I’m a member of a writing workshop website with a ton of talented people, and proof of that can be found in a novel written by one of them: The Glass Man by Jocelyn Adams.
This book, a paranormal romance, is nearly perfect. Lila Shaw is running through a post-apocalyptic world (which is never really explained), chased by someone she refers to as the Glass Man. She stumbles upon a Pennsylvania farm where she meets and falls for Liam. Then in a twist she finds out she’s fae, and he’s fae, and so is the Glass Man, and she has to save them all, and humanity as well. This has all the elements needed for a great paranormal romance novel – steamy romance between two attractive people, fairies, pure evil villians, dark twists that you don’t really expect (well, I didn’t), and a pace that leaves you unable to put the book down even though you know everything will work out in the end.
So why just nearly perfect, if it’s so great? (And it really was a good book – just not really my type of book. I still highly recommend you read it.)
The characters were kinda flat for me. Parthalan (the Glass Man) is evil and that’s it. Pure evil. No redeeming qualities whatsoever, unless you count being hot a good thing. And because he was simply evil, there was no depth to him. No guessing about the ending, because in books like this, good always wins.
Lila was flat too. She was bad-ass to the point of being obnoxious at times. Yes, I know that uber-strong female characters are all the rage, but there’s a difference between being strong and standing up for yourself, and mouthing off just because you can. A lot of times, Lila crossed the line.
And finally, a big thing for me – why does Lila fall for Liam? Well, because he’s the main love interest – duh. Because they’re both hot – duh. For me, this especially is what kept this book from being perfect. Hot Girl meets Hot Guy. Hot Girl and Hot Guy feel chemistry but argue a lot. Hot Girl and Hot Guy hook up. Hot Guy does something to anger Hot Girl, so she hates him. But she still wants him. Hot Girl and Hot Guy fight. Hot Girl and Hot Guy hook up again. Hot Girl and Hot Guy decide that because of the physical attraction, they love each other and have to spend eternity together.
I realize that romance readers aren’t looking for realism, but I would’ve liked more depth to Lila and Liam. But I guess since this is only Book 1, we’ll see that later in the series.
A series I’ll keep reading. This is definitely better than a lot of other commercially published stuff I’ve read.
