Done

I have finished your novel. I don't think I've ever read an entire novel in one week. But, come on, let's be honest. You didn't really write a novel. The copy I have—the one where Lulu seems to have simply shrunk your Word manuscript to fit the width of its paperback trim size—is 494 pages. However, I think there are only 100 pages of story. I mean, a bulk of the writing is the dialogue. Lots of short lines and hard returns, all double-spaced. Your first main character experiences potentially traumatic events, and then all of a sudden we start reading about the SAME EXACT events again from her younger sister's point of view. You repeat half the content! I've never finished a book and felt like I could quickly outline the entire story. But after reading about everything TWICE, I certainly felt that way about your story.

I went into this thinking Angela, the older sister, was the main character. Why am I reading about anything from her little sister's point of view? I can only surmise from the way you write Angela that you didn't really like her. Rather than scrap her as the main character, you just started retelling the story from Bev's point of view. But if you don't like Angela, how is anyone going to get through all those Angela chapters to get to Bev? And even if they do, Bev isn't really that likable either.

You boast on the back cover that this book will teach readers how to love. Supposing that you had carefully crafted the differences between what Angela sees and what Bev sees and the miscommunication between the two, you could have beautifully illustrated how to open one's heart and love another. But instead you've created a repetitious story about two sisters who are practically the same character. Seriously. This far into your career as a writer? You shouldn't be afraid to throw caution to the wind and start over when something stinks.

There you go. I finished your novel three days ago and my overwhelming reaction to this book is still "I hate the format" and "I hate your main characters."