A review by csarakas
Wide Open by Deborah Coates
3.0
There is so much promise with this book. It wasn't set in a city so it doesn't have the urban fantasy feel that is so overdone these days. I very much enjoyed the setting and the premise of her story. There weren't a whole ton of supernatural creatures running around; what magic is there is very understated and secondary to the characters.
Ah, the characters. This is where the book falls short. Hallie, our heroine, is just unlikeable. This is fine in a story - as long as you give me a reason for why she's so prickly. We got no reason - hints and flashes of her life (she's an Army soldier serving in Afghanistan, on leave for her sister's funeral) but no real development beyond the surface. There's a lot of running around. She says 'shit' a lot. She sees ghosts, but it's not a 'Ghost Whisperer' set-up. (That part I liked.) She's trying to prove her sister didn't commit suicide. She seems to have a very large chip on her shoulder (but why?).
The ending set us up for the next story. Hopefully, the author will get deeper into the characters and give us something to really sink our teeth into.
Ah, the characters. This is where the book falls short. Hallie, our heroine, is just unlikeable. This is fine in a story - as long as you give me a reason for why she's so prickly. We got no reason - hints and flashes of her life (she's an Army soldier serving in Afghanistan, on leave for her sister's funeral) but no real development beyond the surface. There's a lot of running around. She says 'shit' a lot. She sees ghosts, but it's not a 'Ghost Whisperer' set-up. (That part I liked.) She's trying to prove her sister didn't commit suicide. She seems to have a very large chip on her shoulder (but why?).
The ending set us up for the next story. Hopefully, the author will get deeper into the characters and give us something to really sink our teeth into.