Reviewing The Canonical Order by T.R. Kurtz

I've been reading books, although, not at the rate I was in past years. Life is extremely busy for me, and I've been devoting my morning coffee time to writing rather than reading. I haven't been posting much about the books I've read, including the books that I've gotten from Booktasters or any of the ARCs I've gotten from publishers. I haven't even been blogging about books that I truly loved that we read in my book club. It's time to catch up! I'll start with the book I most recently received from Booktasters in exchange for an honest review: The Canonical Order by T.R. Kurtz.

For me, this book took a while to get through - the pacing just felt off and bogged down and/or the main character would annoy me and I would put the book down and go read something else for a while. The overall plot of the book is good. It's the writing style that killed me. See my full review below.


The Canonical Order by T.R. Kurtz
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

In this novel, a group of radical Islamic terrorists are determined to fulfill an ancient prophecy to draw the West into an apocalyptic holy war. In the process, the Pope becomes a target, and after a bullet leaves him incapacitated, Chad Stryker, sets out on a solo counteroffensive to stop the terrorists and preserve the Catholic Church.

The overall plot of the book was good, but the pacing-particularly the inudation of details-bogged the story line down. The twists and turns were predictable which didn't make for a very thrilling read. I also had an issue with the main character, Chad Stryker.

Chad Stryker is an ex-CIA agent that joined The Canonical Order. He is supposed to be a likeable character, but he is a flat character who is all too appealing to the ladies. I think the author tried too hard to make him suave like Bond in a way that came across as rather irritating. I didn't notice any real development of the character arc either. He is a rather flat protaganist.

The idea is there, but the writing misses the mark for me.

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Reviewing Looking for Will by Jane Collins-Phillippe

I love a good thriller. I love simple and even complicated plots. I especially love well-developed characters. Sometimes though, plots can be overly complicated and understanding everything about a character and their family can be too much. I recently read Looking for Will by Jane Collins-Philippe and felt that it was a book with a great, albeit overly complicated, plot and overly developed (words I never thought I would say) characters. To me, this left me feeling like this book just missed the mark. It's a story with great potential, but to me it's a book that needs to be edited and polished before it will be something great. See my full review below.

Looking for Will by Jane Collins-Philippe
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book is a thriller set in and around Ontario about a family on their way home from vacation in Calgary when their little boy goes missing from the back seat of the vehicle. The plot, all too real, centers around the boy, Will, that was supposed to be asleep in the car and the two parents fighting so much that they didn't notice the little boy was missing until they were to their motel.

The plot, writing and pacing is great through and especially including Chapter 2. After that...

The book is told from a lot of different perspectives. Too many if you ask me. There is Davide and Jan Dewhurst, the parents of a boy who goes missing from the car, Sergeant Patricia Hayes, an old couple Gracie and Gabe Fortune living in the middle of nowhere and the weird guy with a dark secret, Matthew Pepperal. All of the voices/perspectives made for a really complex plot but at the cost of sometimes being confusing and losing the readers overall interest.

When it came to learning all about the Fortune family, which is significant to the overall plot, there was too much talking about the characters and not enough showing us about the characters. I'm not entirely sure I needed to know the back stories into each of the kids.

It is clear that the book, characters and plot are very well developed. I just don't feel the book itself is well polished and there were lots of areas where it could have been improved to make me, or any reader, like it more.

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**Disclaimer - I was provided a free copy of this book by Booktasters in exchange for an honest review.**