Review of ACED.
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Brett Linette
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- Latest Review: ACED. by Shea Rose
Review of ACED.
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "ACED." by Shea Rose.]
"ACED." is a novel by Shea Rose. It's the sequel to "CrackerJack!" (which is the first book in what has become a book series). Alonzo has done well for himself in New Jersey, he's promoted to a position that's located in the heart of Washington. While he's looking to grow his career, he finds himself in situations that require him to grow as a person before anything else.
While I feel that this book is even better than the book prior to it, I don't want to sell the first book short; it could be argued that one book is as good as the other, given just how good both books really are. Looking back, it's hard to believe that I read this story; by how well I can picture the story, you'd think that I had to have watched it play out either on stage or on television. It could very well be mistaken for a soap opera (from the arguments between Roseann and Aaron to the love scenes between Alonzo and Shawna).
While I can't say that Shea Rose (the author) skimps on descriptions, I think it's worth noting that she has a rather interesting way of describing things. An example of this is when she describes the walls of Anna's apartment as being "eggshell-colored." While it's generally okay to refer to the walls of any room as "eggshell-colored," I think it would've been more fitting in regard to the walls of the kitchen; seeing that eggshells can actually be found in the kitchen, it makes sense that eggshells would come to mind while observing that room in particular. Regardless of the adjectives, the writing is edited to complete perfection; I couldn't find a single error.
A lot of characters who are in the first book are not in this one. While it may sound like I'm complaining, I'm actually not. As much as I like the characters who are in the first book, I do like the characters in this book more. The characters in this book are just that much more interesting. While a side character like Austin isn't in the story that much, the author manages to give him so much personality (such as when he's arguing with his aunt) that he could be mistaken for a main character; every character feels like a main character.
There's a decent amount of diversity in this story (including but not limited to an African-American typist and a Mexican apprentice). I just think it's interesting how the ethnicities of some people are noted but not the ethnicities of others. Am I just supposed to assume a character is white unless stated otherwise? If I knew this to be true, I would deduct a point from the scoring, but since I have no way of knowing, we're just going to move on.
While there's gay representation, whether it's the most productive representation is up for debate. I say that because neither of the two gay characters are upstanding citizens. I'm not saying that all gay characters have to be heroes. With that being said, if an author is going to make someone of a certain minority morally ambiguous, I think it's crucial that they compensate by including someone of the same minority who's socially acceptable. It's not enough to diversify one's story by adding a minority in it; a lack of diversity within a minority is actually what breeds stereotypes.
Given the quantity (and quality) of this book, I rate it 4 out of 4 stars. While the author could've been a bit more thoughtful with her choice of adjectives, the adjectives weren't bad enough to take anything away from the story itself. Even though there weren't any positive gay characters to compensate for the less than positive ones, the less than positive ones were so thoroughly explored that the author had to have put a lot of heart into writing them, which leaves me considering them more of a pro than a con.
This story is not for the faint of heart. Because of how dramatic this story tends to get, I'd recommend it to those who can handle drama. If you like drama, you'll love Roseann; she brings so much drama into Alonzo's life that it's not even funny. Aside from being dramatic, the story is moving. Without saying too much, a series of unfortunate events play out. It's the aftermath of these events that are moving; it's moving to see how the characters cope.
******
ACED.
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
"ACED." is a novel by Shea Rose. It's the sequel to "CrackerJack!" (which is the first book in what has become a book series). Alonzo has done well for himself in New Jersey, he's promoted to a position that's located in the heart of Washington. While he's looking to grow his career, he finds himself in situations that require him to grow as a person before anything else.
While I feel that this book is even better than the book prior to it, I don't want to sell the first book short; it could be argued that one book is as good as the other, given just how good both books really are. Looking back, it's hard to believe that I read this story; by how well I can picture the story, you'd think that I had to have watched it play out either on stage or on television. It could very well be mistaken for a soap opera (from the arguments between Roseann and Aaron to the love scenes between Alonzo and Shawna).
While I can't say that Shea Rose (the author) skimps on descriptions, I think it's worth noting that she has a rather interesting way of describing things. An example of this is when she describes the walls of Anna's apartment as being "eggshell-colored." While it's generally okay to refer to the walls of any room as "eggshell-colored," I think it would've been more fitting in regard to the walls of the kitchen; seeing that eggshells can actually be found in the kitchen, it makes sense that eggshells would come to mind while observing that room in particular. Regardless of the adjectives, the writing is edited to complete perfection; I couldn't find a single error.
A lot of characters who are in the first book are not in this one. While it may sound like I'm complaining, I'm actually not. As much as I like the characters who are in the first book, I do like the characters in this book more. The characters in this book are just that much more interesting. While a side character like Austin isn't in the story that much, the author manages to give him so much personality (such as when he's arguing with his aunt) that he could be mistaken for a main character; every character feels like a main character.
There's a decent amount of diversity in this story (including but not limited to an African-American typist and a Mexican apprentice). I just think it's interesting how the ethnicities of some people are noted but not the ethnicities of others. Am I just supposed to assume a character is white unless stated otherwise? If I knew this to be true, I would deduct a point from the scoring, but since I have no way of knowing, we're just going to move on.
While there's gay representation, whether it's the most productive representation is up for debate. I say that because neither of the two gay characters are upstanding citizens. I'm not saying that all gay characters have to be heroes. With that being said, if an author is going to make someone of a certain minority morally ambiguous, I think it's crucial that they compensate by including someone of the same minority who's socially acceptable. It's not enough to diversify one's story by adding a minority in it; a lack of diversity within a minority is actually what breeds stereotypes.
Given the quantity (and quality) of this book, I rate it 4 out of 4 stars. While the author could've been a bit more thoughtful with her choice of adjectives, the adjectives weren't bad enough to take anything away from the story itself. Even though there weren't any positive gay characters to compensate for the less than positive ones, the less than positive ones were so thoroughly explored that the author had to have put a lot of heart into writing them, which leaves me considering them more of a pro than a con.
This story is not for the faint of heart. Because of how dramatic this story tends to get, I'd recommend it to those who can handle drama. If you like drama, you'll love Roseann; she brings so much drama into Alonzo's life that it's not even funny. Aside from being dramatic, the story is moving. Without saying too much, a series of unfortunate events play out. It's the aftermath of these events that are moving; it's moving to see how the characters cope.
******
ACED.
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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𝓟𝓻𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮
Latest Review: ACED. by Shea Rose
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Amy Luman
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I do want to read this book since I enjoyed the first one so much. I think that probably the descriptions could have been more well thought out, but they seem to be easy to understand. What a great review!
Latest Review: Cruel Lessons by Randy Overbeck
