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[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Borrowede Time" by Ralph F. Brady.]

A Book Review of Borrowed Time by Ralph F. Brady

Borrowed Time by Ralph F. Brady is the story of Richard Carpenter, a smart man with what could potentially be a life ending cancer. In order to save himself he decides to do something drastic. He decides to go back in time to convince one of his family members to change their life style habits in order to spare his own life. It's a risky move, but with only months left to live, Richard feels it's worth it and so he starts on an epic time traveling adventure.

Filled with historical nuances, great character description, time travel, and scientific explanations that are seemingly very based in fact, the book should've been something that I loved. "Should've" being the operative words of that sentence.

From the point of view of a history buff, Borrowed Time had everything I could've hoped for. It had the main character dressing in historically accurate clothing, staying in historically accurate lodgings, and even the currency calculations were correct and relevant. The story even had a few entertaining moments where Richard's modern jokes or references fell flat in a historical setting. Those moments were absolutely priceless and I found myself enjoying them more than anything else.

From the point of view of a science enthusiast, Borrowed Time was still great. It had lengthy scientific explanations that actually sort of made sense, high tech laboratories, time machines, submarines, basically it had everything a science nerd and Doctor Who fan could wish for.

But here's what tripped the story up. With all of that information and research crammed in chapter after chapter, the book itself was a rather dry read. I can't honestly say I was emotionally attached to the main character at all. If there was anything for me to be attached to, it would probably have to be the historical and scientific research, not the main character.

Now, don't misunderstand me. There were parts I really enjoyed. The ingenuity of the plot idea was wonderful to watch unfold. Also, some of the humor in the dialogue actually made me laugh out loud a few times! However, even with an ingenuous plot and witty dialogue, I still felt no emotional attachment to Richard what so ever.

I felt bad for him, certainly. After all, no one deserves to have cancer, but it was very much an "outside-looking-in" experience. While that is often a side effect of stories told from the third-person point of view, I just don't think it did the story any favors.

While I was satisfied with the ending, I can't say that the story itself as a whole ranks very high on my own personal scale. It didn't drag me in and make me want to read it late into the night and as much as I love books that have been well researched, I can't bring myself to rank it any lower or higher than a 2 out of 4 stars.

There is a lot the author could improve on from a story telling point of view, and there were also a number of structural and grammatical errors that I noticed throughout the book. From missing punctuation to many sentences that were clearly missing words, the book contained some errors that couldn't be easily ignored.

However, if someone is looking for a story to read that is chock full of research and very believable scientific time travel explanations, Borrowed Time is definitely the book for them.

In conclusion, with some polishing, Borrowed Time has the potential to be a very, very good book.

******
Borrowede Time
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Very well constructed and thought out review and I appreciate the incite of your criticisms. I made the mistake of having family members edit the manuscript which was a big mistake and resulted in some of the errors that you noted. When I reread the finished copy I also found many errors that I would have liked to have corrected. If there is ever a second printing, the changes and corrections which I made to the eBook file will all be reflected.

Thanks, Ralph Brady

karateguy wrote:Ralph Brady

First off, congratulations on publishing a book. Even with the little bumps in the road as far as the manuscript goes, it still was a good book. As I said above, I'm a history buff and science nerd so I did enjoy that aspect of your story. Honestly, I'm very impressed by the research you put into it. Often times, authors in general don't do the necessary research before writing a book so I definitely appreciated the effort you put in.

As for the editing, that is very understandable. Family members, even the most well-meaning, can sometimes be biased and so therefore miss mistakes that might not have slipped through the fingers of editors whose job is to edit novels. Anyway, I do have a suggestion or two on that front.

From what I understand based off of your response, you may not have gone to a professional editor. Again, very understandable. They can be more than a little expensive and that can be difficult to deal with especially if you're on a tight budget or time frame.

However, there are some other more accessible options. Have you ever thought of approaching a beta reader or posting an excerpt of a draft on Wattpad? I find that sometimes having an unbiased outside opinion on rough drafts can help when it comes to editing. While posting on Wattpad does come with its own ups and downs (for instance the readership is often primarily young adults and teens, it can be difficult to actually get your story read, etc.), if you take the time to look around the site, you can usually find other dedicated writers who will give your book a look and a critique in exchange for giving theirs a similar critique.

I won't lie, if you get a particularly harsh critic it can be a blow to the ego, but generally the serious critics on the site are very honest and they do try not to be too cruel in their criticisms.

I don't know if that's something you'd be interested in finding out about, but from my own experiences with the site (I've used it to practice writing reviews among other things), it seems to help writers with their drafts more than it hurts them.

Anyway, once again, well done with the book and good luck with your future writing!

Sarah Penney

Very balanced review. Nice job!

rssllue wrote:Very balanced review. Nice job!

Thank you! Also, thanks for reading the review.

You are most welcome! It was really thorough and well done!

That was a very honest review. It seems like Richard is not a very relatable character. Good job on the review.

kimmyschemy06 wrote:That was a very honest review. It seems like Richard is not a very relatable character. Good job on the review.

Well, in some ways he was, but they were outnumbered by the ways in which he wasn't. Thanks for reading the review!