Book Review - Weeds of Detroit

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm bringing you a BOOK REVIEW! :O I don't think I wrote a single review in 2017, and that's just criminal. This year, I'm doing at least two a month. Some will be books I read last year, and some will be books I read this year. Who knows? But you're getting those reviews! Get your clicking fingers ready, and let's get going!

On the chopping block today is:

Title: Weeds of Detroit
Author: Misty Paquette/Misty Provencher
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Length: 392 pages
Buy Links: Amazon Kindle ~ Paperback

Blurb:
A NOVEL, BASED ON TRUE EVENTS.

I turned seventeen less than two months ago.

A week ago, I ran away from home, in the country outskirts of suburbia.
Now, I’m living at a hotel in downtown Detroit.

At home, you could walk to the corner store when it was dark outside and hear frogs croaking in the ditches on either side of the dirt road.
At the hotel, you don’t go out at night. All you hear is squealing tires and curses shouted from broken windows.
At home, we didn’t lock our front doors at night.
There are three locks on my hotel room door. One in the knob, a chain, and a dead bolt. I’m not sure it’s enough to keep everyone out.
At home, I’d be starting my Senior year in high school.
Here, I’m learning what it takes to survive.

I hope I make it to eighteen.

~~~

Now for the review!
I'm a long time Provencher fan. Since I read The Fly House, I've been watching for another I thought I might enjoy. I grabbed Weeds from Misty at an author conference (Great Lakes Book Bash) a few months ago. I was so excited to read it, I started the day after I got home. I'd heard great things about the book, and I might have wanted a peek inside her life and head. *grin* It's always interesting to find out what events shaped a person into who they've become. Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. I was lost in the world of vagrants and thugs as this seventeen-year-old girl tried to find her footing as a free-range chick. Anyway, enough about how I got hold of the book; let's get to the review!

From a Reader's Perspective:
Oh, man. I connected with the MC, Lael, on a whole other level. I could feel her pain, fear, and shattered heart acutely as she reacted to things that happened around/to her, and I knew her frustration as she ranted at her mother in the beginning of the book. As teens, we always think we have it figured out, right? Anyway, as Lael faced the new and frightening situations in her story, I was actually scared for her. Misty did a great job of pulling me into the story and putting me in Lael's shoes. Even the secondary characters came to life on the page.

Pacing of the story was spot on, and there was never a time I felt like it dragged at all. It was smooth from start to finish. I loved the descriptions of the places the characters were in. There was just enough so I could see it in my head, but it didn't bog me down in details. Plot was smooth, also, and the story worked from beginning to end. It was cohesive.

You know you've gotten hold of a great book when you tear up as you're reading, and this book did that to me. I felt angry, sad, and fearful. It was just perfect.

From an Editor's Perspective:
I didn't find a crapton of errors. That's rare these days, so woooooooo!!! Of course, like I said above, I'm a long time Provencher fan, and this is one of the reasons.

Rating:
1 Star for giving me characters I loved and had feelings about
1 Star for an awesome plot
1 Star for just enough description to keep me engaged
1 Star for pacing that was bang on
1 Star for editing
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended read!

What do you think? Have you read it? Plan to?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

How to: Write a Book Review

Happy Monday, everyone, and welcome to my new schedule! At the beginning of every week, you'll be getting a How to post to warm you up for the five work days ahead. These range from Photoshop tips and tricks to basic marketing plans and beyond. Be sure you subscribe to get all the yummy goodness in your inbox! Today is all about writing a book review. Yeah, you're probably thinking how easy it is, but let me tell you, I've seen some doozies. There are people out there who need to read this. Even if you think you have it down pat, keep going. See if there's something you might be able to do better.

Why am I writing this post? Because I saw a thread on FB yesterday where people (authors AND readers) were raging about the way reviewers review books. I thought perhaps I could help. Ready? Let's get going!

There are a few very simple steps to a book review (all of these are optional, of course):

• Talk about how it made you feel when XYZ happened.
• Talk about how well or poorly the plot was structured.
• Talk about the characters and why you liked or didn't like them or what they made you think of. Did you connect with any of them? Why?
• Talk about the formatting of the book.
• Talk about the pacing (too fast or too slow).
• Then talk about what the book left you with. Thoughts or feelings you had when you were done.

And it's that easy. You can even sum this up in just a couple of sentences. Like so:
This book blew me away when it twisted the way it did. I felt like Henry and Gina were two of my closest friends, and I didn't want to see that little hiccup; it made me cry. There was no way I could put this book down once I started! It flowed from beginning to end beautifully and kept me riveted to the pages. Highly recommended read!

Or, if you hated it:
I could barely finish this book. Because Henry and Gina were never given backstory, they felt very one-dimensional to me. There wasn't a single main, or secondary, character that I connected with. This plot dragged on and on, and it felt like the story was never going to end. I was left sorely disappointed.

See? Those aren't long, but they communicate the basic idea. You don't even have to include all of the above, but it sometimes helps people understand why you're rating the book the way you are.

Now, a lot of the people like to sum up the story. I strongly suggest trying to avoid this when possible. I mean, if the idea is to sell the book and surprise the reader, telling the whole plot in the review makes it so no one really needs to read the book, right? Don't talk about the story itself; talk about your feelings about the story.

Writing a book review isn't rocket science. You can do it, and it literally takes just a few minutes to make a lasting impact.

What do you like to see in a review? What do you not like to see?

Come on back tomorrow for one of MY book reviews! I'm playing catch up from this year, and first on the list is Misty Provencher's Weeds of Detroit!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo