Title: This Love Story Will Self-Destruct
Author: Leslie Cohen
Publisher: Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:

"This Love Story Will Self-Destruct" by Leslie Cohen

My Thoughts....

This was a interesting read with Eve trying to find herself...being with the right person with a lots of drama issues that seemed to keep her so very unhappy. Then here comes Ben who seems to come in and out of Eves life. I liked how he seemed to have a order in his life where as Eve seemed to be all over the place with her many crazy issues. I found this story that went back and forth making we wonder would they ever come together and stay together? I found the title of this story really fitted the story as you will see how this author brings this all out for the reader. It was of great interest as the author brings in the subject of 9/11 so uniquely into this story. By the end of the read the reader will get a story of 'two unlikely people who finally find each other. Now, to know more you will have to pick up this good read and see how well this author brings it all out to the readers.

This is the third Fiona McCallum book I've read, and the second one I've rated two stars. There's one main reason this book tanked in my opinion. 

Apologies in advance for the tirade below:

Jessica, the main character, is a self-centred, immature and selfish adult-child. The constant inane babbling of her inner thoughts drove me batty, and her complete inability to think about anyone outside of herself left me wanting to wring her scrawny neck. 

Add to this continued form of abuse to the reader, Jessica's incapacity to put basic symptoms of pregnancy together after the reader was subjected to copious PG-rated coitus between Jessica and Steve, her rough-on-the-outside-but-soft-on-the-inside husband, and you're left wondering how this TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) character even made it to adulthood. 

Considering the amount of inner dialogue the reader is subjected to, Jessica's character has very little character growth, the one tiny speck of change really didn't warrant the 220 pages of torment within the covers. What's with that?! Really? Are there people like this in the world?

This book gets added to my swear-tastic shelf, not because it has a lot of vulgar language in it (there is a little, it's fairly light on), but instead it's added because of the quantity of vulgar language it elicited from me as I read it.

The ONLY reasons this book gets 2 stars instead of 1, is Laurel and Hardy, the farm dogs who were adorable, and the Plain-Jane-but-not-really, Faith. The little filly, Faith, is a welcome piece of sunshine and amusement to the book. If only we'd spent more time in her mind and less in Jessica's. 

I was left thinking:



Not Fiona McCallum's best, but still might appeal to horsey people who don't mind reading about characters that are annoying and downright unlikable.

**Note: I was provided a copy of this book from the Publisher in return for an honest review**

This is the first part of The Quest of Dragons and will most certainly be the last one I read by this author.

The list of issues I encountered in this 42 page story is almost longer than the story itself.

If you are thinking about being a writer, publishing books, please do not do what this author has done, and publish something that is barely but a first draft. EDIT YOUR WORK! Get someone else who is good at writing or editing to look it over.

Worst example of a story I've read so far! The only redeeming features, are the fact it was only 42 pages long and the fact that I paid nothing for it!

Things I noticed:

Issues including overuse of the same word in close sentences:
'Very well' is used excessively.
'Tree, deal, wall, Sapphire' all repeated too much.

Overwritten text:
'You will perish a long painful, agonising death.'
There's only four words too many in that sentence.

Changes in POV mid paragraph.

Use of 'He seen'. Wrong!

Some paragraphs are indented, while others not. This occurs the whole way through the story.

Continuity issues at 82%. The group fled with no supplies yet they unpacked supplies when they arrive at Taisai.

82% - wrong use of their:
'The three sat their(there) for a moment...'

86% - if Taisai is the multicultural hub described when they arrived, why would their presence be unusual?

93% - WTF?!? That is horse shit!

So I loved the Captive Prince Trilogy, like really loved it. I was super excited to see there were short stories in the same world being released and bought this one and pre-ordered the second one 3 seconds apart.

BUT

I feel this short story was quite underwhelming.

The writing, as before, was a delightful mix of sweet tender moments, inner turmoil and the big bad world of Vere, but it was rehashing information we already knew from reading the trilogy. Yes, it delves a little deeper into Jord and Aimeric's relationship, but really it left me feeling underwhelmed and a little bored.

I will likely automatically buy anything CS Pacat puts out there, I love the Captive Prince Trilogy so much, but I hope the next few short stories in this end up being better than this one.

What appears to be some sort of slice-of-life drunk dad leaves family story, swiftly takes a turn for the paranormal.

Scott is a young boy and the protagonist. The climax is sudden and quite unexplained and really did nothing for me.

The writing needs work, too many descriptors that weren't needed, too much telling and not showing (e.g. I was panicking), and in general, simplistic narrative that just seemed bland.

Note: only 25% of the book is actually the story, the rest is promotion of the authors other work.