Rosete | REVIEW SHOP [CLOSED]

《Ana》 Blood Secret

Written by: Historyfan2003
Reviewer: ceo_kjinnie

➼COVER (5/10)
I felt the cover could have been better. For a story like "Blood Secret" I expected a more attractive cover. The font used was not pleasing. The orange hues gave me historical vibes however the blankness of the cover made it unattractive in general. I recommend approaching a good graphic shop for a better cover.

➼TITLE (10/10)
In terms of the title, it is appropriate for the story and relates to the plot well. It also adds suspense to the readers. I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction but the title made me want to read the book.

➼BLURB (5/10)
The blurb felt rather short to me. There was nothing in the blurb that would want readers to want to know more. Basically, nothing intrigued me to turn the pages. Provide a little snippet from the story without giving away any spoilers and end the blurb with a question.

➼PLOT (7/10)
Apart from the central plot, I noticed there were subplots as well which I think was quite interesting. There weren't plotholes and the events in the plot were unfolded and executed well.

➼ORIGINALITY (9/10)
An original work by the author. Originality is always appreciated, keep it up!

➼ WRITING STYLE (6/10)
Your writing style was simple and easy to understand. Since the story was written in a screenplay/script format, there was a major lack of descriptions. Try to split up the paragraphs as you write the dialogues, they looked really cramped together. A lot of words were repeated in your descriptions, search up synonyms so that they don't look repetitive.

➼CHARACTER AND STORY DEVELOPMENT (5/10)
The characters weren't described well, which is why I wasn't able to connect with them as a reader. You need to be more descriptive with their appearances. There was no emotional appeal between the characters and the conversation seemed unrealistic; like they were scripted, the naturality was missing. Some of the conversations felt too casual, especially the ones with the king.
If there was a good build-up before everything that happens in the book, I think it would have felt more realistic. For instance, when Voltaire trusted Lawrence to tell him a secret as soon as he met him, it seemed too unlikely to happen in real life.
As for the story development, a few areas felt a bit rushed but other than that, it was pretty good.

➼SETTING/WORLDBUILDING (3/10)
There was little to no explanation of the surroundings at all. As I said before you need to be more descriptive.

➼GRAMMAR & SPELLING (6/10)
There were quite a few errors regarding your grammar. I noticed punctuation errors like no commas (,) and unnecessary full stops (.). There were also spelling mistakes here and there, throughout the story. Also, you must italicize the words in French or German. Try not to switch too much between present and present continuous tense while writing either. I'm sure you already know this but I recommend using Hemmingway Editor/Grammarly while proofreading to make it simpler. You can also submit a form in an editing shop if you are lazy (like me).

➼ENJOYMENT AND ENGAGEMENT (7/10)
Although I found myself losing interest to read further a lot of times, I think this is a great book for readers who enjoy historical fiction. It would have been much more interesting to read if you had brought the feels of 1815 through the story. Some dialogues just felt too modernized that I felt this was happening in the present. Just make the above-mentioned correction and your story will be perfect. Keep updating!

➼OVERALL (63/100)
Thank you for choosing me as your reviewer, it was so much fun doing this review! Have a great day/night.
~Ana