Review: Not for me
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 17, 2013
Book -  Calculated (Book 1, Discovered series)Author - R.S. NovelleStar rating - ★★★☆☆Would I read it again - Probably not.Plot - okay, bit predictableCharacters - okay, a little regularMovie Potential - ★★★★☆ (probably better on screen)Ease of reading - easy.**I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW**So this was a confusing read for me. I was a little surprised and confused by the first chapter, because it wasn't at all what I expected, then the character I was just getting used to was murdered. So bye bye, interesting character.To start off my review, let me say that there was a little too much description in this story for me. It wasn't just throughout the story, there was far too much description put in one bit after another. There was so much description in one paragraph that I was getting a little cross-eyed trying to force my imagination of this character to change to conform to the author's description of her. It ruined the flow of the story for me, to continually adapt my imagination to the writer's decisions. The descriptions were so focused and so intricate that there was really no way of allowing your imagination to run free.I have to say that I wasn't really that interested in the main character Ana. She seemed a little self-centered and career driven (not necessarily a bad thing) and lacking a conscience. She did things that drove the story forward, sure, but a lot of her reactions were odd and uncalled for, or really nave. I couldn't root for her at all.I'm not sure if it's because I just came from reading a fast paced, lovable main character driven story with limited detail, but Calculated seems slow and overly detailed to the point that it detracts from the story. The author has said and done all the right things in all the right placed, adding intrigue, curiosity, mystery etc and the chapters are short enough for a quick pick up every now and then, making it a quicker read, but it just didn't draw me in.As for the story, we're never told what Ana's big 'secret past' is and I'm really not sure that Book 2 will give me those answers either. I may not be interested, but it is a bit of a plot gap. In my opinion, the entire case is left unsolved, as well, with key persons left free to walk the world and never face the consequences of their actions. No-one is held responsible and not one of the bad guys, even the little ones, are caught.Apart from innocent men getting murdered (for a pretty elaborate reason, in an elaborate way, with a pretty strange background) we're really given no reason to care about the story. We don't get to know any of the victims, not enough to care that they're being slaughtered needlessly. We don't get to really know anything about Ana that makes her relatable or likable, so when she's in danger, I didn't really care what the outcome was.