Review: A quiet historical romance
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 11, 2013
*steps on my soapbox*My dear book-loving friends, I want to take a moment to talk about something I never intended to discuss: Cover art. I am far from an expert on self-publishing, being that I'm currently staggering through the process for the first time; however, I can tell you one thing with certainty: Bad cover art will cost you readers.Mr. Heldt was the first person to approach me to review a book. To be frank, if I'd waited a few more days to see the number of requests I've started getting for book reviews after listing myself on The Indie View and The Book Blogger List, I would have likely turned him down. Why? Because the cover is amateur, incorrect for the genre, and arranged in an unartistic manner. The thought that followed me as I prepared to read it was, "The inside is going to be just as amateur and unartistic."More experienced self-pubbers have written about this at length, so I'll leave you with a link to get you started: The Book Designer's e-Book Cover Design Awards. The phrase is "Don't judge a book by its cover" because it's what we all do. Find an awesome cover artist, such as Regina Wamba, with whom I'm currently working, and make sales.*steps off my soapbox*I'm happy to say that the story contained within the eyesore cover has voice and is well-edited. Mr. Heldt has obviously taken the oodles of wisdom available on the internet and applied it to his self-publishing career. (And, heck, maybe he likes that cover. So. I mean. If you like it, too, more power to you.)As to the story itself, I'm going to go with an old refrain: This story was not written for me.It's a quiet book, one with researched details and the feel of the 1940′s. The characters were well-developed with believable motivation. The ending was touching, surprising, and pulled me right in. It kept me frantically turning the pages to see what was going to happen.However, I'm not a huge fan of historical romance and that's what this truly is. The only science fiction part of the novel is when our main character Joel slips between times through the mine shaft. I found myself skimming in the middle, wanting something to happen. Others might be taken in by the love story between Grace and Joel, but I wasn't. I liked them both and needed to find out how their story would end, but I wanted more to happen. The story wasn't big enough for me.If you're a fan of historical romance and enjoy slipping into another time period, I would recommend this book. If you're looking for some science fiction / portal fantasy fare, I'd give it a pass.