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A review by nae_nae_deluxe
UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn
1.0
The plot was a great idea, but I think the book may have needed a few more drafts.
There were a couple of grammar issues (on the Kindle version, which may have been a medium-transfer error) that took me out of the story.
The POV character changed too often. Sometimes even during a paragraph. I felt like the omniscient narrative was trying to let us hear everyone's deep thoughts, and that felt false. It was forced and awkward. Like when the POV was Mina, and she kept thinking of her mother as Sara instead of Mom. Mina sat up and Sara said, "Mina, do such-and-such after school."
I felt like the author's fallback exposition was simply describing—in brand names—what every single teenager was wearing and how fantastic they looked while wearing the outfit. It didn't flesh out the plot or the curse, or even the characters. It made me, as the reader, very bored. Unless it really matters to the heart of the story, I don't agree with the word count being spent on wardrobe.
There were also a lot of moments where we were suddenly being told a character's past. Because why? No reason that I could see. These flashbacks of "I used to have nightmares about little red riding hood, and now my daughter is going to be eaten by a pack of wolves" didn't heighten any emotional connection for me. It just made the characters feel false and flat.
Only one or two characters felt genuine. Nan, when she spoke and did things, felt real. The main characters, however, were unbelievable. Maybe it was what they said, how they said it, or the things they did. Not sure, but the characters pulled me out of the story too often.
I liked the idea of the Grimm curse so I read the entire book. I was curious where the author was going with the plot, but I don't think I'll read the rest of the series. Like I said, I feel like the book could be even better than it is. Maybe I'm just a story snob. I'm not trying to be, but I am trying to learn what makes a story really good.
There were a couple of grammar issues (on the Kindle version, which may have been a medium-transfer error) that took me out of the story.
The POV character changed too often. Sometimes even during a paragraph. I felt like the omniscient narrative was trying to let us hear everyone's deep thoughts, and that felt false. It was forced and awkward. Like when the POV was Mina, and she kept thinking of her mother as Sara instead of Mom. Mina sat up and Sara said, "Mina, do such-and-such after school."
I felt like the author's fallback exposition was simply describing—in brand names—what every single teenager was wearing and how fantastic they looked while wearing the outfit. It didn't flesh out the plot or the curse, or even the characters. It made me, as the reader, very bored. Unless it really matters to the heart of the story, I don't agree with the word count being spent on wardrobe.
There were also a lot of moments where we were suddenly being told a character's past. Because why? No reason that I could see. These flashbacks of "I used to have nightmares about little red riding hood, and now my daughter is going to be eaten by a pack of wolves" didn't heighten any emotional connection for me. It just made the characters feel false and flat.
Only one or two characters felt genuine. Nan, when she spoke and did things, felt real. The main characters, however, were unbelievable. Maybe it was what they said, how they said it, or the things they did. Not sure, but the characters pulled me out of the story too often.
I liked the idea of the Grimm curse so I read the entire book. I was curious where the author was going with the plot, but I don't think I'll read the rest of the series. Like I said, I feel like the book could be even better than it is. Maybe I'm just a story snob. I'm not trying to be, but I am trying to learn what makes a story really good.