Hi all my Bookworms!
To begin with … Happy New Year!
I hope you’ve all had a wonderful holidays, Christmas and new year.
I’ve got mixed opinions on this books, which you know I’ll go into detail in a bit. Part of me thinks I’m being a little harsh with my scoring of this book, but I’m going to stand by it. The problems I had with this books really distracted from reading and immersing myself in the book.
The Distraction by Morgan Elizabeth
Publisher: Self published
Published: 19th October 2021
Format: Kindle Ebook
Pages: 309
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
I liked the story of this book. I feel like I need to say that at the beginning. If I hadn’t I would have DNF’d early on and you wouldn’t be reading this book. I have no problem with putting down a book I’m not enjoying.
One of the things that I enjoy most about books in general is the ability to take me away from my reality. They give me somewhere to escape. They give me a happy ending. They give me adventure, and fantasy and thing I could only ever dream of. One of the things that I feel achieves that with my favourite books is good grammar and sentence structure. I shouldn’t have to read a line twice, or more, to grasp what is trying to be said. I think you’ll know what I am hinting at here.
I’m hinting that there were spelling mistakes, grammar errors and even times when I read a line so many times and still didn’t grasp what was happening. It pulls you out of the expertly crafted world and back to the real world as you try to grasp what is being said. I spotted a few errors early on, but didn’t make a note of them till I hit the 3rd or 4th error. I understand that these books are self published and that they may not go through as many rounds of polishing as maybe a book that as a huge team of editors and proof readers working on it, but for me it pulls me out of immersive world that the book creates. There was also bit where Hannah commented that Sara was going to be tall like her mother, but later in the book Hannah told us that Autumn, the mother, was 5’2″. Just a little continuity error, and gratefully the only one that I spotted. But for me another thing that should pulled up in the editing process.
I’m not saying that the books, or the story writing was bad, but the editing needs more polishing to get it to a finished article.
In terms of characters, I enjoyed Hunter’s development. He realised his mistakes, he learnt from them, he grew and became more than he was at the beginning. He grew for himself, for his father and for Hannah. Hannah on the other hand, I found rather flat. She had a lot of complexity to her character. She’s had a rough childhood and want to give other young people who’ve experienced similar things as her, the love and attention that she never had. She want to ‘fill their cup’ as she says in the book. Sade, Luna and Margaret, her friends in the book, are always telling her to do more for herself. To give herself some love and attention before giving it to everyone else. And though she finds her happy ending, I’m not sure she accomplishes that. She still gives everything to everyone else, including her partner. But he takes charge of looking after her. Which is sweet and everything, but I still see little to no character growth for her.
This is the first book in the Springbrook Hills series. I have mixed feelings about reading book 2. I have high hopes that it will improve and I am also excited for Sadie’s story, but I question will I be left with the same experience as this one?
I’m interested to see if you have read the book if you agree with my opinions. I am always grateful to hear your comments and opinions in the comments down below. And if you have a book you would like me to read, feel free to leave a recommendation in the comments, or complete my review request form and I’ll get back to you.
Bookworms Anonymous 