Kat Reviews [CFCU]

Music in Midsummer | Zian

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Author: MissLacyBee

Type of Review: Dragonling Review

Genre: Historical Fiction

Chapters Read: Chapters ONE to THREE

✦ Note: Firstly, I'd like to deeply apologize for being so late in getting back with your review. Life had hit me too hard—what with term exams, as well as personal issues, so I wasn't able to review for a long time, but anyhow, I hope this review helps you in some way and that it's according to what you asked for!

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Cover: (3/5)

The cover you have on the story is fitting! I can get the regency vibes, and the whole ballroom vibes, too, so it's good in that it accurately portrays the kind of story it's going to be as well as the main premise. However, I feel the blending of the characters in the cover with the background is not subtle, and it needs to mix in better. Right now, the characters stand out a lot more, while the actual backdrop doesn't shine through much. I'd suggest reaching out to any graphic designer who has their graphic shop up on Wattpad and perhaps requesting a cover for this book from them! 

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Title: (5/5)

The title is perfect—rather, more than perfect—for the kind of story this is. It fits in appropriately with the theme, while not giving away too much information. The word 'mid-summer' also brings out the noble, Regency-era Britain vibes, so you did a spectacular job at naming the book. 

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Blurb: (3/5)

By no means is the blurb bad or unprofessionally written; however, I feel it is too short in length and doesn't really establish anything at the moment. Readers would pick up the book after reading the blurb, and they need neither too much nor just a modicum of information; they need the right amount. 

Where on one hand I can see you have established the fact that Katherine douses the Lord with the wine and that she also kisses the brother of the person who she poured she wined on, that's where it ends. You have mentioned a part about there being 'mysteries' and 'secrets' when Katherine gets dragged into a situation she cannot escape. I'd not suggest, obviously, telling what these mysteries and secrets are, but if possible, a little more contextualization and establishing of the main hook around the said mysteries and secrets can help you pull the readers in!

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Plot and Characters: (9.5/10)

Needless to say, I don't have much to say about this part. You did an excellent job at pacing the story fast and getting straight to the point. From the first point onward, you planted Katherine's clumsiness and her running into trouble, which obviously built up to the part where she pours wine all over Henry. It was crisp, and it was done at a pace that made the reader want to continue reading without even realizing they'd come so far into the story. I flew through the three chapters I was slated to review, and all three progressed at a good pace!

The characters were incredibly well-done, as well. Right off the bat, as I mentioned above, you managed to flesh out Katherine. The way she spoke and hastened down the stairs to catch up with Amelia hinted at the fact that she was gauche and that, this clumsiness, would have her wound up in trouble soon enough. You jumped straight into what was necessary without thrusting in what wasn't necessary. Henry and Samuel were equally well-done! Even though we didn't get to know much about them, because, of course, it was only the beginning, the characteristics that the plot of the story warranted were portrayed quite well—how Samuel is insouciant to his brother's offense and the way he doesn't mind Katherine's clumsiness, whereas his brother is a grouchy person who gets offended when Katherine spills wine all over him.


The strength of the plot and the characterization, however, was that you didn't tell anything, and even when there were tidbits of character backstory, they were so subtly woven through, that I didn't see them as anything glaring or distracting from the main plot. While I'm not a proponent of 'show, don't tell' I do believe there should be an appropriate balance, and you seemed to have trodden the fine line between them, so great job! I really enjoyed the characters and the plot progression in the first three chapters. 

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Descriptions: (6/10)

Well, this is the part where I feel the story fell a bit flat for me. I do understand the writing style not being descriptive, which could very well be the case here, but since the story is set in a historical era, the establishment of the setting is of the essence. The best rule of thumb is to make use of the five senses and have the main character be a conduit through whom the surrounding world is experienced by the reader. I wanted to drift off into that time period and see the atmosphere of the ball, but it just didn't strike true.


For instance, almost negligible differences were provided for Samuel and Thomas in that even if there were any, they didn't stand out—the only I remember is Samuel's eyes being green. Going into lengthy descriptions and droning on about character appearances or settings is not what I'm trying to recommend, but splashing it in creatively along with the narrative can blush up the entire atmosphere that you wish to convey!

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Prose and Grammar: (9.5/10)

I spotted no grammatical or prose-level errors—and I mean it, no errors—in the first three chapters I read. Your prose is beautifully written, and I couldn't have thought of a better style for the story to have been written in. It sounds so rich, so in tune with the character's voice and so intimate that I was able to put myself into Katherine's shoes from the get-go. It also uses the fanciful wordage of those times, which only adds to the theme and the atmosphere of the story. Your punctuation, variation in sentence structure, and formatting were on point.


There was only one thing I'd recommend cutting down, but it's not very jarring, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt. At some points, I found a few filler words like 'thought' 'admitted' 'decided'. They're not always avoidable, but they should be used sparingly, and whenever possible, should be cut down, because they distance the reader from the narrative and can fling them out of the story. Otherwise, I had no issues with the prose, grammar, formatting, or style! All was excellently carried out here.

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Overall Enjoyment: (10/10)

You've managed to craft a riveting story! As mentioned above, I flew through the story, and there was not a part of it that I felt was dragged. Even though I'm a bit late to this review, I'm grateful to have stumbled upon your story and gotten a chance to read it. I hope to continue it from my personal account as and when I have some spare time. 

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Overall Score: 46/55

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I hope this review helps you with your writing! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to drop them down in the comment section below. It was a joy to read your story!

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