The Ghost of Him

6:55 AM Unknown 0 Comments


The book, The Ghost of Him, is a Teen Fiction written by loveinsolitude. The story is written in first person and follows a young lady named Sienna who chases an obsession. Her obsession is a person she's only seen once in passing and has never been formally introduced to before. Sienna is a senior in high school; a picture perfect student, daughter, and friend who is known by all. Caleb, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of her and no one really knows much about him.
The story is written in Sienna's point of view.  Based off the summary alone, I do not like Sienna. Her description is the epitome of a Mary-Su -- or a character that is perfection with no real-world flaws. She isn't really that relatable until we're introduced to her obsession, Caleb. This is where my dislike for her begins to grow. She is hypocritical. She keeps calling Caleb a jerk even though she keeps getting in his face after being told she was bothering him. Her reaction to him telling her off is to cry and then try again later. My dislike for her personality made it difficult to continue reading. She claims that she wants to give him everything and get nothing in return, however, she inadvertently demands his affection and attention.
Caleb, on the other hand, is completely oblivious to her obsession, even though everyone else around him can see it, save Juliet. I'd have to agree with Leslie on the rest of the 'friends' in the circle. They do seem to be loyal to a tooth to Sienna. To the point where they nearly shunned Juliet and Caleb in the lunchroom after their revelation. All over something the two couldn't control and something Sienna never verbally acknowledged or shared with either of them.
I enjoyed parts of the book where Sienna shedded her naive disposition and showed her witty side. When she'd make certain remarks about what was going on and about the situation she was placed in. I liked her poetic take on things. I did not like her overall personality throughout the story. I felt like she was playing the victim the entire time. I have to say, I did like the twist. I was definitely not expecting the ending.
Sienna is a crazy, subconsciously manipulative, stalker. Caleb is oblivious and can't make up his mind. Sienna's friends are her enablers. Kadan just exists. Leslie, I like. 
(Rating ⭐️/5)
Originality ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 
The concept of the story seems to me to be: high school girl falls in love with boy she barely knows, let's watch her struggle to win or lose him. I see that a lot in Teen Fiction. There is not that much difference between your story and those, though you do have an interesting cast of characters. Your ending really threw me for one too. Very nice twist.
Vision ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 
You have a habit of showing, not telling. Telling the story through first person is confusing and makes it seem like the person whose point of view we're looking through has magical psychic powers which allows her to see and feel what other people are seeing and feeling. With a little bit of changing around words and re-ordering sentences, the flow of the story will improve.
ex: I looked at her. "Stop," she said, getting mad.
How do I know she's getting mad? How does the reader know why I know she's getting mad?
Potential suggestion: I looked at her. "Stop," she said, her voice clipped. Her hands slowly balled into tight fists and her left eye began to twitch.
Which one can you visualize better?
Impact ⭐️ ⭐️
Does it move me? No. The characters are flat, they react  predictably, and the story is cliche. I could relate to a couple of scenes, Sienna can be witty when she wants to, other than that the storyline needs a good polishing. Earlier chapters are a bit dull, I found my interest wavering in and out in certain scenes.
Technique ⭐️ ⭐️ 
Your grammar could use a little work. You are missing punctuations in a few places and dialogue tags are somewhat confusing. You should start a new line when a new speaker is speaking, this thwarts confusion. You have a couple of words that you've used wrong and some of your sentences are missing words entirely. You also have a knack for replacing 'you' with 'u' which is really distracting.
Cover ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
All of your words are different fonts. That stood out to me right away. It isn't necessarily a bad thing but it's not really a good thing either. Your font is also cut off on the top left and the bottom right. Remember the dimensions of wattpad covers are 1:6 or 256x400. Other than that, the design is simple. A boy and a girl smiling at eachother. They look like they're in love which reflects the story quite well.
Summary ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The summary was a backstory to the main characters. It shines a light on how easily Sienna falls into obsession and how it all began. The ending part of the summary gives us a little bit of what's to happen in the future.

Overall ⭐️⭐️/5

0 comments: