11/8/11

Review: The Pace by Shelena Shorts

Series: The Pace Series, book #1

Published: August 19th 2009

Publisher: Lands Atlantic Publishing, LLC

Details: Paperback, 302 pages

My rating: 1/5

My summary:

I thought I would love this book, I really did. But I didn’t. It’s an interesting plot, a new take on paranormal. But the writing style put me off, it was so detailed that it detracted from the plot. I mean detailed as in relating too many irrelevant details, which prevented the story to flow. Each minute of the main character’s daily life was described, how she did her school assignments, how she ate her breakfast etc. I found it hard not to skim large sections. Also, the love interest felt too perfect and bland. Won’t continue the series.

See my full review here:

Synopsis:

Weston Wilson is not immortal and he is of this world. But, aging is not part of his existence,

and eighteen-year-old Sophie Slone is determined to find out why. In doing so, she could also uncover something about her own life expectancy that she may not want to know. Suddenly, immortality will mean everything and nothing all at the same time.

Intensely fascinating and rich with determination, The Pace brings together romance, mystery, and suspense in a compelling bond that is sure to have readers asking for more.

My thoughts:

I really thought I would love this novel. I so wanted too. It has got rave reviews at the book blogs, it is essentially a love story, and with a paranormal twist. Therefore it was a huge disappointment to realize that I didn’t love it..at all.

This is the story about Sophie, an 18-year old girl who lives with mom in California and attends an online high school. She literally runs into a guy at campus (car accident at parking lot), who seems oddly perplexed to see her there. They end up seeing each other again by chance, and the more she sees of him, the more perplexed she is as well. The guy is called Weston. Good looking, rich and with impeccable manners, he seems too good to be true. On one of their dates, after a little accident, she discovers that he isn’t entirely normal, and after that, bit by bit we get to know his background story.

The main problem for me in this book was the writing style. Now, I’m not normally that picky with writing styles. I’d have anything from the choppy Lisa Macmann’s to the somewhat simple Stephenie Meyer’s to the poetic and descriptive Gregory David Roberts, as long as it does the trick, which is to transport me into the story.

The writing style in this book however, was so detailed that it detracted from the story. Details were related that had absolutely nothing to do with neither character development or the plot. They were tedious irrelevant day-to-day life details explained in a “she did this, then she did that, then she did this” – kind of way. Things like how she wrote a school assignment that had nothing to do with the plot would be described, like “she sat down by the computer, opened up a word document, stared at the white page, then started typing the title of the assignment, which was..”.

I have no interest in following the details of her school assignment, nor do I want to know how she eats her breakfast, or how exactly she types in books in the cash register at her work in the book store. Needless to say, it was hard not skimming through sections of the book, to get to the parts that really mattered, such as the developing relationship between Sophie and Wes.

My other problem with this book was that the two main characters felt kind of bland, especially Wes. He is just too perfect. Not one flaw, never doing or saying anything wrong. Never showing any emotions. It seems a bit ironic to say this, but he didn’t feel human.

So, would I recommend you reading this book?

Well, it does have an original plot, a new take on paranormal that is interesting. And there are apparently people out there who have no issues with the writing style, given the many rave reviews. So I’d say, go and see for yourself.

But I know that I will not attempt anything else by this author. I was not impressed.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Tess.
    I'm sorry you didn't like it, but thanks for giving it a try.I appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Shelena,
    I'm sorry too. Thanks for appreciating all types of reviews, and thanks for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete

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