5/5 for plot-4/5 for characters-2/5 for writing style-Great story, which is why i finished. Writing style had a lot to be desired. Felt immature and choppy. Way to much useless dialog and minute description of stuff that didn't matter. XHRXI wont read another, which is a shame. ( )

Don't give up on this book. I almost did but a little after page 200, it starts getting good.

I'll start with the things that made me want to pull my hair out and then get to the good stuff.

The book could have been cut in half for a few reasons. The author goes into excruciating detail on EVERYTHING and I am not exaggerating. I like details but I found myself skipping paragraphs of useless descriptions of things that could have been skipped.

Another thing that drove me nuts was she had repetitive scenes that were similar and also annoying. I mean, how many times can she think she is awake but it turns out she was dreaming? I think some of these scenes could have been eliminated.

The third thing was that Keira was so clumsy that I was thinking she either had a brain tumor or she was just unaware of own her feet. I counted no less than eleven times of clumsiness in the first three hundred pages.

Oh, I thought if one more teeth grinding annoyance. The author was constantly alluding to things in Keira's past and other things like why she wore gloves. It was dragged out for so long that I began not to care. I almost just stopped reading because I saw the length of the story and thought it would continue forever.

Okay, I'm done complaining.

Dominic Draven was the perfect male. At first he was a little creepy but hotness can overcome a lot.

I loved her friends and that the author included plenty of humor.

Once I figured out what was going on, I enjoyed the book. ( )

Non è un horror

1. Stephanie Hudson, Afterlife Saga, Book 1
Afterlife tells the story of the owner of a gothic nightclub seeing the woman of his dreams. Dominic Draven sees Keira for the first time and neither of them can stop thinking of the other. Keira has moved from England to U.S. soil and is now living in a small town in New England with her sister. She needs a new start after a traumatizing experience that left her a completely changed girl. Once meeting Dominic, Keiras life will never be the same. I love the detail the Author puts into her books. It starts off a little slow but if you have patience it will be the start of the best series you’ll ever read!! Purchased through Amazon. My honest review has no monetary gain on my end.
( )

Dear, sweet merciful Jesus, where even to begin, to start untangling the catastrophic mess that is this novel.

Let's start by saying that it's long.....too long for the wrong reasons. From page one, the author launches herself in filling the pages with descriptions of Kiera's surroundings, down to the details of her every step. I wouldn't mind, if it wasn't for the fact that those bits of information weren't important to the story. Yet, when she reaches something that could get you emotionally invested in the novel, like conversations with supporting characters, she simply glosses over them in a way that gave me a headache, and made me think, "What's the point of all this?"

If you manage to get yourself further then chapter one, you will be launched in a world filled with contradictions, and scene changes that will give you whiplash. I could have ignored even that, and soldiered on, if i didn't slam head first in to a wall of unoriginal content so extreme, it bordered on fan fiction.

The contradictions made little sense all together and made it extremely difficult to follow the story. At first Kiera loves her sister's house, next thing she say's it's creepy. She moved to give herself a 'new life' away from her past, and her scars, describing how people take extra care around her because she is emotionally fragile. But, the emotional fragility is nowhere in sight, as her mind is focused on gossip and trivial nonsense, like outfits and clubbing. When it focuses on something else it's on a guy. Kiera in one chapter loves hiking and the outdoors, in the next chapter is a clumsy person that isn't focused on physical exertion. She is this fragile flower, and an introvert that also leaves her phone number to the first person she meets, and goes clubbing. She is supposed to be shy and socially awkward, but then gets a job working nights as a waitress in the hottest club in town. See where i am going with this? How the hell am i supposed to know who is this character, if the author herself had no idea???

She is supposed to be a young woman, but from her conversation you get the feeling that she is twelve.This happened because the author aimed for naivety, but overshot, and got stupidity. Small example. - She meets some girls at college, escorted by the most popular guy around, that is giving her his undivided attention, and the girls are giving her an evil eye. She says that she doesn't understand why. The author wanted to portray that her character is above the usual social and gender grouping, and the conflicts that come with them, as an individual that is so blissfully selfless and unaware of her physical appearance. Then a few chapter's later, she describes Cassie as being hormonaly overcharged, as she ridicules her 'slutty' behavior. So, she understands, but is just playing stupid. All for our benefit? Gee, thanks...you shouldn't have....

The entire novel was in a dire need of an editor. So dire, it was on the floor, thrashing, bleeding and screeching like a stuck pig for one. The scene changes were so rapid and unconnected you had to do a double take sometimes, just to know where you are. One sentence, she is in the club, working, trying not to look at the Dravens, followed by:“AGAIN! With my imagination, I should write horror stories for a living!” The sentence after that, she is choosing an outfit from her closet, at home.


The whole: "I should write horror stories for a living".., is a backhanded compliment from the author to herself, for writing this novel...in case you missed it.

There are further things that were annoying, but if i write them all down, my review will have the same page count as the novel. So let's just stick to why i gave up...Kindly note that i would have given up sooner, if i didn't have to shovel trough a mountain of furniture descriptions to get to the key points of the story. This is a Twilight, Vampire Diaries hybrid, without even an attempt of concealment of the key elements of the two. All the hype about the Dravens- seen it all before as all the hype about the Cullens in twilight. All the awe, all the gossip. The black raven stalking the heroine? Well hello Damon Salvatore. The whole cheesy I'm-there-but-not-there-when-you-suddenly-wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-to-watch-you-sleep thing(Seriously? I mean, seriously?), meeting on a beautiful meadow in the mountain crap, hello Edward, where the hell have you been lately?

Overall, the story is a catastrophe, it's not thought trough, it's juvenile and completely over the top. The behavior and actions of the leading character is impossible to follow with your IQ still intact. I guess that there is an audience for this somewhere out there, but i am happy to report that i am not one of them.

The rating for this book is very high, and pushed me into reading it. The only thing i can say was thank god it was given to me and i didn't spend actual money on it. I would have been mourning it otherwise. ( )