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Sandstone & Mirrors – The Crossover

Angelique LaFontaine
Inkwater Press (2010)
ISBN 9781592994632
Reviewed by Charline Ratcliff for RebeccasReads (09/10)


So… I received my copy of “Sandstone & Mirrors: The Crossover” by Angelique LaFontaine a couple of days ago. To start with, I enjoyed the cover artwork and I really liked the book’s “To The Reader” dedication. I was so happy for the author when I read about her successful completion of this novel after working on it for ten years. In these hectic times, when everyone is constantly moving at 100 mph, it’s easy for dreams to fall between the cracks, become labeled as less than important and forgotten about until finally they become nothing more than regret later in life.

I happily continued reading but my joy was extremely short-lived. In the very first chapter I immediately began coming across blatant grammatical errors. Example: “She looked over at her husband who is still sleeping.” There were misspelled words. Example: “inpatient” versus “impatient.” There was incorrect use of punctuation. Example: “crow’s feet”. versus “crow’s feet.” If a sentence ends with something in quotations, then the period, question mark, or exclamation point is placed after the word but inside the quotation marks. Finally, there were sentences that were oh so long and overly redundant. Example: “Carli had been staring out of the window while trying to remember her dream for so long that the water was overflowing over the top of the water dish and water was flowing back out of the dish and down into the sink.” Needless to say, I wondered who the author’s editor was. I also wondered how this book had even made it to print. Sadly I had noticed at least ten errors and I hadn’t even read anything beyond page three. However, I kept on reading and hoped that the story itself would be interesting enough to carry the rest of the book.

The premise for “Sandstone & Mirrors: The Crossover” is interesting. A young woman feels that something is missing in her current life. One morning she finds herself in another life where she learns that she is the pawn for which both good and evil are fighting. Unfortunately I struggled my way through the entire book because the writing did not improve. In fact, it got worse. I had to start re-reading sentences to figure out what word(s) needed to be added, or removed, just so I could understand what the author was trying to say. Words like “it,” “to,” and “the” are helpful and more often than not, required. Other words like “and” or “inlayed” had to be replaced with “an” or “inlaid.” Example: “…there was and in ground pool.”

I’m going to wrap up this review but before I do, I would like to offer the author two very important suggestions:

  1. Find yourself a good editor. No one will rave to their friends about your book if they can’t understand it because of incorrect spelling or major grammatical mistakes; and

  2. Visit your local bookseller; buy, and then read “The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White. At $9.95 it’s a steal and the knowledge it can impart to you is priceless.

Lastly, I’m truly sorry I was unable to write a better review for “Sandstone & Mirrors: The Crossover” but I do applaud you, the author, for actually finishing the writing of your book. There are many who aspire to write a novel yet there are few who actually complete it. If writing is your passion then keep at it. Just be sure to recognize your weaknesses and be willing to allow professionals to help you in those areas. Sincerely wishing you the best in all your future endeavors…