starbound's review
2.0
Det aller første som slo meg var: “Oj, denne boka har mange skrive-/grammatikkfeil…” På det meste var det minst én feil annenhver side, tror jeg.
Jeg la også merke til at alt virket veldig “enkelt” -- kapitteloverskriftene var i samme font og størrelse som selve teksten osv. Litt sånn budsjettaktig. Jeg hadde ikke forventet det, siden coveret er nydelig og gjennomført.
The Thirteenth Chime høres skikkelig spennende ut når du leser synopsisen, men den spenningen kom ikke ordentlig før de siste 30-40 sidene (men det skal nevnes at den var skikkelig spennende akkurat da). Det var noen små spenningshauger innimellom, men de varte så kort at man nesten ikke merket det. Følte ikke at jeg fikk bli ordentlig kjent med karakterene, følte ikke forholdet mellom Destiny og David i det hele tatt, og synes ikke forfatteren gikk noe i dybden. Nå skal det sies at Emma Michael ikke er profesjonell, men en bokblogger som har fått utgitt historien sin, men likevel… Så denne falt ikke helt i smak hos meg.
Jeg la også merke til at alt virket veldig “enkelt” -- kapitteloverskriftene var i samme font og størrelse som selve teksten osv. Litt sånn budsjettaktig. Jeg hadde ikke forventet det, siden coveret er nydelig og gjennomført.
The Thirteenth Chime høres skikkelig spennende ut når du leser synopsisen, men den spenningen kom ikke ordentlig før de siste 30-40 sidene (men det skal nevnes at den var skikkelig spennende akkurat da). Det var noen små spenningshauger innimellom, men de varte så kort at man nesten ikke merket det. Følte ikke at jeg fikk bli ordentlig kjent med karakterene, følte ikke forholdet mellom Destiny og David i det hele tatt, og synes ikke forfatteren gikk noe i dybden. Nå skal det sies at Emma Michael ikke er profesjonell, men en bokblogger som har fått utgitt historien sin, men likevel… Så denne falt ikke helt i smak hos meg.
cjmichel's review
3.0
"The Thirteenth Chime" by Emma Michaels is a suspense/paranormal story about a girl named Destiny who seems to be a little emotionally damaged from a past relationship with David and is now engaged to be married to someone else, Scott. However except for the very end, the reader doesn't even get to meet Scott, the fiance. Destiny goes to a friend's home for a little down time but gets thrown into a vengeful ghost's step into the present. Her friend and her friend's mother are hospitalized and Destiny calls David, the old boyfriend, rather than fiance Scott to come and support her during this time of struggle to believe what she saw rather than what reality tells her must be true. The main body of the story is more David's tale as he searches for the truth and finds it. The reader is led to a certain truth about David's past but it is never quite said and as David didn't remember, it is pretty much left unacknowledged. Scott shows up at the very end to take Destiny away, David decides to stay in town and search further for a truth already alluded to for the reader and the story ends because the skeletons were let out of the closet so to speak.
dtaylorbooks's review
1.0
After careful consideration, I’ve decided to publish my review of The Thirteenth Chime by Emma Michaels. For a while I was very torn. After I finished reading it, I had my opinions which went against, literally, every single review out there. No, I wasn’t worried about what the author might think. When has that ever stopped me? What made me hesitant was what my fellow book bloggers might think as Emma Michaels was/is a book blogger.
There seems to be this feeling of unadulterated support for her because of her book blogging status. She’s a book blogger so we must support her. I support anyone that has the dream of becoming an author. Writing has been my life and I would never deny it for someone else. But I will not support by pandering, lying or being dishonest. I will support by telling the gods-honest truth as I see it because that’s what I feel this book desperately needs.
I’m not trying to convince anyone not to like this book. If you want to like it, it’s your prerogative. But as a writer, editor and book blogger, I could not, in good conscience, let the community get people’s hopes up for a book that I feel doesn’t deserve the unabashed praise its been getting.
You don’t have to agree with me. In fact, I really don’t care if you do. Just remember I’ve been doing this long enough that I’d like to think I know what I’m talking about. Plus I really don’t want that $75,000 in student loan debt to be in vain. With that being said, I’m going to treat Emma’s book as I would any other author’s.
*
I wanted to dump this book after the first word. I absolutely abhor the name Destiny. It’s used so often in Suefic that it’s hard for me to disassociate it. But that certainly wouldn’t have been fair. Judging a book because I don’t like the name of the main character? Silly. So I gave it the benefit of the doubt and kept reading.
By the fifth page I was Googling the publisher to make sure I wasn’t reading a book from a vanity press. After verifying that it didn’t look like they were pay-to-publish, I read on. Oh how badly I wanted to stop but I made it to the end for only one reason – to see if Michaels could write the ending. She couldn’t.
Where to start?
Let’s start by saying that I felt like I was reading the first draft of a person’s very first novel who only has a couple years of high school-level English classes behind them. The idea was undeveloped and the writing was mediocre at best.
The writing as a whole was horribly mechanical. I felt as if Michaels just didn’t know how to transition anything so it felt like I was reading a laundry list of actions. “They went there. Then they walked over here. They got filled in on what happened. They left.” Everything was totally devoid of emotions. I was told everything and shown nothing. I didn’t feel any of the action or suspense or character emotions. I was just told what they were and then we carried on.
The incessant passive voice kept me away even more. Had, had, had, had, had, had, had. Absolutely no sense of immediacy. And then there were the dialogue tags after every single line of dialogue. Not. Necessary. If the characters’ emotions need to constantly be portrayed through dialogue tags, then there’s something wrong with the dialogue.
The voice was strange as well. It looked as if Michaels might have been pushing for omniscient third but she wanted to keep some mystery behind what was happening in order to heighten tension by denying the reader information that the characters, whose heads you're in, knew. Which you can’t do in omniscient third. Because it’s omniscient. I wasn’t biting my nails in suspense; I was trying to keep from hurling my eReader across the room. It’s way too expensive to sacrifice.
I actually liked the very base premise between the clock and the jail but the development of it was so immature that as a whole, I don’t think it’s even salvageable.
The characters were pretty unlikable too. The woman and her daughter from the antique shop were pretty pointless except to be moody infodumps when needed. David’s just fucking ridiculous. Over the course of the story he carries an unconscious Destiny down a mountain in a blizzard with a busted knee, damn near drowns at sea (yet is such a great swimmer despite the fact that he’s terrified of the water that he could swim to shore after piloting a boat that capsized during a raging storm) and then falls off a cliff onto some rocks, rolls into the water and then manages to actually scale back up the cliff free hand. By that point I was laughing. Absurd. Stephanie’s a tramp and a horrible friend. Her David-lust (which is Destiny’s ex) is joked about yet serious but I couldn’t laugh at that. Your best friend’s ex is off limits. I thought that was a pretty golden rule. Leslie’s unconscious for 90% of it and Destiny’s hollow, serving only to be rescued by the superhuman David. There was absolutely no character development or growth whatsoever, despite everything that happened. That was bothersome.
Outside of David’s world of Murphy’s Law, there were other equally contrived and self-serving events in the story. For instance, the tree that falls in front of the house decides, after lying still for a bit, to not only roll over the only car but roll right in front of the house’s only entrance (which is implausible in and of itself) to further inhibit the characters. Really? Was there a kitchen sink we could have thrown in there too? The ending might as well have been rocks fall and everyone dies. Except in this case Super David unburies everyone with only one arm and everything turns out a-okay.
Between the juvenile writing and the blip of a story idea buried underneath it, this should have been a trunk novel, without a doubt. Kill your darling and move on.
I honestly can’t recommend this book to anyone. Why? I wouldn’t recommend anyone read anyone else’s first draft of anything ever. It’s just not ready for anyone else’s eyes but the author’s. It’s poorly written, the idea is poorly executed, it’s not scary in the slightest and at the end of the day it could have used, at the very least, one total rewrite, if not more.
I wish Emma the best of luck with writing in the future. I really do. But if I had to be frank (and why wouldn’t I be?), I would highly recommend a good honest critique group. These writing flaws are not fatal and can be killed dead with some solid constructive criticism. The want to succeed is there. I can see that. But there’s a lot of room for improvement.
There seems to be this feeling of unadulterated support for her because of her book blogging status. She’s a book blogger so we must support her. I support anyone that has the dream of becoming an author. Writing has been my life and I would never deny it for someone else. But I will not support by pandering, lying or being dishonest. I will support by telling the gods-honest truth as I see it because that’s what I feel this book desperately needs.
I’m not trying to convince anyone not to like this book. If you want to like it, it’s your prerogative. But as a writer, editor and book blogger, I could not, in good conscience, let the community get people’s hopes up for a book that I feel doesn’t deserve the unabashed praise its been getting.
You don’t have to agree with me. In fact, I really don’t care if you do. Just remember I’ve been doing this long enough that I’d like to think I know what I’m talking about. Plus I really don’t want that $75,000 in student loan debt to be in vain. With that being said, I’m going to treat Emma’s book as I would any other author’s.
*
I wanted to dump this book after the first word. I absolutely abhor the name Destiny. It’s used so often in Suefic that it’s hard for me to disassociate it. But that certainly wouldn’t have been fair. Judging a book because I don’t like the name of the main character? Silly. So I gave it the benefit of the doubt and kept reading.
By the fifth page I was Googling the publisher to make sure I wasn’t reading a book from a vanity press. After verifying that it didn’t look like they were pay-to-publish, I read on. Oh how badly I wanted to stop but I made it to the end for only one reason – to see if Michaels could write the ending. She couldn’t.
Where to start?
Let’s start by saying that I felt like I was reading the first draft of a person’s very first novel who only has a couple years of high school-level English classes behind them. The idea was undeveloped and the writing was mediocre at best.
The writing as a whole was horribly mechanical. I felt as if Michaels just didn’t know how to transition anything so it felt like I was reading a laundry list of actions. “They went there. Then they walked over here. They got filled in on what happened. They left.” Everything was totally devoid of emotions. I was told everything and shown nothing. I didn’t feel any of the action or suspense or character emotions. I was just told what they were and then we carried on.
The incessant passive voice kept me away even more. Had, had, had, had, had, had, had. Absolutely no sense of immediacy. And then there were the dialogue tags after every single line of dialogue. Not. Necessary. If the characters’ emotions need to constantly be portrayed through dialogue tags, then there’s something wrong with the dialogue.
The voice was strange as well. It looked as if Michaels might have been pushing for omniscient third but she wanted to keep some mystery behind what was happening in order to heighten tension by denying the reader information that the characters, whose heads you're in, knew. Which you can’t do in omniscient third. Because it’s omniscient. I wasn’t biting my nails in suspense; I was trying to keep from hurling my eReader across the room. It’s way too expensive to sacrifice.
I actually liked the very base premise between the clock and the jail but the development of it was so immature that as a whole, I don’t think it’s even salvageable.
The characters were pretty unlikable too. The woman and her daughter from the antique shop were pretty pointless except to be moody infodumps when needed. David’s just fucking ridiculous. Over the course of the story he carries an unconscious Destiny down a mountain in a blizzard with a busted knee, damn near drowns at sea (yet is such a great swimmer despite the fact that he’s terrified of the water that he could swim to shore after piloting a boat that capsized during a raging storm) and then falls off a cliff onto some rocks, rolls into the water and then manages to actually scale back up the cliff free hand. By that point I was laughing. Absurd. Stephanie’s a tramp and a horrible friend. Her David-lust (which is Destiny’s ex) is joked about yet serious but I couldn’t laugh at that. Your best friend’s ex is off limits. I thought that was a pretty golden rule. Leslie’s unconscious for 90% of it and Destiny’s hollow, serving only to be rescued by the superhuman David. There was absolutely no character development or growth whatsoever, despite everything that happened. That was bothersome.
Outside of David’s world of Murphy’s Law, there were other equally contrived and self-serving events in the story. For instance, the tree that falls in front of the house decides, after lying still for a bit, to not only roll over the only car but roll right in front of the house’s only entrance (which is implausible in and of itself) to further inhibit the characters. Really? Was there a kitchen sink we could have thrown in there too? The ending might as well have been rocks fall and everyone dies. Except in this case Super David unburies everyone with only one arm and everything turns out a-okay.
Between the juvenile writing and the blip of a story idea buried underneath it, this should have been a trunk novel, without a doubt. Kill your darling and move on.
I honestly can’t recommend this book to anyone. Why? I wouldn’t recommend anyone read anyone else’s first draft of anything ever. It’s just not ready for anyone else’s eyes but the author’s. It’s poorly written, the idea is poorly executed, it’s not scary in the slightest and at the end of the day it could have used, at the very least, one total rewrite, if not more.
I wish Emma the best of luck with writing in the future. I really do. But if I had to be frank (and why wouldn’t I be?), I would highly recommend a good honest critique group. These writing flaws are not fatal and can be killed dead with some solid constructive criticism. The want to succeed is there. I can see that. But there’s a lot of room for improvement.
nmainardiauthor's review
2.0
I really don't want to review this, only because of all the not necessarily nice things I'm going to say. I wanted to like this so badly. This author seems like a genuinely nice person and really enthusiastic about their debut novel, but the truth is that it read more like the very first draft of a debut novel instead of the final shelf-worthy draft. There were a lot of "I am" instead of "I'm", and "do not" instead of "don't". And that right there is the only reason that this book is 2 stars instead of 3. It drove me crazy and I was constantly correcting it. It was sort of okay when it was written in the descriptions, but when it came to the dialogue I was almost banging my head against the book and rolling my eyes constantly. Ah wait! I finally found the word that was alluding me: CONTRACTIONS! They were seriously lacking and their abscence made the whole thing sound really awkward.
Also, the author made it seem like this book was going to be from Des' point of view, but it flipped around so much that I got confused sometimes. And I ended up liking David a lot more than Des. Steph was a good comic relief though, so that was nice when David and Des got too serious. I wish she had been in the book more instead of unconscious... Her mother too. They were hilarious and might have gotten this book another star from me.
There was a good amount of suspense, but the only time I was really afraid was in the beginning when the... thing in the clock attacked. The description was very well done there. Still not sure what that thing was, but anyway that was the only time I was even remotely afraid. I didn't really feel the tension in the ending because of the way it written. For example: (***SPOILER!!***) David randomly falls of the cliff?? I didn't feel like I was struggling with him. And then magically he's still alive after falling off a cliff into a raging sea? Highly doubtful. (**END of SPOILER!**) I didn't feel attached to those characters, except for maybe David and it wasn't enough. Like I said, I feel bad for writing this. I shouldn't, but I do. Maybe it's because I'm currently writing MY first novel and I wouldn't want to hear anything bad about it. But I'm hoping the author takes what I'm saying as constructive criticism.
The truth is, I don't know how you people that gave this book 5 stars were able to do so. Again, not trying to be mean, but I just don't see this being a 5-star book. The idea is pretty great actually, but the execution needs a little work. I'll read the next book in this series, mostly to see if the author takes my advice. If it's not any better, I'm sorry but I just can't read her writing style. Some people like it, obviously. Who know's, maybe I'm just weird. But I just need those contractions!! It's a promising start, but just not enough for me.
Also, the author made it seem like this book was going to be from Des' point of view, but it flipped around so much that I got confused sometimes. And I ended up liking David a lot more than Des. Steph was a good comic relief though, so that was nice when David and Des got too serious. I wish she had been in the book more instead of unconscious... Her mother too. They were hilarious and might have gotten this book another star from me.
There was a good amount of suspense, but the only time I was really afraid was in the beginning when the... thing in the clock attacked. The description was very well done there. Still not sure what that thing was, but anyway that was the only time I was even remotely afraid. I didn't really feel the tension in the ending because of the way it written. For example: (***SPOILER!!***) David randomly falls of the cliff?? I didn't feel like I was struggling with him. And then magically he's still alive after falling off a cliff into a raging sea? Highly doubtful. (**END of SPOILER!**) I didn't feel attached to those characters, except for maybe David and it wasn't enough. Like I said, I feel bad for writing this. I shouldn't, but I do. Maybe it's because I'm currently writing MY first novel and I wouldn't want to hear anything bad about it. But I'm hoping the author takes what I'm saying as constructive criticism.
The truth is, I don't know how you people that gave this book 5 stars were able to do so. Again, not trying to be mean, but I just don't see this being a 5-star book. The idea is pretty great actually, but the execution needs a little work. I'll read the next book in this series, mostly to see if the author takes my advice. If it's not any better, I'm sorry but I just can't read her writing style. Some people like it, obviously. Who know's, maybe I'm just weird. But I just need those contractions!! It's a promising start, but just not enough for me.
eirlande's review
3.0
Engaging enough. Needs some major editing, read like a rough draft. For a $.99 ebook I was able to look past the many obvious flaws in the writing.
allylu's review
4.0
This book was exciting and confusing. Sometimes I couldn't follow where David was going with things he was investigating. I guess I couldn't see into his brain well enough, but maybe that was what made the solution so unexpected. As I was reading, it felt as though I was watching a movie in my mind. I could clearly picture the landscape, the house, the clock, the storm, the island and the prison. That was very well done. I even got cold reading about the snow. I'm anxious to read the next book. I'm looking forward to Emma telling us more about Destiny, her past and her personality. I don't see her ending up with Scott. Anyway, this was a good read. I liked the way the pages were laid out -- I know that seems weird, but it made the chapters go by quickly. I like that. I still have some questions though -- like how...ooops! Don't want to spoil it for anyone.
wheems01's review
3.0
While staying in a strange old house on the west coast with her best friend Stephanie and her mother Leslie, Destiny is the only witness to an unsual attack that leaves both Stephanie and Leslie hospitalized. With no one else to turn to, Destiny seeks the help of her ex-boyfriend David to help unravel the mystery surround the house and the events of that dark night.
Kudos to author Emma Michaels for being able to create a creepy mood. In fact a few years ago I would have happily devoured this book--the creepy mood, creepy town, and especially creepy house have been some of my favorite motifs. I love creepy houses with a hint of the ghost story and in this book it just felt right.
That said, as much as I loved the mood and setting, the rest of the story fell a little flat for me. The character's relationships were twisted and I had trouble believing their motivations. Why did David go to so much trouble for this girl who dumped him, and why did Destiny dump him to begin with? It just didn't fit. There is a sequel coming, so perhaps more of this is explained there, and I admit, Michaels has me hooked to the point where I will definitely pick up the sequel.
The mystery, while interesting was also a little frustrating. I had one major portion of the plot figured out long before I got there, but sometimes that happens. What was so frustrating were the bits and pieces of information that was so sparsely doled out along the way. This also affected the pacing which also felt a little off because there was so much time when nothing was happening.
One other note, the book was categorized as YA (and seems to be marketed to that audience) and while that may be the interest level of the book, the age of the characters kind of feel off for that particular category--at least as my library categorizes them. In my library you would find this book to be considered more adult than teen. Let me make clear what I am saying though. There is nothing inappropriate to the age group, in fact they may find it interesting, but as the main characters are adults my library would classify it as an adult novel. The way the characters acted however, felt more teen like than adult, so that too lends to some confusion.
In the end, it was a good mystery with a great setting and creepy house. I admit I loved that part. I can't wait to see what Michaels does next with this series, and I hope she fills in some of the gaps we are missing.
Cautions for sensitive readers: This was a very clean novel with only some mild violence.
andrez's review
3.0
So... I finished reading THE THIRTEENTH CHIME 10 days ago and I'm just writing the review now because I was very busy with coming back to school and whatnot...Anyway, here it is.
This is a really nice story. The concept is quite original, and though you don't understand very well what the book is about in the beginning because the synopsis doesn't give much away, the story is quite entertaining, though not one of the best out there.
I don't usually talk about the way the book looks like because it's not relevant nor does it help form my opinion, but I really loved the cover but hated the font and size and the way the letters were in the paper. Throughout the book it sometimes confused me and I don't like it when something so mundane as the way something looks like doesn't let me fully experience the story.
The characters were a little flat at times, and David sometimes seemed to be too polished to even be true. However, what pissed me off the most was the way Destiny treated David and how he let her. I mean, who leaves someone for such a -for the lack of a better word-weird thing and then, one year later, after being engaged with someone else, calls that same person for help? And who would go? That I didn't get.
However, I loved the clock. The thirteenth chime. Sense. Everything. I can't tell you what is the cause of the 13th chime, but I can tell you it's amazingly cool. And that I'm going to read the next novel.
Read the whole review here
This is a really nice story. The concept is quite original, and though you don't understand very well what the book is about in the beginning because the synopsis doesn't give much away, the story is quite entertaining, though not one of the best out there.
I don't usually talk about the way the book looks like because it's not relevant nor does it help form my opinion, but I really loved the cover but hated the font and size and the way the letters were in the paper. Throughout the book it sometimes confused me and I don't like it when something so mundane as the way something looks like doesn't let me fully experience the story.
The characters were a little flat at times, and David sometimes seemed to be too polished to even be true. However, what pissed me off the most was the way Destiny treated David and how he let her. I mean, who leaves someone for such a -for the lack of a better word-weird thing and then, one year later, after being engaged with someone else, calls that same person for help? And who would go? That I didn't get.
However, I loved the clock. The thirteenth chime. Sense. Everything. I can't tell you what is the cause of the 13th chime, but I can tell you it's amazingly cool. And that I'm going to read the next novel.
Read the whole review here
britsreadinglife's review
1.0
The writing is juvenile. The character's have no depth or personality. I'm not sure how many books will be in this series, but in less the writing greatly improves, I wont be following this story.
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