Ateana’s Reviews > Oleander House > Status Update

Ooooooooooh, I think I know why Andre and Cecile have the same dream (body parts all other the place, blood, unable to get out) while Sam dreams about sex and killing his partners:

could it be that Josephine (previous host-victime who killed her girl friend, then went after the 'beast') is trying to warn off A&C, while S gets the beast's attention?

SPOILER: ......................... ................. "Josephine Royce's last communication with the world." That part! omg I have goosebumps!

SPOILER:.............................................................. That said, I really like that Sam stepped up when Bo kept on flirting and made it clear that it had to stop. I was worried that Bo would be free to continue on hitting on Sam despite Bo being the one wanting for things to stop.

SPOILER:.............................................................. I hate married characters who keep flirting with the other and trying to drag them in bed. I wasn't too hot about this at first, but Amy's discussion with Bo about his failing mariage made it much better.

Ah, found it. I did forget about the descriptions. Though it's not surprising, as I was rather glossed over and unequal except for Bo. Amy had one line (red hair/blue eyes). Andre got a couple more (large, strong, brown skin), and David is bald. Older? Cecile has chestnut colored hair/bangs.

Alright, the descriptions of people/places are borderline too embellished, but the description of action is brilliant! If I can ignore the descriptions at the beginning of the story, the rest/paranormal stuff might just be worth it \o/

I say this because I had to look it up. I know what's a rhododendron obviously, but laurier-rose only vaguely talked to me, and Oléandre not at all. So as a reader it's a bit of useless pompous vocabulary.

Second, if you really want to use French in your text, don't just translate Oleander to Oléandre, bon sang! Adding an accent doesn't make it French!! Or rather like here, it's a case of 'commonality'. 'Oléandre' does exist in the dictionary, but I've personally never heard it used. We'd use 'laurier-rose' which is a bit of a poetical name, or more often 'rhododendron'.

Okay, alors là, non. First, why do old, rich French owners are always called 'Claude Devereaux' or a variation of? Not that or really matters in the grand scheme of things, but it's not very original.

"The man was six-foot-plus height, slim and graceful, with caramel skin and large, soft eyes the color of rich delta soil."

Ok, bonus for not going too much into details with the 'six-foot-plus', but, why 'rich delta soil'?? What is that even supposed to mean? Soft brown? Dark, vivid brown? The hell?
I hope all the description won't be so 'full of imagery'/embellished, because this is not a great start...