This book was four hours of my life that I’ll never get back..
I won the Amazon Kindle version of this book from Goodreads Giveaways! These will be my completely honest thoughts and opinions.
I have no idea wtf I just read.. how’s that for honesty?
This is a fantastic example of what happens when what should have been a quick, fun read.. turns in to the slow, drawn out death of your attention span.
Spoiler Alert!
Reset Life: Paranormal Fantasy Romance by Bohdan Khomyn
Publication date: May 2021
Pages: 150
Genre: Young adult, Fiction, Paranormal fantasy romance
Series: Book 1 of 1: RESET LIFE
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A young girl with a gift.. that is also her curse.
Ever since she was given a strange necklace by her father, Emily has been able to see when people are about to die, and how. Feeling duty-bound to save these people, she does what she can to prevent her visions from coming true, all the while avoiding sinister creatures she calls the ‘Reapers’.
With help from a band of trusted friends, Emily races against the clock, and many that would stand in her way, to keep these visions from becoming reality.
Now she and her small core of friends were on a mission to save lives, and it was a satisfactory feeling.
Two and a Half Stars
Nobody wants to write this review. The disappointed one.
I love books and adore reading them so I really don’t want to sit here and pick apart someone’s hard work.. but how else will we learn, grow, and(hopefully) improve?
Here goes..
About the book:
What I’ve got so far: a young girl is given an unusual necklace by her father, a very special piece of jewelry that heats up in the presence of (what she believes) is the physical manifestation of death. ‘Reapers’ who appear moments before a clock becomes visible over the heads of those soon to die. It counts down to the moment of their death. She can sometimes save them but not always..
With the assistance of: Mathew, the medical expert. Aidan, her friend and driver(?). Jakob, the mischievous hacker who loves a challenge. And Ethan, the most recent addition to the gang, and Emily’s love interest.
Emily is: Impulsive. Reckless. Inconsiderate. And flagrantly disregards her own health and the safety of her friends.
Overall:
It felt rushed and clunky. Like a pinball, we bounce from one situation to another, with no clear idea of what’s going on. Ever walked into the middle of a conversation.. only to spend the rest of it frustrated and confused because you don’t have all the information? That would be this book.
It’s all over the place.
There is no explanation for anything that’s going on, who the other characters are, their relationship to the protagonist, or where they came from. From the beginning, we can tell that her gift is obviously psychic in nature.. but there’s no information on where it originated or why she has it. I felt like so much of this book is thrown at you with the expectation that you should already know what it means (quite like this review.)
There are a few(so many!) typos and editing errors that it’s painful.
And how many vehicular accidents do you think are appropriate for one character to experience within 150 pages? If you answered ‘three or under’.. This is not the book for you. More like ‘five and up'(which just seems ridiculously excessive to me.) Can we please find another way to put some kind of a shocking roadblock in their path?
At over 60% into this book.. there was still no clarity. Just chaos. She seems to mostly be running around like a chicken with her head cut off.
What exactly was the storyline again?
Disliked: Mathew is in love with Emily. Aiden’s an adrenaline junky and also in love with Emily. Jakob is full of himself and probably in love with Emily.. because, why not, everyone else is! And then there’s Ethan, who also loves Emily, but actually gets her. It’s crazy. You have a suspicious Detective, a shadowy organization, the reapers, insta-love, numerous car crashes, and a partridge in a pear tree. Can someone tell me what I just read?
The ending explained nothing and brought absolutely no closure.
Liked: Her friend’s complete faith in her abilities was so endearing.. and that her character was driven to help others was such a great quality(the boys just appeared to go along with whatever Emily was doing, with no real purpose, which wasn’t all that interesting.) It also became more and more entertaining to see what the author would throw in next.
I will say that this book had a lot of really wonderful ideas.. it’s too bad they weren’t better realized.
I’m left in the awkward position of not knowing how to recommend this to you, obviously, I didn’t care for it, why would I expect you to?
If you do read it, Please, I would love to hear your thoughts.
Those reviews are really tough to write, Sheri, but I appreciate the honesty. I usually don’t finish a book if I’m having this much trouble with it. YA romance love-triangles rarely work for me, but that’s just my preference, There’s no excuse for “so many” typos.
Thank you! We’re bound to run into a disappointing read now and then.. It makes us appreciate the good ones all the more. And I just kind of hit a point of no return and ended up too invested in seeing it through. 😅
It’s a shame because the idea here was good but, damn, the execution was rough!
What do you do with your dnf reads? Do you review them or just wash your hands of it all and move on?
I don’t review, dnf’s, Sheri. I probably should, but there are a lot of them. There are so many great books out there, that I’ll only give a book 3-4 chapters if it’s annoying me. Part of me thinks that a dnf at that point in the story may not be fair. I’ve dnf’d some extremely popular books and authors.
Maybe do a group of mini reviews of a few of them at a time?
I try to give mine until about 30% into the book, I don’t know why that number but, if I don’t like it by then.. usually I won’t. I try to avoid dnf’ing though, I want to like them, and I keep telling myself they can still improve.
But you are right, there are plenty of other options, there’s no reason to continue if you’re not liking it!
Haha wonderful review Sheri! I have lost count of how many times I wanted to start off a review with WTF did I just read?? Of course that sometimes comes with the good ones too but I can totally feel your pain with some not so good ones.
Oh, man, I did say that.. Oops. It’s just too frustrating to read a book you know you’d like “if”..
I probably should have been nicer about it though. 😅
Thank you, it’s nice to not be alone in the struggle, just have to hope the next one is better! How’s your current read going?
Haha no worries, I may have actually had a few reviews I let the frustration get to me on too..🤣I’m just finishing up one that I knew I would enjoy , part of a series I’ve already started so that will be an easy review when I get to it.😃❤️
Thank you, that makes me feel a little less unstable. 🤭 I just finished one I wasn’t sure about but ended up really enjoying. The good ones practically write themselves! And I’m glad you enjoyed it.. looks like we both ended up lucky this time! 😎
It’s always so hard to write a review of a disappointing book, even more so when there’s potential. This book sounds like it was definitely chaotic, so kudos to you for sticking it out to the end!
Thank you.. it was something else.. And I appreciate your kudos but, next time, it’s tossed. Way too many people have been right in telling me that there are more than enough great books out there to read instead.
Definitely. I’ve stopped reading books I don’t enjoy, and it’s so freeing!
Sounds like a great plan! Now to apply it to real life! 😳😅
You write review so flawlessly..it requires really great efforts ✨
Oh, wow, thank you. What an incredibly nice thing to say!
I appreciate your honesty
Thank you! It can be hard, not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings but, I would rather know. Take care!🌹