Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Gift of Sight: Book One of the Gifted Trilogy / Erin Manbeck


Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Supernatural/ Romance/ World Mythology

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Erin Manbeck was born and raised in New Jersey, but has found a new, calmer life in Florida. With a B.S in Criminology from FSU, and a military deployment behind her, she is now working full time and raising a family. Whenever she can sneak away from those responsibilities, she is writing. The "Gifted" Trilogy is her introduction into the writing world and books two and three are now available.

To learn more about Ms. Manbeck feel free to visit her blog or check out her Facebook page.

Description:

“Every break up is difficult, but twenty year old Regan never expected that leaving her boyfriend, Sam, would open a door to people and powers that only existed in books. Turning to her Grandmother for answers, Regan is let in on a family secret that reveals not only what character she is in the story, but what happened to her parents seven years prior.

With the truth out and Regan’s life in danger, Gram brings in the three Guardians who have been secretly protecting Regan. Piper, the fierce fighter who’s not afraid to speak her mind, Maggie the bubble popper, gifted in spells, and Jake, the man who has Regan questioning who she can really trust.

Will Regan walk down the path others have laid out for her, or will she write the ending to her own story?”

Appraisal:

This story starts off strong and we get a good sense about how Regan is feeling about her relationship with Sam. Ms. Manbeck does a good job setting up the story and introducing the characters. However, she gets a little repetitive with the Gaelic history. Regan is intelligent with a strong personality and has a lot thrust upon her in a short amount of time. She is not afraid to speak up for herself or others around her. She also has a lot of high ideals but is able to keep her sharp sarcastic wit when trying to prove her point.

The plot is fast moving, but interspersed with more intimate character development for each of the main players. I loved the interaction between Piper, Maggie, and Jake. They totally related to each other like family. I liked the dynamics of all the characters and Gram seemed to have a handle on all of them. This is a valiant first novel by the author, Erin Manbeck, but I have to wonder if she had an editor or not. I suppose it is possible I didn’t receive the final completely edited file but I have to review what was submitted to the blog. Along with multiple small proofing errors there is a scene that is completely out of place towards the end of the story (around 92%). However, it is repeated in its proper place also. To say it threw me out of the story is an understatement.

I did enjoy this story and feel invested in all the characters’ fates, even Sam’s. It will interesting to see how the story progresses.

FYI:

This story contains adult language, along with several F-bombs, and sexual situations that may be offensive to some.

Format/Typo Issues:

Several small proofing errors that range from missing, wrong, or extra words to punctuation errors that exceeded an acceptable level. Then there was an editing problem where nine or so paragraphs were repeated in the wrong location of the story.


Rating: *** Three stars

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