Book Reviews for PROS

4) Love at Dawn by @LiebeKlara

Love at Dawn by LiebeKlara
OVERALL RATINGS (75%):
Cover: 2/5
Blurb: 8/10
Writing Style: 10/20
Pacing: 15/15
Originality, Plot: 18/20
Language fundamentals: 2/10
Characterization: 20/20

COVER
First off, the art in your cover is really nice and aesthetic, and it really relates to the historical romance genre. However, the font does not attract enough attention from your readers as it is too small (I'd suggest you place it somewhere more visible- at the centre) and you also did not include the writer's name on your cover. Furthermore, with only the title on the cover, it somewhat makes your cover look incomplete.

BLURB
Your blurb seems extremely sophisticated and it is styled in a way that is very historical, good job! You have effectively sparked my interest as a reader when I read the blurb, which is really important, as it is responsible for serving as a hook to the book, letting your work get the chance to be picked up by a reader. On the other hand, you do not need to include the subplot on the blurb, as it should come as a surprise. Sub plots should unfold within the book, and will be revealed as you read through the chapters, so there is no need to state it on the blurb. The entire purpose of a blurb is to draw in your readers and you shouldn't put too much focus on the subplot as you don't want to give too much away and lead your readers astray.

WRITING STYLE
You have a special way of describing things, and are able to convey your story through words visually, making the readers feel very involved in your story! I often found myself enjoying the story, all throughout the entire 10 chapters, as almost each of your chapters ended with a little conflict or mystery that will be resolved in the later chapters, which was pretty fun.

However, some of your sentences are overly simplistic, especially for historical fiction. I'll take an example here, "The town is small, and almost everyone knows each other. It is also (close)d enough to preserve the purest trust and goodwill", and "the old grandma is very kind". While I do get your main message here, you may want to pay attention as to how you shape your sentences, you can do so by changing up sentence structures, although you do have really great vocabulary. Also, work on expanding more on your descriptions to describe the details you already have as well as developing your writing style, so it doesn't sound boring to read. Some of your sentences are technically right grammatically, but don't effectively flow well to convey the emotions and thoughts behind your words.

Another thing that seemed to surprise me was the vast difference in writing style between the blurb and the book. This may be because it is less revised than the blurb, and is still in need of more editing. Remember to revise your drafts and edit them so they have a consistent style. Be sure to use a similar style (historical) to write the book (it does not have to be the same, but make sure it is consistent), so it doesn't seem as if it is written by different people, if that makes sense.

Besides this, I also found some repeated phrases/ words, such as the use of "old" to refer to the woman in your prologue. "No one knows where this old woman comes from", "The old grandma is a mysterious figure in town", "the old grandma is very kind". The overall repetitiveness can contribute to a monotonous and boring tone, which is not something that readers may find enjoyable. Try using synonyms to replace your words, instead of using "old" to describe a person, you can use word like: aged, elderly, senior etc. Besides that, you can also talk about the appearance, like greying hair, wrinkly skin etc, that describes and shows her age, instead of repeating the word "old". This will help your writing come across as more interesting and engaging to read! Make sure this applies to the entire story and not just the description for grandma.

There are also some unnecessary words in your writing, though it generally gets better in the later chapters. Here's an example: "she is already older than anyone in the town". This could have been easily shortened to → "she is older than everyone in town". Removing unnecessary words is crucial for a smoother transition between lines and will be easier to comprehend without those extra words that don't add up or help with the development of the story.