Book Review – ‘The Gift’ (#1 The Butterfly Effect) by Margaret McHeyzer

No.

Genre: Y/A, Paranormal

No. of pages: 179

From Goodreads:

I have something people want. I have something they cannot take or steal. I have something they’d kill for.

The something I have, isn’t a possession, it’s more.

Much, much more.

It’s a gift.

It’s part of me.

I picked this up because of a few rave reviews from fellow bloggers, and the synopsis had a great hook. Plus, when I went to add it to my wish list on Amazon.com I discovered it was free. Bargain! I’ve read many books in this genre and had a lot of fun… but ‘The Gift’ was anything but for me. I think I’d rather have my teeth drilled, strapped down in a dentist chair.

The writing style felt juvenile. As well as the main character, Alexa, fell through a sequence of events and felt very passive. The line ‘are you okay’ was repeated with such repetition I wanted to turn it into a drinking game but was in fear I’d kill my liver.

Her acceptance of her gift happens very quickly, and the plot all of a sudden becomes very intricate – but this development does not feel organic, maybe because of the writing style, and maybe because of the poorly written protagonist.

The novel takes a turn and I thought it would get better, but Alexa is just not reacting logically or realistically. I feel like its some poorly written, badly acted movie.

To add insult to injury, Alexa says asshole way too much. I really feel like slapping my forehead repeatedly. She also says and thinks ‘ugh’ a lot too. This book is exasperating. Wasn’t this even edited to get rid of so many repeated words and phrases?

And then there is the antagonist, who is almost a characture of a bond villain.

Their relationship makes me want to vomit.

Ended on a cliff-hanger which had me intrigued, but will not continue with this series. There was nothing resolved with the plot by the end of ‘The Gift.’ The writing style did not work for me. The main characters behaviour annoyed the heck out of me, she was always the victim… A whole lot of questions were posed, the mythology suggested, but never explored, the characters weren’t able to resolve any of the problems set up during the novel and then the book just ended. It felt like I was in the middle of a sentence and someone hit the pause button.

The dialogue for all the characters wasn’t all that great. Even the sassiness of Alexa came off as cheesy instead of humorous – which is what it seemed the author wanted it to be.

With ‘The Butterfly Effect’ in the series title, I was expecting something to do with time travel – but we got none of that. I felt mislead.

I could have DNF’d this book quite easily – but then I wouldn’t be able to comment on plot – which went nowhere, character development: nada, and believability was ruined by heavily stereotyped characters and cheesy dialogue.

But it has a lot of potential. I’m shocked given the award the Author has won. But I can’t see myself ever reading any more of her material after this dog’s breakfast. This has got to be the lowest rating I’ve given for 2017.

Overall feeling:   :|

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