Felicity Reviews

Review by Clair: So Far Away 📗

Reviewer: Clair (Maggie-Nary)

Requester: So Far Away by Maleesha_M

'So Far Away'

Before I begin, I would like to note on this review that I don't include the book cover in my reviews, though it is one of the criteria we have to look at. Therefore, the cover will also not be included for the over all score to be fair.

Nonetheless, I also believe our review shop allows for the writers to request another review from a different reviewer after the first one they requested is published, so you can take this option if you also want your cover to be a part of the review right after this.

Title: 4.8/5

The title of this book is good, and I haven't read other stories under this genre with the same title—at least there is none that I can recall at this moment. Still, I think it can still be improved a little, though it isn't really necessary for you to change it right now since it fits the story well.

Summary: 3.9/5

The elements I'm looking for a blurb are all there, but I think there are some parts of it that has to be changed a bit to match the story and to add reasons for readers to be curious. Then, if you will be able to polish your grammar, that's better.

Grammar and Punctuation: 2.8/5

Just as I mentioned, there are a lot of grammar mistakes throughout the story, but it's not something to be scared about. Fortunately, the story can still be understood despite all of those mistakes. I know you've already warned your readers about your English, but still, I hope you are in the business of improving yourself in this area instead of simply apologizing for it.

Let me help you find where to improve first. Don't worry; this shouldn't be that difficult for you, especially the things I will point out in this area are just basic grammar. I've always said that I'm not a grammar nazi and native English speaker, so my insights are just as good as my knowledge can allow.

Let's start with dialogue tags. See my example below.

"John." She sneered before I even finished.

This should be: "John," she sneered before I even finished.

Actually, I think it's better if you change that tag, or simply remove some part of it to improve how it reads. Still, like what I always do in my reviews, I give this set of reminders about tagging dialogues.

If the dialogue ends with a dialogue tag such as said, replied, yelled, and answered, put a comma inside the quotation mark unless it is a question or an exclamation. The pronoun or the next word after the dialogue except for (I) and a name must be in lowercase. On the other hand, If the dialogue ends with action tags like giggle, smile, frown, laugh, or any other description that has nothing to do with the character's speech, put a period, or a full stop inside the quotation mark, when it is not a question or an exclamation. Moreover, the word or the pronoun other than (I) and a name should begin with uppercase letter.

The same rules shall also be applied when your tags are written before the dialogue begins. If it is an action tag, put full stop before the dialogue, then put a comma if it is a dialogue tag. Lastly, there's no need to put a comma or any punctuation mark after the second quotation mark.

This time, I'll proceed to prepositions, though I'll be using another dialogue as an example.

"Who said I'm waiting on a guy?" My cheeks grew red, and I looked away from being disclosed.