I almost gave up on this book several times. I'm glad I didn't. I download a lot of books, and I don't always check the genre. From the description, this sound like a contemporary romance book. But if you check the genre, you'll see it's classified as paranormal. If you forget that, you wont' be reminded of it until you are well into the book--if you make it that far.
The first third of the book seems rather regular and a bit boring. Most of this first section is all about the main character, Tara, drinking coffee, staring at a book she's not reading, and longing for her dead husband, Eric. Then, she meets Devon and starts longing for him, too. But that's about it. The reader finds out later why this is, but if you're not patient, you might give up on it and miss a spectacular ending.
It took me a really long time to figure out what was happening. I won't give anything away here, but once the paranormal bits start to creep in, the story picks up. While it's still a little slow in places and you kind of want to shake Devon and yell, "Just tell her whatever the crap it is you came to tell her!" wait it out. It's worth it.
I think the story idea is brilliant. Sabre's creativity and ability to imagine a world so complex as thoroughly as he does is impressive. I just wish the pacing had been a bit faster and there had been some more clues toward the beginning of the book to keep me engaged. There's a lack of foreshadowing that leaves the reader confused. And, generally speaking, when a book confuses me, I give up on it. The only reason I pressed on with this one is because of all of the great reviews.
I will also say this book could benefit from a thorough edit. It is written in British English so perhaps that is part of the difficulty I had with some of the lingo. I'm definitely not used to reading about a car having "tyres" or hitting a "kerb." But there are some punctuation issues (like two periods) and a few phrases that make no sense, such as, "It baffled him as to how Tara had had enough a strong enough will to move the chars before; it shouldn't have been possible." Clearly, it should be "had enough" or "a strong enough," but not both. This is not the only example in the book where this sort of an error occurs and while it doesn't ruin the story, it is annoying. I would gladly give this one a thorough edit for a very fair price should Sabre request my services.
I think this book has a lot of potential. It reminded me a lot of The Shack by William P. Young, and if you haven't read that, you need to. I can even see Watch Over You being a movie someday. It's not necessarily a new idea, but Sabre's take on it is new, and even though his characters don't always do what you want (or expect) them to, you can't help but feel for them.
You can read my four star Amazon review here. I would have given it five stars if it had moved a little faster and/or had less editorial mistakes. If you'd like to check this one out yourself--and I suggest you do--you can download it from Amazon here. The current price is $2.99
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