like the idea of the moving woods as a mystery, but this book is not worth reading.
Minor update: the author cannot decide what ethnicity this family is: their fridge has hot and sour soup, Peking duck, shrimp Peking, etc. but they speak Japanese...
Son of an Update: Gail is vaguely different and a little appealing so far. Also, does this author have a thing for farting? Some characters were hiding and discovered by breaking wind. Really? Isn't there anything else you could have done?
Update III, The Revenge: Okay, seriously why doesn't anyone want to report dead bodies in this damn town?
Ugh, the author name-dropped herself! I was okay with the priest being named "Father Steffy" but one of the characters actually said something like "It reminds me of the book 'The Three Pixies' by Sandra L. Steffy!" It was ridiculous.
So I finished the book and it's still awful. There really wasn't an ending. , but nothing is resolved. When I say nothing is resolved, I mean nothing. A dead body disappears and we still don't know why. There are also in the end that don't make any sense either.
I can't recommend this book for anyone. I never would have read past the first chapter if it weren't given to me. I encourage the author to get in contact with an editor. I have no doubt she could write good books, but it's going to take a lot of work.
Goodness, this book is self-published and it shows. My first impressions are incredibly negative. The phrasing is very awkward and difficult to read. Much of the phrasing could be easily altered into something much more readable.
There are also some really glaring errors that drew me out of the book. In chapter two, one character refers to another as a "robbing hood" instead of "Robin Hood." No, this is not a deliberate play on words; it is just a glaring mistake. There is also a kitten that was hit by a car and has a broken jaw... I'm sorry, but a kitten would be flat as a pancake.
There's also a weird disparity about the restaurant in the book. One character eats a huge breakfast there and leaves a $5 tip which is apparently very generous. This is a little odd, but okay. Then more characters went there and had grouse and pheasant? Suddenly this doesn't make any sense.
There were also a few instances of painful alliteration such as “...the dauntless, dazzling damsels danced with delight...” I know these seem like petty complaints, but it really draws you out of the story.
On to more important issues. The characters also seem to act very bizarrely in many cases, like the sheriff calls a psychiatrist (or psychologist?) because he’s wondering if he’s going crazy. She arrives and then they go out for fun together, then they go out on a dinner date, and then they go home together that night. If that’s not enough, the dinner is also attended by three other single women. If that’s not enough, that is essentially the first day they meet. If that’s not still not enough, the two start laughing so hard the sheriff passes gas; this happens twice.
The characters are not particularly interesting and instead only seem to spout the same opinions. Everyone seems to agree that aliens are possible. Everyone seems comfortable with psychokinesis. What’s worse is that a physicist gets said psychokinesis, she doesn’t say a thing about it, this thing that can break the laws of physics and not a comment beyond some gushing about magic.
It’s just a mess. I’m calling it quits for the time being though I may update this review later if I finish it.
I like the idea of the moving woods as a mystery, but this book is not worth reading.
Minor update: the author cannot decide what ethnicity this family is: their fridge has hot and sour soup, Peking duck, shrimp Peking, etc. but they speak Japanese...
Son of an Update: Gail is vaguely different and a little appealing so far. Also, does this author have a thing for farting? Some characters were hiding and discovered by breaking wind. Really? Isn't there anything else you could have done?
Update III, The Revenge: Okay, seriously why doesn't anyone want to report dead bodies in this damn town?
Ugh, the author name-dropped herself! I was okay with the priest being named "Father Steffy" but one of the characters actually said something like "It reminds me of the book 'The Three Pixies' by Sandra L. Steffy!" It was ridiculous.
So I finished the book and it's still awful. There really wasn't an ending. , but nothing is resolved. When I say nothing is resolved, I mean nothing. A dead body disappears and we still don't know why. There are also in the end that don't make any sense either.
I can't recommend this book for anyone. I never would have read past the first chapter if it weren't given to me. I encourage the author to get in contact with an editor. I have no doubt she could write good books, but it's going to take a lot of work.
June 19, 2014
I won this in a giveaway and I was very thankful. I don't like to enter giveaways if Im truly not interested. I was very interested in this book and the synopsis they gave. Basically what I got was a journal. Which I found at times to have no pace at all. This truly is a young adult read as in maybe 5th or 6th. But as far as being adult it was to slow and I could find the want nor will to continue reading at time.
Honestly you should have had a beta team go over the book and bounce ideas off of you and makes some tweeks here and there. I believe if you would have reach out for help it would have been much better
Honestly you should have had a beta team go over the book and bounce ideas off of you and makes some tweeks here and there. I believe if you would have reach out for help it would have been much better
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews