!!READ THIS FOR TRIGGER WARNING!!
Okay, so, I hated this book, and I feel icky just having attempted to read it. I pushed myself to get through as much of it as I could for the sake of a friend. I abandoned it at about 64%, and that was being generous. Despite how I feel, I am going to do my best to be constructive since there are currently no reviews here.
First things first. I went into this book blind so I would have no preconceptions or expectations. Upon deciding to abandon the book, I looked at the synopsis on the back, and the one listed here. The physical book itself had no warning. If it did, I couldn't find it. The warning listed here on Goodreads, "Warning: Contains abuse and sexual themes." I don't think it says enough, and neither does the synopsis, so I'm going to add a little clarity for people who might be reading this.
Eira is NINE. The abuse and sexual themes center around HER. There is physical abuse(child hitting), and while the sexual abuse is not explicit, I still think it's disgusting. The most explicit thing I encountered was detailed penis touching. Anything more than that, the story fades to black. The story does not hold back on implications, though. Unfortunately, these themes seem to be what the story is centered around. That is all I will say about that. Use your own discretion.
Alright, now that the icky stuff is out of the way, I think this book needed a good editor. Here are some problems I noticed along the way:
-Typos
-Missing words
-"That," used too frequently
-Extremely frequent tense shifts between past and present(Is this happening now or a story being told? Please make up your mind.)
-Unnecessary words
-Inconsistencies (ex: Underwear?)
-Some descriptions are vague while others are detailed
-Odd spacing
-weird transitions
I didn't write down specific examples of these, but they were frequent. It seemed like it might not have been edited at all. If there are no ARC readers or editors, maybe get some? If there are, maybe find better ones.
I should probably say something positive, too. When the story got going, it had a decent flow to it. It didn't seem to drag at all. The cover art was pretty, but I'm not sure what it had to do with the story. If it had anything to do with how the story ends, I'll likely never know.