Review: Original
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 18, 2010
Plot/Storyline: 3 StarsIn the "Forward," the author states that this novel is set in an alternate reality, rather than the actual future. However, I could really see this as a possible future...easily.The novel started off with some very interesting opening chapters. The author did a terrific job of setting the stage for the story. A few portions, such as the marital advice from Emily's mother, almost had me laughing out loud.Unfortunately, once the stage was set, the story just didn't live up to its promise. It just kind of limped along, struggling to make too many points. There were some interesting segments, with plenty of humor thrown in, but it just wasn't enough to make up for the exceptionally weak plot and storyline.The plot was spread out over too many side stories to maintain my interest. The saving grace of this book was the humor and the setting.Character Development: 3 1/2 StarsLewis and Emily were adequately developed, if a little simplistic. My favorite character was the author, Richmond, that worked in the bookstore. With only a relatively small part, he was still the most realistic character and had the most depth.Writing Style: 5 StarsPeople will want to read this book just for the writing style. The sentence structure created a beautiful flow that just helped me slip right into and through the novel. The descriptions were vivid. The dialogue was exceptionally well done with tremendous voice and realism.Editing/Formatting: 4 3/4 StarsThere were a few editing errors, all of which were missing words, those little words that are easy to overlook when editing, like "for," "and," and "then."The formatting was of professional quality.Rating: PG-14 for Language and Drug Use