ARA Review by Lacynda Mathes of Cynthia and Dan

[Lacynda Mathes]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, Cynthia and Dan.]

---

3 out of 5 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Cynthia and her brother set out to fight terrorism with a couple of hackers by dismantling and sabotaging their web presence. When a Droid lands on the Whitehouse lawn, they begin to investigate if the incident was a terrorist test run.

Meanwhile, feeling her relationship with her boyfriend Dan has grown stale, she is swept off her feet when she meets the mysterious and charismatic Sky Eastman, a man meant to bring to mind a James Bond archetype.

I wasn't crazy about the cover. I found the artwork to be amateurish and uninteresting. It should be attention-seeking! Bold. Brave. The cover should make you want to read the book. I know, I know. Never judge a book by its cover. I maintain that's crap. The cover is what makes you want to read a book. The cover here was boring and had a weird font.

Another problem is I hate Sky from the offset. He was condescending and kind of creepy. I didn't understand why Cynthia was so mesmerized that she fell into a sexual relationship with him from the moment she met him.

Cynthia herself was a well-developed character. She was smart and highly capable. There was no motivation for the events to have occurred the way they did.

Ug. And Sky's providing her with plan b pills and pregnancy tests was...Conway Twitty level creepy.

There was quite a bit of head hopping between characters, and while, as an author, I have been guilty of that as well, there doesn't appear to be any awareness on this author's part that she was doing it or any attempt to curb it.

Otherwise, the story is only mediocre.

The writing isn't horrible. But, man-o-man, she could have used some identifiers in her dialogue. Pages of conversation with no mention of who is saying what. It's okay with just two characters, but it is confusing when there are three or more.

I didn't hate it, but neither did I love it. I found little motivation to continue reading. I didn't like the characters personally. Neither were they compelling. I simply didn't care enough to want to read more. And that is where this novel falls short for me, personally.

In the end, it isn't a book I'd recommend.

3 out of 5 stars rating is being kind.

***
View Cynthia and Dan on Bookshelves