The Stone Protector by Melissa F. Hart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I promise to be brutally honest with my opinion, but it should not be taken as fact. Any reader should read it for themselves, before they decide if this book has any merit or not. Do not judge this book biased solely on my opinion. If you do, you might miss out on a great read. You never know. It could happen. My review may contain spoilers, but I really strive to be spoiler-free. I downloaded this book for free on Amazon.com. This book was not suggested nor “gifted” to me by the author. I have no affiliation with the author or his/her publisher. This book is more of a novella than a novel. It is very short; therefore, do not expect to be reading this more than a couple of hours. I finished this story in two hours. I am a fast reader, so a slower reader may have a longer read.
For a limited time, this book is free on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Stone-Protector-Keepers-Flame-ebook/dp/B00BKKHSIQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372440516&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Stone+Protector
1. Strong Main Character/ Female Heroine: Luanne is a really sarcastic little girl, who has not grown up much. The reader learns why she is the way she is, but it is still not satisfying that she falls in love in the end. It seems too clichéd for her and I expected more for her, especially in light of what happened to her in the past. I like the person that she becomes in the end, but she is so confused that I do not think that she sees that she is stronger than Dylan and does not need him to save her. 3 out of 5 stars
2. Strong Main Character / Male Hero: Dylan is the male hero of our story, but I quite like the fact that he does not save our heroine in the end. It made his character a lot more bearable, because I feel like he is a bit of a narcissist that can be very vulnerable at times. His softness seems a bit out of character. 4 out of 5 stars
3. Strong Main Character / Evil Antagonist: The evil mastermind would have to be Lord Morrison, but the reader does not know about him until the end and then, he does not really matter anyways. I felt like this character could have been anyone. 2 out of 5 stars
4. Strong Minor Characters: The grandmother, Katrina, is really the only minor character in this story and she is a very important one. I felt like I liked her the best in this book out of all of the characters. She took things seriously and was not afraid to die to do what she believed was right. I did not feel that the other characters had these qualities or were as enduring to the reader. 5 out of 5 stars
5. The Plot: The concept of the plot was very interesting and I become very excited about it. The author horribly executed the writing, but I still thought that the plot was worth it. I have never read anything quite like this book and not because of the writing. I feel like the concept has never been done quite like in this way. 4 out of 5 stars
6. The Setting: Not much of a setting, but yet again, there was not much to this story. Still, I would have liked to see more descriptions of the house and the rooms that the characters went through. I feel like there could have been more. I am not one to gloss over descriptions. I drink them up. 2 out of 5 stars
7. The Dialogue: The most natural part of this book has to be the dialogue. It really was about the only part of the writing that was done right, without adding confusion into the plot. I feel like everyone was talking the way they should due to their background. No one’s voice sounded out of place with their character. 5 out of 5 stars
8. Engaging Surprises: There were a couple of surprises for such a short book, but I did not really feel like they were surprises more like what the hell just happened and then confusion. Surprises are supposed to shock you and make you more invested into the story. These surprises were more confusing than shocking, because there was never any background on the surprises that made you understand what exactly was going on. 2 out of 5 stars
9. Climax: At least in this novella that I read, there was a massive fight scene that was very satisfying, despite the writing issues. I do think that it was resolved too neatly though and the reader never fully grasped what really happened with Luanne, since it is really glossed over. I wish there was more of an effort put into this scene to make it last longer, but also give some clarity to the reader to get them to invest more of their time into the story. 3 out of 5 stars
10. Emotional Response: I literally had no melty response to this novella. I was frustrated, confused, and angry or indifferent to how the characters would end up. I enjoyed the plot, but was not invested in the story due to a writing style that left more to be desired. 2 out of 5 stars
11. Ending: The ending of the novella was very satisfying and tied up neatly into a pretty little bow. Although, personally I would prefer a less tidy ending, it made the book worth the read in my opinion. Did I cry? No, but I was glad that it ended the way it did…although very predictable. 3 out of 5 stars
12. The Writing: I have to say that although I love the unique plot, I am not a fan of this author’s writing. The writing is all over the place. This author switches from third person narration to first person from Luanne’s perspective, then to Dylan’s perspective in the first person, and back and forth through all of these styles of narration and without any warning do we go. I would have liked to see some type of break like Dylan’s POV or something similar to that. All the switching of writing styles left me confused and irritable. I did get it after a while, but it lessened my enjoyment of the book and I really do not want to read the seconds book. I am afraid that it will be just like this one and that would ruin the story for me….although, I do want to continue…I don’t want to risk my money on it. I am not saying that writing like this is necessarily bad. I did enjoy a book called Turned that switched up POVs, but not in the middle of a chapter and it was very limited with how many chapters were a different POV from the main character and they were relatively short. I just think that the author could have done a much better job at writing this story. 1 out of 5 stars
13. The Artwork: I love, love, love the cover to this novella!!! Although looking through the series as a whole it is the same model with slightly different facial expressions and looks like one photo shoot where the author chose the first three pictures, the model is very beautiful and flawless. I love attractive covers, so I am a bit biased. The only criticism of this cove is that the model looks stiff in her shot, but it sort of fits the character, especially in this book. 5 out of 5 stars
14. Genre: The genre of this book is definitely a paranormal romance. There is a strong supernatural element and the romance comes later in this short book. It is a very fitting YA genre, but I question if it would not turn into more romance and less paranormal elements present. I really hope the author keeps the novel strongly paranormal with the romance to just sweeten the deal. 5 out of 5 stars
15. Title: I have to say that the title says it all. I really enjoy the title. The only title that would be a better fit than this one would be if it said “The Stone Keeper”. Keeping the title the way it is adds more mystery to the plot, but I still think that it would be a small sacrifice. This new title does not give the story away, until the reader figures it out. I really enjoy titles that describe the book perfectly and although this title is not perfect, it is very close. 4 out of 5 stars
Overall, I give the novella 3.3 out of 5 stars. So, I would have to give it three stars. I feel like this book is average and that some people might enjoy it, but the writing really deters me. If you agree with me in the writing section, then I would advise you not to read this book, because you will be disappointed. If my review does not faze you, then go ahead and read it. I hope you enjoy it.
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