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The Ride: In The Air & Through The Courts

Patti Day
CreateSpace (2010)
ISBN 9781453693575
Reviewed by Charline Ratcliff for RebeccasReads (11/10)

There are two times I dislike being a book reviewer. One of them is when I have to finish reading a book that anyone else would have set down after chapter one and the other is when I have to write a bad review. To be honest I’m unsure which aspect I dislike more. I just know I hate ruining someone’s day…

So, to start, I had a difficult time reading and getting into "The Ride" because of the mix of formal and informal dialogue. Generally, in today's day and age, we use contractions regularly in our speaking habits. When an author chooses to write without using contractions, to me, it comes across as very formal. I have no problem with that style as long as it’s consistent. However, if one character is going to speak “formally” then let’s make sure he or she does so all the time. Don’t have that formal speaking character say “Well, Brook, I probably do not need an attorney, but I will write down his name.” only to follow it up with “Thank you. I wouldn’t have known who to call.” Or, even worse, mix formal and informal together in the same sentence. Because of this inconsistent writing style the story came across as stilted.

I also found aspects of this book to be extremely unrealistic. Tina, the main character in “The Ride” suffers a horrible tragedy and a terrible loss. But where is her passion? Where are her feelings? Where is the emotion that drags the reader out of their happy existence and makes them want to cry? Honestly if this book could read its own story aloud I’m pretty sure it would do so in a monotone because unfortunately that’s how uninspiring it is…
Sadly I found almost nothing positive in this book. It was problem after problem, one issue after another. “The Ride” seemed filled with almost non-stop negativity and I can honestly say it’s one of the most depressing books I’ve ever read. This book is a novel. It states quite plainly on the cover: “A Novel By Patti Day.” In my experience a novel is always fictional even if it does draw on fact or real life experiences. In my opinion a novel, aka fictional story, should, if nothing else be an enjoyable read. In case anyone was wondering…this book was NOT an enjoyable experience for me.

Lastly, my copy of “The Ride” was hand corrected on at least four different pages and I must say I found this practice to be extremely unprofessional. I understand the thought behind the corrections, but as the person doing the review/critique there was still a slight chance that I might have missed those errors. Unfortunately, crossing them out and writing in the correct information definitely brought my attention to each and every mistake.

Best part of the book? The excerpt…but that’s probably because it was written by another author…



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