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David Hayes

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The Courting of Bristol Keats (The Courting of Bristol Keats, #1)

by Mary E. Pearson (Goodreads Author)

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David Hayes said: " Well this is disappointing. I am taking the step to write this review because I wish I'd read reviews before picking this up off the shelves.

As many others have noted, this book was never seen by an editor. I do not mean to slander the author or the Well this is disappointing. I am taking the step to write this review because I wish I'd read reviews before picking this up off the shelves.

As many others have noted, this book was never seen by an editor. I do not mean to slander the author or their team but action which SHOULD happen on the page simply does not, and is either referred to in terse dialogue or alluded to in throwaway explanations. They say you should "Show, don't tell" and this book is a clear example of why.

Spoilers ahead:

In Chapter 16, the main character travels through a portal and it's a traumatic event, leading to her passing out, having a nosebleed and experiencing extraordinary pain. You would think this would warrant a dramatic scene to illustrate this - not so: this is explained to the reader in four short sentences, and no dialogue. Also, the portal is apparently in France, because the main character's last memory before passing out is seeing the Eiffel Tower. I want to stress that less than two pages prior to this, the main character was in small-town America (I'm not saying someone can't be magically whisked away across the Atlantic to a magical portal - if anything, it's encouraged as that would certainly have made for an exciting scene: again, evidently, the author disagrees).

If this was the only example I would try and plough on but it's not. On pg 113, a character explains why the main character has been summoned. And again, I mean that quite literally - instead of dialogue, the reader instead gets 'She explained that a door had been opened by a monster..." This should be dialogue and yet it isn't, and this keeps happening. Prior to this, a number of minor characters directly reference an argument which happened between two of the main characters - and I actually turned back a few pages, thinking I'd somehow skipped a chapter, but no again this all happens off-screen.

I want to highlight Chapter 16 occurs on pg 73, and is immediately followed by Chapter 17 which is just one page in length. The book takes what could be paragraphs and makes them their own chapters instead, and it does it more than once. This does not bother me per se but it breaks up the flow a lot - and while I appreciate this might not be a concern for everyone, it will likely make an audiobook very difficult to listen to.

All in all the book reads like someone trying to briefly explain the plot of a movie - sure you'll come away with an understanding of what happens, but someone is telling it to you rather than letting you watch it. There could be a great story here but it feels so... stilted, stopping and starting and ignores things which shouldn't just be referenced as an aside.

I take no pleasure in writing this, I gather Pearson is an esteemed author with many other books to her name but I'm just going to have to put this down. ...more "

Jan 12, 2025 05:12AM · see review