Turtle Rock Review Shop

~~~ #22- A Game of Love and Deceit, @khionewrites

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User- @khionewrites

Book- A Game of Love and Deceit

Genre- YA/Romance

Link to the book --------------->

Cover- I'm not gonna lie... your cover is pretty awesome. I really like the look you're going for with it, and I especially love how the calming (and slightly mysterious) blue-grey of the background contrasts with the bright red streak of blood. One thing I will say, though, is after reading the blurb, the theme of the cover doesn't seem to match. The cover seems like it would belong in a mystery or thriller novel, while your actual book is YA/romance. At first glance, if I was a reader looking to pick up your book, I would believe that the story was related to mermaids and murder. Something that I noticed is that your font matches well with the genre and the book you are writing. Just not the background image. Maybe a less intense background graphic might soften the look of the cover?

Title- Like the cover, I feel like the title gives off strong 'mystery/fantasy' vibes, and I can't place if that's what you're going for. If it is, then the cover sticks and sticks well. It kinda reminds me of Sarah J. Maas's Court of Thorns and Roses series.

Blurb- Okay, I usually review the blurb before I even open the book, but because of the last two sections of this review, I wanted to see how your book actually was and if the blurb accurately represented your work. I think you may be trying too hard to reach all the popular tags on Wattpad without accurately representing your work. To me, based on the first chapter, at least, your work gives off more of a 'YA dystopian-survival' feel rather than a YA romance. When I think of YA romance, I think of contemporary high school with popular mean girls and nerdy protagonists because... well, those are the tropes that have been established in that subset of the genre. I noticed that your book is tagged with 'hungergames,' and I definitely think that fits. By incorrectly tagging your book, you will attract readers looking for one type of book, and they may become dissatisfied and move on to another book once they realize your book is different than advertised.

As for the blurb itself, here are some of my thoughts:

I feel like you kind of just jump into explaining the Lovehunt without describing the motivation of the players to play. All you really say is that it gives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to people living in the Stix... but you don't describe what the Stix is like. Even a short, brief line may give the potential readers more context before jumping in.

The second line doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the blurb. This information feels unnecessary given to us here.

The last paragraph is absolutely perfect. It entices the reader and gives a hook that leaves us wanting to know more about what happens.

First impression- Wow. I have no words. Your writing is clean, impeccable. The whole time I read through, I couldn't spot a single error. Your descriptions are immaculate, and you truly have a gift for storytelling. When you described Sabrina's sister, I just felt the hostile, cold waves radiating off of her!

Characters- Although I only read the first chapter, I picked up a lot of information about the main character from this brief encounter. I learned that she has a lot of resentment toward her mother, and once she made a slight, indirect dig at her, I was very curious to know what the woman was like. I think you use foreshadowing well here to build up Sabrina's loathing for her mother. I think her boyfriend is kind of a jerk as well. He seemed to want to pressure her into doing ~adult things~ when she was apprehensive. However, maybe my perception of his character will change as I go on in the story? Wow, her sister seems to care about her and their family's appearances a lot. She must have been given a lot of crap at school/in public for their mother and for their home life. Although she's strict, I can already kind of understand where she's coming from, and I feel sorry for her.

Plot- I like the premise of your plot! It's basically Love Island/any other romantic reality TV dating show and Hunger Games, and I am so here for it.

Setting- I really want to know more about the world and your world-building just from the first chapter because of how much imagery you include. You have a way of describing things that makes your writing intriguing to readers. I usually hate sitting through imagery and writing it myself, but you have definitely mastered this technique, and I applaud you for it.

Other comments- You truly have a gift with words! I'm so happy to have reviewed your book, and I definitely can see you in the stars in the future. Thanks for letting me write your review!

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