Official Review: Candlepower by Janet Doolaege
Posted: 07 Feb 2013, 13:23
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "CANDLEPOWER" by Janet Doolaege.]
This book is a work of fiction by author Janet Doolaege. The story centers around Stella, a young lady working as a secretary in Paris. Through a chance meeting she becomes friends with a mysterious girl named Rose who lives in an apartment on the other side of her street. Suddenly it seems that strange things tend to happen around Rose. Unfortunately Stella isn't the only one who is noticing. Add to that some relationship and family drama, and Stella's life quickly becomes pretty interesting.
I actually liked this story. It was slow at first, but it picked up at about the halfway point and got very exciting towards the end. I found myself looking to see if this author had any other novels on Amazon, and am interested to read any of her future works. There were quite a few things I really liked about the story and only one or two things I thought could be improved on, so overall it was an enjoyable read.
I enjoyed the paranormal feel of this book. There is a very mysterious vibe surrounding Rose, but the author doesn't just come right out and say, "Rose is very mysterious." Instead she develops the mood throughout multiple chapters, which added to the suspense of the book and made it that much more intriguing. I really liked that this story was written in the first person. We only know what Stella is thinking and feeling, which also adds to the story overall. Stella, Rose, and all of the other characters seem very realistic and are very well-developed. The final thing worth mentioning is the ending. The author leaves us wondering if there will be another book to make this a series, and if not that's OK, too. I found myself content with the way the story ended, and even could almost make up more of the story in my head which was fun too.
So a few things I didn't like - first of all, there were some small punctuation errors, like missing quotation marks or periods. This isn't a huge issue, and I only noticed it at the beginning when the story was slower. I thought the book started out a little slow at first, and that it could've done without some of the day-to-day entries about Stella. I also would've been happy if the author had left out Stella's whole relationship with the male "love interest." He was a character I didn't really like from the beginning, and I thought Stella deserved a really great relationship as our main character. Finally, I would've been happy with a little more of the paranormal stuff, maybe more examples of what happened around Rose, but that's not really a huge issue (just me being greedy).
Overall I thouht this was a good read. I gave it 3 out of 4 stars, simply because I enjoyed it and will recommend it to my friends. I thought there were a few things that might have been left out and a few things that the author could've developed a little more to make it a GREAT book, but again, that's just me being picky.
***
Buy "CANDLEPOWER" on Amazon
This book is a work of fiction by author Janet Doolaege. The story centers around Stella, a young lady working as a secretary in Paris. Through a chance meeting she becomes friends with a mysterious girl named Rose who lives in an apartment on the other side of her street. Suddenly it seems that strange things tend to happen around Rose. Unfortunately Stella isn't the only one who is noticing. Add to that some relationship and family drama, and Stella's life quickly becomes pretty interesting.
I actually liked this story. It was slow at first, but it picked up at about the halfway point and got very exciting towards the end. I found myself looking to see if this author had any other novels on Amazon, and am interested to read any of her future works. There were quite a few things I really liked about the story and only one or two things I thought could be improved on, so overall it was an enjoyable read.
I enjoyed the paranormal feel of this book. There is a very mysterious vibe surrounding Rose, but the author doesn't just come right out and say, "Rose is very mysterious." Instead she develops the mood throughout multiple chapters, which added to the suspense of the book and made it that much more intriguing. I really liked that this story was written in the first person. We only know what Stella is thinking and feeling, which also adds to the story overall. Stella, Rose, and all of the other characters seem very realistic and are very well-developed. The final thing worth mentioning is the ending. The author leaves us wondering if there will be another book to make this a series, and if not that's OK, too. I found myself content with the way the story ended, and even could almost make up more of the story in my head which was fun too.
So a few things I didn't like - first of all, there were some small punctuation errors, like missing quotation marks or periods. This isn't a huge issue, and I only noticed it at the beginning when the story was slower. I thought the book started out a little slow at first, and that it could've done without some of the day-to-day entries about Stella. I also would've been happy if the author had left out Stella's whole relationship with the male "love interest." He was a character I didn't really like from the beginning, and I thought Stella deserved a really great relationship as our main character. Finally, I would've been happy with a little more of the paranormal stuff, maybe more examples of what happened around Rose, but that's not really a huge issue (just me being greedy).
Overall I thouht this was a good read. I gave it 3 out of 4 stars, simply because I enjoyed it and will recommend it to my friends. I thought there were a few things that might have been left out and a few things that the author could've developed a little more to make it a GREAT book, but again, that's just me being picky.
***
Buy "CANDLEPOWER" on Amazon
