Angel Diaries Volume One

by Larissa Hinton

[violetpeanut]

I'm not going to give this book a rating for a couple of reasons. First, I didn't finish it. Normally that would warrant a one star rating. Second, I really want to support self-published authors. I realize how much work it takes to write and then publish your work and I cringe at the thought that this book's first rating would be so low. As you read the rest of this review, please keep in mind that I did not finish the book and it is possible that some of the things I have a problem with are explained later on in the book.

Having said that, here's why I didn't finish it:

I have a 100 page policy. An author has 100 pages to create a setting, characters and circumstances that are worth spending my time with. I didn't really find that here. There were a lot of inconsistencies and annoying and unrealistic characters.

First, the book is written in what I presume are supposed to be diary entries. The headings give the time of day and the location of the main character. I say "supposed to be diary entries" because they don't really read like diary entries. They are written from the main characters point of view and in past tense as a diary entry would be but, in general, that's where the similarities end. I think most people writing in a diary would not be describing things in detail or writing long lengths of dialogue. A diary is for yourself - not for anyone else so since you had already experienced what you're writing about, you would write more about your reactions and feelings than about the details of the event.

Second, I really disliked the main character, Lindsey. She comes off as very immature and wishy-washy. She's stringing along these two guys, her boyfriend Phillip and her ex-boyfriend Luke. She says she's so in love with her boyfriend, but then in the next sentence she's making out with her ex. Then she doesn't understand why her boyfriend won't talk to her... The whole situation was ridiculous and there were a couple of scenes in particular (the movie theater, for example) that were particularly ridiculous.

There were other parts of the book that didn't make a whole lot of sense, either. You can check out my updates while reading to see them.

Overall, I was irritated by the main character, did not understand the actions of the supporting characters, found inconsistencies with them and with the storyline and generally found this frustrating to read. Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book.