Wattpad Book Reviews

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

The book, Reaching For The Stars, is a Dramatical Teen Fiction written by romance1n. The book follows Aaliyah as she trudges through life with an abusive father and a dismissive mother with her only support system being her twin brother, Austin. She is just your average teenager going through the motions of high school when she's met with the new kid, a delinquent young man named Martinez that won't leave her be.

The story is written in first person, primarily through Aaliyah's perspective. Aaliyah is a quiet and reserved person who enjoys solitude. She does not like any physical contact, even if it is from her brother. She is also described as being distrustful of people. We know of her past and we know of her present but we want to find out about future. This character is believable and relatable, however, her actions seems to somewhat contradict what her personality is described as. She does not trust people but she readily 'abandons' her brother, someone she has a connection to by blood, to sit with someone she only just met hours ago. She does not like to be touched by others or to touch others but she helped her father, who had just beaten her, up and into bed-- kissing him on the forehead.

Martinez seems like your typical bad boy getting into trouble enough to be expelled from school. He claims his troubles stem from other's misunderstandings in him. He does not seem to be disrespectful in general but rather rebellious. He has no respect for authority figures (e.g. when he refused to shake the principal's hand when they first met) but has some semblance of morals as he helps Aaliyah when her books fell when they first met.

I like the subject matter being addressed. It is something I think needs more PSAs. Abuse is a huge thing -- and in situations like this, the 'system' never seems to know how to handle it, if they even bother to do it in the first place. It is too early in the book to be much of a judge on anything, but I do enjoy Austin and Aaliyah's close relationship. I am glad to read that she is not entirely alone. The story moves along in a somewhat fast pace, and sometimes gets a little confusing. The lunch scene is very confusing as I'm not sure where the extra people came from. Were they already sitting there? Did Martinez invite them or was it Austin that they were with? Why were they there?

I'd like to read more of this story but the characters need a little work. The lunch scene needs to be tweaked. I like Aaliyah but her personality is a little bit confusing.

(Rating ⭐️/5)

Originality ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

The concept of the story seems to me to be: high school drama. It is too early on in the story, in my opinion, to draw a true conclusion on originality.

Vision ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Vision of the story is memorable, however it is very confusing at times. The chapters don't necessarily flow well. The introduction of characters don't seem to be too natural. They just suddenly appear in thin air without rhyme or reason. The lunch scene is very confusing, but other than that, it captures my attention well. 

Impact ⭐️ ⭐️  

Does it move me? Not really. It may just be too early in on the story, but the characters didn't really speak to me, other than Aaliyah. I understand Aaliyah but I do not know who Austin is besides her twin. I don't really know Martinez all that well (maybe pizza will help).

Technique ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Your grammar could use a bit of work. Commas, commas, commas, commas, commas, commas! Commas are everyone's worst nightmare -- they are MY worst nightmare. Remember the old  saying "when in doubt, leave it out". You need to work a little bit on your word choices, sentence structures, and punctuations. Dialogue tags are also a good thing to read up on. Having too many can hurt a story just as much as not having enough.

Cover ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Simplicity is beauty. You cover stars the main character with an all blue filter -- The sky. The title is written in bold yellow letters -- The stars. It is simple yet beautiful and fitting for the title.

Summary ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The summary gives us a graphic and morbid glance into part of the life of Aaliyah. The part she wishes would end but wishes to hide from everyone, including her brother. The reason I rated this 3 was because the summary contained a few grammatical errors that actually make the summary confusing to read. You have commas in places were periods should be.

Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5