Harmony Hart

Here I am, in this uncomfortable position of having strong negative feelings about a book many readers have enjoyed. I don't like doing this, but, oh my, this book was a bit of a mess.

First, there is little character development. We jump right in with Emma, who narrates the story, but we don't learn much about her. I had no idea what motivated her, or how or why she got to be thirty-three years old without setting down roots in any one place. She also felt much younger than someone in her mid-thirties.

My major problem was something I rarely comment on: lack of editing. I have no issues with occasional typos, but this reads like a first draft. We have an abundance of missing words, extra words, and missing quotations. In one spot there is actually a note in brackets that states "[describe Bruce]", which the author clearly left for herself and then never went back to edit. And then we have a scene where one character walks away, then has two lines of dialogue within the group conversation while he isn't even there, and then makes his return. The whole thing is awkward and comes off as amateur.

The book itself is quite short. The story ends at the 71% point, and the rest is excerpts from other books.… (mehr)