Friday 22 May 2015

Book Review: Amendments by H.M. Lynn.

Book: Amendments

Author: H,M. Lynn

Pages: 351

Read On: My Kindle

How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days

Plot Summary: Two envelopes, two chances, one life.
 

Using an amendment to change the past might mean risking your future. Would you be will to take that chance?
 

At twenty-one Emelia’s life is already marred by amendments. With her father gone, her mother broke the fundamental rule of amending and Emelia’s sister has been paying the price ever since. Now Emelia has her own two envelopes to use however she chooses.
 

If only life were that straight forward. 

General Thoughts: This book was sent to me very kindly by the author in exchange for an honest review. So essentially this was given to me for free but that has had no impact on my views regarding this book or my review. These are my honest thoughts and opinions. 

Things I Liked: 

1. The writing was really lovely, the language was beautiful and it was pleasure to read.  And the writing came as a pleasant surprise. Most YA/NA novels are known for their plots and their action and seldom the writing. So the beautiful writing came as pleasant surprise. 

2. The premise of this book was amazing and something I am sure most of us have at some point in our lives wondered about...if we could change one thing in our life. Change one mistake. Undo a decision. Live a life without regret or simply have an option for a do-over. I have often fantasized about having the magical ability to talk to my past self and do things differently, hindsight is 20/20 and wouldn't it be amazing if we could amend a past mistake? This book takes off from this point and I loved reading about a world where this was possible. 

3. The characters in this book aren't many...and this is a good thing. Too many characters can sometimes be overwhelming. Plus with way too many characters crowding the pages character development may take a backseat. The main characters in this book---Em, Fi and Gabe are all very well-crafted and memorable. 

4. Though this is a dystopian novel, the world is not remarkably different from ours in significant ways. This makes it easy to connect with the people and their situations. Also it makes this book an easier read since you don't have to spend a huge chunk of your time picturing the world or it's set-up.

5. I really like Gabe. He is a nice leading man to get to know and read about. 

6. Em's reaction to her sister's behaviour is on point. She feels angry and upset at her sister and all her feelings seem real and authentic. She isn't some saint who just patiently accepts all of her sister's flaws, Em like a normal person also gets annoyed with her sister. 

7. Fi's downward spiral is also shown very well in the book. She is messed up and really acting out and the author doesn't shy away from showing this is in a hardcore way. 

8. The romance also well shown and not coy or PG-13 as some YA books tend to be. 

Things I Didn't Like: 

1. Hmmm...I just couldn't fully get behind Em using her Amendment the next day of getting the right to use it. Literally the next day! I know the said day was really terrible but she didn't even have all the answers when she decided to Amend it. Why? Why not wait for a little bit...let things play out and then use your Amendment if you must. It seemed a little rushed. 

2. The book took a little time...like 20% of it or so to give you some basic information about the world and how things work...so by that point and even a little later...I kept wishing for answers and little bit more clarity. 

Rating: 3.5/5 


 

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