Responding to the Critics – Part 3 – Dark Thriller Beautiful Evil Winter

Platypire Reviews – Review date 2015

I appreciate this review because it’s balanced. As my husband says, “People usually post reviews if they’re furious or exuberant.” This reader mentions why she liked but didn’t love the novel.

Anyway, Maribel writes:

“..I’ll start with the parts I disliked. There were some grammatical errors I encountered while reading that made me have to stop and reread a passage to understand what was going on…”

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I hired an expert, David Aretha of Yellow Bird Editors, to overhaul the editing in 2018. In my opinion and based on my experience, the editor of the original version, distinguished by the baby carriage featured on the book cover, failed the story and me. Ugh!   At any rate, David Aretha has eliminated editing issues. His impressive credentials include: editing more than 200 books for Random House, St. Martin’s Press and HarperCollins.

“…I also couldn’t connect very much with some of the characters. I tried very hard to like them, but some of them, like Ethan, exasperated me with their passive nature. He improved later on, but at the beginning he irritated me…”

Mild-mannered Ethan frustrated Sophia and me, but to make the novel as suspenseful as possible, I chose to turn away from a Frank Martin, The Transporter, or Bryan Mills, Taken, or James Bond type, because that path would be too predictable and easy to write. By the way, I cherish every chance to sit and enjoy these movies one more time.

“..I do have some good parts I want to congratulate the author on. There is one scene in this book that absolutely disgusted me. It literally makes me queasy everytime I read it because it is so graphic and such a scary situation is being described. Kudos to the author for making me want to hit those men in the face with a shovel...”  Mission accomplished. That’s an important part of my job – insuring the reader feels something. Witnessing the cruel and ruthless behavior of the antagonist becomes important as the story evolves.

“…I have to say Sophia, the main character of this story, was a strong female character, all things considered. She always came out fighting when the situation called for it, which is a great quality to have if you are trying to protect yourself and your loved ones. I admired her quick thinking throughout the book, especially with her cleverness in turning everyday household items into weapons…” Hooray! Intense, fiery, smart, gutsy Sophia remains one of my favorite female characters. I write books to entertain, empower and inspire. Overjoyed!