The Sevenfold Spell Reviews – The Good, the Bad, and the Meh

Some early reviews of THE SEVENFOLD SPELL came in and so far, I am feeling very lucky. Here’s what we have so far–the good, the bad and the meh.

Night Owl Reviews – I was utterly thrilled when THE SEVENFOLD SPELL received a 5 Star Top Pick from the Night Owl Romance section of this mega-site.

… an amazing, imaginative tale that enraptures the reader and tells the intriguing story of what happens to all the other people in a fairy tale.

Read the entire review here.

One More Page – This reviewer gave THE SEVENFOLD SPELL 2 stars at Goodreads. Ugh! Here’s why:

However, the first part of the book felt long for me. Terribly long, mostly because of all the sex. I wasn’t expecting that, really, but I was surprised to read that Talia would resort to that to cure her of her loneliness. Mind you, she didn’t really become a whore so she could earn money — she did it out of loneliness.

I actually wasn’t unhappy with this review, and my husband–who is reading all my reviews first–said I should read it. If you want to read it as well, here is the link.

Kay’s Bookshelf – This reviewer, like me, does not give ratings. You have to actually read the review to see what she thought. It was a positive review, but she did have one complaint:

I am not entirely sure how believable the setting is. Don’t get me wrong, the medieval rural life is okay enough done, but the thing that puzzled me a bit is the fact that royal heads seemed to be walking among ordinary people a bit more often than I thought they would be.

This is not the only reviewer who had the impression THE SEVENFOLD SPELL took place in a rural setting. Which means, of course, for them, that it did take place in a rural setting, and I can’t argue with them, even though I wrote it. However, my intention was to place the setting in a neighborhood of a medieval city, with parts of it taking place on a farm outside the city. Therefore, this is a review that I learned from. I know now to make my setting more clear.

Here’s a link to the rest of her review.

Do I have to focus entirely on the negative? I want to keep it real, but I also don’t what to give the impression that everyone is trashing my book. So here are some positive quotes. You can go look for the negative. 🙂

Book Goggles – This reviewer seemed to totally get what I was trying to do with my story:

Nevitt gives us her own interpretation of this well loved fairytale, choosing to focus on a plain young spinner-in-training rather than on the princess Aurora. Our heroine of the tale is Talia, a hopelessly plain girl with a face full of warts who has no prospective suitors… save for one boy.

She had some critiques as well, which I also learned from. Here’s the complete review.

Pearls Cast Before a MCPIG – I’m not sure I understand the title of this blog, but this reviewer posted the first review of THE SEVENFOLD SPELL and gave it 3 stars at Goodreads. It’s not really long enough for me to quote from, but here is the complete review.

It’s My Genre, Baby – This was a wonderful review for me to read. The reviewer–who apparently reviews elsewhere as well–tagged it as “Top Marks”.

What I forget, of course, are all the people who line the lanes to cheer the happy couple on. Not every face in the crowd is a joyful one. Tanith Lee used to do some lovely off center fairy tales. So did Robin McKinley. Being able to take a familiar story and breath new life into it without undermining the original is a rare talent. Tia Nevitt appears to have it in abundance.

Am I thrilled to be in among these names? Yes, I am. Here is the complete review.

Susanna Ives, a fellow Carina Press author, also gave it a very nice review over at my Sevenfold Spell Goodreads page.

Did I make you want to pre-order it? If so, I have some handy links for you!

• Carina Press – For the PDF (fully printable) and ePub versions
• Amazon Kindle – You can download the Kindle application to almost any device, which you can install right from the Buy page. They make it easy. 😉

Was it nerve-wracking to read these early reviews? Very. I was by no means confident. But a lot of sites–like mine–wait until the release week to post reviews, so you can expect at least one more post like this one. I hope.