Reviewer: Ablazeisaleo
Author: A_Rey_Of_Light
Story: Whispers of the Heart: A Trio's Journey
Chapters Read: 10
Cover and Title (8/10):I think the cover looks super cute more like a fables tale as it's simple and lucid. The title enchanted me a lot and the cover does hint about the trio. If I were to stumble upon this book in a book stall, it would go on my shelf. The only shortcoming I felt was the lack of the author's name on the cover. Imagine you spend your time writing a book but no one gets to know the man behind the screen...disappointing right? Apart from that, it's simply perfect!
Blurb (4/10):
Hmm, though the blurb does put in the intrigue factor on what the readers can expect from the story, it misses out on the details about the protagonist, the setting of the story (Willowbrook), and something about the plot without obviously giving out too much. Since there are a lot of books out there on this platform, two key elements that draw a reader would be the cover and the blurb. If the blurb doesn't satisfy the above, then there are high chance that your book might get skipped over. The third paragraph would serve as a perfect ending to the blurb however we need a mesmerising opening too!
After reading the beginning of a twisted tale, I think that chapter should be converted to the blurb as it does have the character details and the setting of the story which is Willowbrook. Just take into consideration to make it a bit short, preferably three paragraphs.
Character Description (6/10):
Since your writing style is unique and more like a narration, you did manage to bring about a sense of liking to your characters Emma, Liam, and Alex. I loved how you put in controversial and deviated from the slightly conservative characterization to modifying the sexuality of your characters and the way they open up about it. The only shortcoming is that I wanted to see the characters speak for themselves rather than the author speaking on their behalf.
Plot and Writing Style (6/10):On the whole, the writing style of the book is unique as mentioned before it's more like a narration than a novel-based writing style. I do agree that different authors have different writing styles however I do want to shed light on the fact that the majority of readers out here would prefer prose-based writing to narration. Your writing works well when you actually want to submit your work for a movie ( I hope that happens one day) more like the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child book. Concerning the latter, you can see how many would have read the Harry Potter series to the Cursed Child book, and based on a report it was mainly due to the writing style. Overall it was cute and more like a fable tale for children but as a reader I would have loved to see a prose version of it.
Grammar (6/10):
Regarding grammar, there are a handful of punctuation errors which can be rectified easily.
Always remember that a small punctuation error can change the whole meaning of a text so try to be a little careful in this aspect. Now I know that not everyone is a grammar guru, so something that we writers use to clear out this defect, is grammar checkers like Quillbot or Grammarly.
Overall, the story has great potential to pique the interest of the readers and with a small change to the above-mentioned problems, it's simply going to shine!