Review by P_hernandez -- Anna's Way by D.F.Jones

[P_hernandez]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Anna's Way" by D.F.Jones.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Anna's Way by D. F. Jones is a many faceted story of love, longing, and the mythical lives of angels. Jones presents in the second installment of The Ditch Lane Diaries series life as a Campbell Ridge Ward through the eyes of Anna and her best friends as they develop their mystical powers and find their calling in both love and life. I give this book 2 out of 4 stars because even though the premise seems like an entertaining one, clutter, convention, and provable incorrect facts detract from the possibilities for this book.

Love is the prominent theme in this story. Love gives Anna her strength; love puts the villain, Luc, in his place. Love protects them all from the evils of the world. The author did a fantastic job of communicating the importance and power of love. It became tiresome to read, however, when the acknowledgements toward that power were the only things presented to the reader. Much of the affection was conveyed through the author directly telling the reader to see the love between two characters. Whether it be love between angels and humans, angels and angels, or life long romances, the reader was left with a sense that the characters loved each other simply because that's what they were created to do; not because through the course and process of the story, their love became something on its own.

There was a lot of general details that cluttered and bogged down some of the greater scenes. One example of this was the amount of time the author spent telling the reader about the characters clothing choices or explaining what some characters were doing every minute of their scene. For example, the three best friends had an hour between events and the author told the reader what each girl planned to do with that hour and how they would go about doing that. There was a lot of emphasis placed on body or hand placement. Things like, "his left forearm rested on the bar," or " his left hand came down onto his right knee." Out of context it seems like nothing, but page after page of left and right became tedious instead of interesting.

The villain for this story is a character that is difficult to capture. From the beginning we are told that he is evil and must be stopped, however, we are simply told that. Luc, the villain, had great potential to be a despicable character. I feel like if there was more time spent developing his evil nature he would have been perfect. In the end, though, he became a flat, if not predictable bad guy, as opposed to the leader of the demon realm he was talked about being.

I realize this is an installment in a series, but there were a lot of storylines loosely left open. The main character spent a lot of time training for battle only to never use the training in this book. A big reveal towards the end could have been a huge plot twist, as it was never expected. Yet, once again, it fell short of greatness because of the cluttered and inconsequential details and the choppiness in the storytelling.

There were some parts of the story I became invested in and some parts I could definitely do without. The biggest reason for the 2 stars instead of the 3 I had planned to give was due to the fact that some verifiable facts were incorrect. Tell a story, yes. For the factual information, however, I feel that it's necessary to respect the reader enough to do a quick internet search to make sure you're accurate in what you're telling.

I would recommend this title to people who enjoy reading about love, the afterlife, battles between good and evil, and sisterhood. Regardless of the distractions throughout the story, this book would make a pretty entertaining television movie.

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Anna's Way
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