The Sleepless Book Reviews [CLOSED FOR CATCHUP)

Cassette Tapes and Sneakers by peachdan14 - reviewed by Raitzyel

Username: peachdan14
Title: Cassette Tapes and Sneakers
Genre: Romance
Amount of Reviewed Chapters: 10
Reviewer: raitzyel

1. Title

I love it, definitely screams teen fiction and romance. Also, believe me when I say that I'm such a sucker for titles with names like that. They sound so original/personal and that itself just makes me want to know more about the story behind it, great job! I can already see it, me going through the shelves and choosing to read a book with your title. It matches well with the story too, so no worries about that at all.

2. Cover

The cover is honestly simple and plain, there's not too much going on and I actually find it almost perfect that way. In a sense, it adds to the charm of the story and its aesthetic. I saw all the other pictures in your chapters and while those were all lovely, I still do think that the one you have at the moment is the best. Keep in mind, that's just how I feel. Your cover caught my eye because of how chill and fitting it looked with your title. For others, they might like something that's way brighter and heavily edited.

3. Description

You introduced the characters, gave a few details about them, and hinted on the things that they'd discover along the way. It's good, I think it has substance and that's always important and essential for a description. However, it didn't entirely draw me in. I wasn't able to feel the push that was needed for me to actually click on the story. To fix that, I don't think you should erase any parts. Instead, I recommend inserting a quote from the book into the description just to spice things up a bit. Again, it's already nice the way it is, but it's just missing the element that makes your book truly stand out. Adding a short but meaningful convo of theirs might do the trick.

4. Plot

I absolutely have such a soft spot for plots like these. Especially when they're done right. It's the typical 'bubbly girl meets cold and overly-sarcastic boy' story but I don't necessarily think that's bad at all. It's your job to make sure it isn't like the others and as long as it's not, people will definitely read it. When I read it, I loved how it wasn't constantly shoving down heart eyes or clichés down my throat. You took your time with introducing the events and I'm glad that it turned out that way. Ten chapters in, I found the pace of the story to be nice and it ended up being a somewhat relatable read for a teen like me. Good job!

5.Writing

Your writing was pretty great! The moment I read the first chapter, I was fairly impressed by how you described and introduced everything well. You showed instead of just telling, and that made the scenes run quite nicely. You seriously have no idea how pleasantly surprised I was for that, since you know, it's Wattpad lol.

In terms of grammar, it was good. A few missing commas here and there, but nothing too much for Grammarly to handle. Just paste your chapters into the site and it'll automatically fix those errors right away! I suggest you use the computer instead of the mobile version though, since all it gives you is just a keyboard that isn't really that accurate.

When it comes to punctuation, I'd just like to point out that there were a lot of errors in your dialogue. They weren't really that consistent (sometimes you'd use a comma to end it, sometimes a period) and you'd constantly change it in one way or another throughout the ten chapters. I'm not claiming to be an expert on writing dialogue, I even think I'm worse lol, but I'll just send these websites and video anyway in hopes that they'll help you. They helped me a lot...

https://www.nownovel.com/blog/fantastic-dialogue-tips/

http://theeditorsblog.net/2010/12/08/punctuation-in-dialogue/

One last thing, I noticed that the length of your chapters weren't also that consistent. Some were long, while others had been quite short. It's not a big deal, maybe it's just me, but I think it'd be better if they all had the same length to keep things uniform.

6. Characters

For the characters, they weren't too over the top and brimming with flirting vomit. Thank you and nice job on that one. Despite the differences in personality, their actions and dialogues to situations were quite realistic, and by the time I finished ten chapters, I could see and empathize as to why they felt the way they did.

Audrey's thoughts were written well and I could totally understand why her personality had been fleshed out into this somewhat cheerful and bubbly (maybe annoying to an extent lmao) teenage girl. Your character development for her was great, I mean it. While I was reading, she also felt and talked like a real teenager, so kudos to you on that one. Also, I freaking love her humour, it's so painfully awkward that I just can't help but actually love it.

For Tyler, I thought he was fine. As far as I could tell, he seemed pretty solid as a character. I found his personality to be really great and almost adorable. I swear, he even reminded me of a guy I know in real life haha, you just wrote him that well. That's all I can say about him for now, since I'm still ten chapters in. I'm happy he isn't some manic pixie dream guy in the book though, and has an actual attitude with real feelings.

Also, how can I forget. It'd be an absolute sin to forget about the grumpy old cashier dude lmao. He's the real mvp. I love you, grumpy old cashier dude. Rock on.

7. Overall Thoughts

In short, the book is great, you write really well, and I am pretty much useless. So, in order to relish on the fact that I am useless with this review, I'll just be doing what I do best; sending my (oh so funny) memes and hope that this praise makes up for it.

(please appreciate this godly lady gaga meme or else you'll break my fragile, fragile heart)

Thank you for choosing me as your reviewer, and I'm sorry if my words have offended you in any way. Also, don't hesitate to PM me if you have any questions. Much love! ❤