Official Review: Time Tells Tales by Stephanie Fletcher

peprica21 · Post by **peprica21** » 02 Dec 2015, 13:56

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Time Tells Tales" by Stephanie Fletcher.]

2 out of 4 stars

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Time Tells Tales, by Stephanie Fletcher, is a fictional novel weaving five characters’ lives together. This story tells the tale of the Bennett family, spanning from the early 1900s all the way to present day. Fletcher sets the novel in both England and Ireland.

Five characters provide the reader their perspective of the Bennett family history. The reader travels with Alfred, Catherine, Theresa, Jim and Angela as they unravel family mysteries, experience major life events and explore themes such as love, strength, death and redemption.

Alfred is a vagrant, struggling with his past. Through his story, the reader gains insight into his young love life and learns he is on a mission to find his lost child.

Catherine is a young girl, with a distant father and no mother to guide her into womanhood. She is asked to step in and run her father’s household. During this time, Catherine falls madly in love with her father’ apprentice. However, due to her father’s strong Catholic upbringing, her relationship with the apprentice is forbidden and she is forced into marriage with another man.

Theresa is an orphan, who grows up under the strict eye of Catholic nuns. As a young child she escapes the Catholic orphanage and finds herself in a life of drugs and prostitution. In her teens, she is saved by a former priest. However, when she thinks she finally found a home, she discovers she is in the middle of a human trafficking scandal.

After Jim’s wife, Serena, passes away Jim finds himself lost and without a purpose. His son, Paul, steps in and asks Jim to assist with the care of Paul’s daughter. Jim and his granddaughter begin spending countless hours together. Jim learns of a heavenly gift his granddaughter is blessed with and the gift helps Jim’s healing process over the death of Serena.

Angela is a recent graduate of nursing school who has a special gift for caring for patients in hospice who are nearing the end of life. With a little heavenly intervention, Angela solves the connection of the various Bennett family members and helps bring much needed healing and happiness to the family.

Fletcher has a very good story line, it was slow at first, but once I got through a couple chapters it really starts to pick up and pulls you in. The only drawback is the book has so many grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and switches tenses and perspectives to quickly that I had a very hard time following the story line.

I think this book can be great but it does need a lot of work regarding grammar and working on writing style, particularly sticking with first person or third, not switching half way through a paragraph. I enjoyed the story told from various character perspectives but the author needs to define each character’s voice and writing style a bit more. I felt the character’s personalities and conversation style can be brought out more in the writing, helping the reader understand who is talking.

One element of the book I want to make a small note about is the adult material. There are several passages and references to drugs, sex, rape and human trafficking. I believe the author used these themes in a very professional manner but I do know those topics are not for everyone.

I rate this book a 2 out of 4 stars. I think the story line is well developed and the family connections are really a great mystery for the reader to solve. But it can be lost on a reader, when one has to struggle to follow the plot because of errors and tense changes. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy a good fictional mystery or someone who enjoys a story line unfolding through various character perspectives.

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Time Tells Tales
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angelstar59 · Post by **angelstar59** » 11 Dec 2015, 12:21

Thank you for your thoughtful review. I will attend to the mistakes you highlighted and get someone professional to help me this time. I am glad you enjoyed the story.

peprica21 · Post by **peprica21** » 11 Dec 2015, 14:02

angelstar59 wrote:Thank you for your thoughtful review. I will attend to the mistakes you highlighted and get someone professional to help me this time. I am glad you enjoyed the story.

You're very welcome. Thank you for sharing your story. I enjoyed that this tale had so many family connections and how it all started to piece together for the reader towards the end, that defiantly kept my interest! It really is a great story, just needs a little work. Best of luck!

rssllue · Post by **rssllue** » 11 Dec 2015, 14:25

Very nice review. It is good that the author was able to receive your constructive criticism in the manner it was intended. Hopefully, she can hone this book into an excellent telling of her characters' stories.

peprica21 · Post by **peprica21** » 11 Dec 2015, 15:29

Thank you rssllue!

rssllue · Post by **rssllue** » 11 Dec 2015, 21:23

You are most welcome!

Post by **bookowlie** » 03 Jan 2016, 18:34

Nice review! I have a weakness for books set in England or Ireland. I am going to check out the sample on Amazon.

peprica21 · Post by **peprica21** » 04 Jan 2016, 11:37

Thank you Bookowlie! Sounds like it is right up your alley.

Heidi M Simone · Post by **Heidi M Simone** » 23 Mar 2016, 08:21

Thank you for insightful review, peprica21! I also agree is was good that the author took your criticisms well and that you presented them in a respect manner, like rssllue said. Hopefully when the author comes back with her story, it will be work out great for her!