A review by pelicanfreak
The Forgotten Wife by Bree Wolf

1.0

Cover:
Pretty colors but graphically, looks amateur. Gives the book a look of unprofessionalism; that turned out to be fitting as clearly nothing professional was ever involved with the production of this book.

Editing/Proofing:
A professional editor clearly wasn't involved or I wouldn't have found instances of things like the wrong to/too and your/you're.. also I'd recommend an editor for the sake of continuity- since the author clearly doesn't know what this is.

Character development:
Really, there was no character development. There were no personal traits that distinguished them from one another. All fell very flat for me; this could've been because they were all the same.

Continuity:
Pretty lacking. I'd have more to say on this, except I cannot comment on what doesn't exist. A professional editor could help with the lack of continuity.
Also the book was set in the early 1800s but the manner of speaking rarely matched this. There were appropriate phrases thrown in but, they ended up just standing out since it wasn't the norm. I suspect this is considered by the author a 'historical romance' but I wasn't taken back into the past like I do with historical pieces that are well done. I found it awkward and frankly: painful at times.

Plot:
Well... this exact plot has been done before in romance books as well as movies and... nope, I cannot respect it. I respect originality - this book has none. So I can't say it has no plot but... it has no original plot so that is disappointing.

Overall... probably not even worthy of one star since it's a complete rip-off of storylines that are already out there and the author couldn't be bothered to give the characters individual personalities. She mentions use of beta readers; I'd give her one star for effort but.. they aren't doing her any favors if they aren't pointing out the things I've already mentioned. I realize it's part of a series, but I've no desire to find out what happens next or what happened before. It's just so underwhelming. I'm only sad I spent any of my time on this, as I'll never get that back. Even at the .99 it's listed at, it's over priced, considering zero professionalism is involved.
Most things have 'been done before' - that isn't the issue here. Lack of originality can usually still at least achieve mediocracy - however, in this instance, mediocracy would be a vast improvement.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/32618070#