Review: These Stories Are Giving Me Life!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 14, 2014
This review will be updated and edited as stories are completed. As of 7/14/14 two stories from the Scandalous Heroes Boxed Set have been read.I was provided a copy of this book by one of the authors, Sienna Mynx for an honest review.Everything is Everything by Pepper Pace was amazing! It was honestly a throwback to the Donald Goines storytelling days. If you've never read a Pepper Pace novel you have no idea what you're missing. Everything is Everything is the story of Scotty, a white boy who grows up in the hood and Vanessa, a young black girl who also grows up in the same hood. The story spans the early 70s into the 80s as it follows Vanessa's relationship with Scotty from childhood to adulthood when she turns 18. The writing style and character development was phenomenal! The fact that there's a part two has me on edge. I'm eagerly awaiting the next book. Ms. Pace has me hooked!!!The con? The editing. Sweet baby geebus I cannot say how much it hurts when the content editing is on point but the copy editing is an afterthought. A lot of grammatical errors were overlooked in Pepper's story and synonyms have to be the bane of existence for many indie self-published authors. I continue to see elementary mistakes made in works by authors that have published many books and I cannot understand why. If a reputable publisher released this boxed set I'm not sure why the grammatical issues weren't fixed. Even the header on my copy caused me to do a double take: Sensul Romance? Come on y'all I love you guys too much. Your fans just want to see your work at its very best. Your stories are powerful, it's only fitting that the editing be flawless.Overall, I'd give Everything is Everything 4 solid stars. It was a rollercoaster ride of nostalgia.The next story I read was Tattooed Moon by Tiana Laveen. Much like Ms. Pace, Ms. Laveen brought the thunder! Tattoo artist Julian, meets an accountant Milan, when she visits his shop seeking to get a portrait of her recently deceased mother on her upper arm. Ms. Laveen has weaved a soft, sensual, new age love story. It's your classic opposites attract tale with a modern twist. What I really adore about Ms. Laveen's writing is the in-depth path she takes with setting up back stories for her characters. The lady goes in on her research!The con? Slight editing issues. They were small but nevertheless they were still present. My above commentary pretty much covers it.Overall, I'd also rate Tattooed Moon a solid 4 stars. It's so wonderful to see powerhouse IR/MC authors come together and put out a boxed set that garners excellent reviews.I'm very much looking forward to reading the remainder of the boxed set. Well done ladies, well done.