Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

1/5 STARS I am so happy to be finished with The Moonlight Child – the last 150 pages were especially excruciating. Overall, this book made me want to punch myself in the face. I bought this because it had a high rating on amazon. This book is the complete opposite of ‘show don’t tell’. If you want flat characters, no character development, everything shoved down your throat with a rusty spoon, and a weak storyline, read this book. The author explains everything – and I mean, everything – so that one can only assume she thinks her readers are either five years of age, or very stupid. Here’s a couple of examples: “As Jacob got closer to the car, he had a clear view of his mother’s face, contorted in anger. She was so very angry.” And, “The lights were still on, and the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe indicated that the engine was still running.” The dialogue between the characters is awkward and unnatural. Perhaps the author had to google ‘how do humans talk to other humans?’ and then produced some dialogue based off of those instructions – and, there is very little dialogue in this book. Maybe? – ten percent of the book is dialogue? The crux of the story, the motivation to keep us reading for 420ish pages, is as follows: a dirty little girl was found wandering alone outside by a mother and son. The mother and son found where the girl lived - a dirty shack with a dead woman inside – and so, decided to take her home and keep her. The little girl then spends the next three years in the house, with her bedroom hidden in the basement, and, every day, she has to do chores. The mother sometimes yells at her and one time, shoved the girl. The entirety of the book dwells on this ‘horrid abuse’ and it is up to the nosey neighbor duo to rescue this poor, unfortunate little girl! DUN! DUN! DUUUN! While the kid’s life is not ideal, it did not pull on my heartstrings that much. I’m not asking for blood and gore, but there are a lot of worse things out there than being told to stay in the house and do lots of chores. I needed more than this for me to care for 420ish pages. The only reason I did not stop reading at about page 30, is because I just cannot start a book and not finish it – especially when I’ve paid good coin for the stuff. The whole thing was overall pretty silly, predictable, and annoying. Having finished this book, today, I feel as though a black cloud has lifted from me, and I have started the healing process. I hope to move on from this haunting experience with the arrival of three new books I recently ordered (I can’t wait to spend time with you again, Zane Grey xoxo). Love, L.A. Pokin P.S. The LARGE PRINT version (that's what I ordered) is NOT true large print. It's more like medium print/just a little above standard print size.