Curio

I really wanted to just love this book from the minute I opened the box it was shipped in. I really hate writing a review that is not positive. I want say negative because there were some good times.

Hidden lands accessed through a keyhole in a curio cabinet, porcelain figures that are really alive, and a strong girl with the opportunity and means to save the world from a controlling power that isn't ideal in any way. What's not to like?

The way the story is written is confusing at times. It seems that the author has a knack for writing a sentence that doesn't make sense until you read the following sentence. A sentence would be referring to a certain character, but i wouldn't know who that character was until their name was finally provided in a later part of the scene. I have seen this technique work in books with very strong character developement, sadly this book does not have that. If this were fixed, I would increase the rating by an entire star. To top that off the world building was nonexistent.

There were parts of this where the writing was great. The grammar was fine, and no major editing flaws stood out. This author can write, but this feels Iike a story that had not gone through the entire process of being polished and perfected. With a rewrite, or two, I would give this another shot because the description is very appealing.

I won a copy of this on Goodreads. I wasn't going to review this, but I was constantly being reminded to do so through my email box.