Stronger Within (The Silver Lake Series) Coral McCallum

My Rating out of 5: 3

Introduction

This is definitely not a book for me. I just couldn't get into it, sadly. I know there are readers out there who would enjoy this, but for me, there wasn't enough adventure.

I like reading about adventure and struggle. But this book was the opposite, in a good way. I could see it being an enjoyable read, but for me, not so much. I got bored. But I will say this about it... if you want a book that will drag you out of the doldrums of reality and make you sigh with a sense of comfort, then this is for you. 

Stronger Within, is a mellow romance novel following the fantasy-like relationship between the main character, Lori, and a rocker named Jake. Lori is suffering from an injury when she meets Jake. Having this "​fragile heroine" (as Coral McCallum calls her in the book's blurb), plus the caring yet strong male figure makes a knight in shining armor scenario.

I can see this being enjoyed by women fantasizing over the possibility of a man who is strong, empathetic, and trustworthy, but I find the characters too perfect. Thus, I think this book is more of a romantic fantasy. And there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes we need a fantasy to give us some comfort. 

Development

This is something I struggled with when reading this book. The world building was alright, but I draw the line at the character development. I found no motivation in any of the characters to do anything. They just did things, and I saw no motivation behind their actions. Making the characters feel... empty.

For example the scene where Lori first meets Jake (spoiler alert) after she trips on the beach and cant get up, I couldn't tell what Jake's motives were. He honestly creeped me out, how the author introduced him watching Lori from a distance. I was expecting him to try to take advantage of her, that's how creepy his entrance was. If the author introduced the characters' motives, the scene wouldn't have been so unsettling. The whole time I was wondering "why isn't Lori as set off by this guy as I am?"

Grammar

This book was a confusing read at times, due to the author changing narrator voice fairly regularly throughout each chapter. This is something we authors try to avoid, putting voice changes with chapter breaks or at least section breaks to avoid confusing the reader. Yet, this book has Jake's internal emotions in one paragraph, and then Lori's internal emotions in the next. As soon as you feel settled into the thoughts and actions of one character, you're immediately changed to a different character without warning.

Changes in voice, tense, and case are all big no's in writing unless used with a specific reason. and sadly changes in voice are too common in this book.

The book also had a few instances of tense changes, such as a place where "asked" should have been used, yet the author used "asking," changing the scene from past tense to present tense, and then shifted back again. 

What I loved about this book

Coral McCallum managed to write a romantic fantasy that did it's job. It was charming, and comforting. it had its flaws, but overall a good escape from reality. 

Links

Amazon book link