The Paper Swan by Leylah Attar Published by Pitch73 Publishing on August 4th 2015
Amazon
"Intense, gritty, and full of heart."
They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. They lie. For 21 days she held on. But on Day 22, she would have given anything for the sweet slumber of death. Because on Day 22, she realizes that her only way out means certain death for one of the two men she loves.A haunting tale of passion, loss, and redemption, The Paper Swan is a darkly intense yet heartwarming love story, textured with grit, intrigue, and suspense.
A full-length, standalone novel, intended for mature audiences due to violence, sex and language. Subject matter may be disturbing for some readers. Please note: this is not a love triangle.
It was a good day for Louboutins. I hadn’t planned on wearing statement heels on the runway to death but if this was it, if I was going to be killed by some random psycho with a thirst for blood, what better way to go down than with red-soled “fuck yous” to my murderer?
The very first sentence of The Paper Swan captured my attention, and I felt a rush of excitement anticipating a great story. Dark reads aren’t typically my thing. I’m more of a heart-tugging, angsty-goodness romance reader with some humorous, light and fluffy thrown in to cleanse my palate. I went out of my comfort zone with this book and, surprisingly, I was able to handle the violence. In the end it was the execution of the plot that was the biggest pitfall.
The beginning of the book is really quite gripping but it soon falls victim to pacing difficulties. The plot drags on in some places and is extremely rushed in others. My believability flag was raised on far too many occasions as a result of rushed pacing.
Skye and Damian are both wonderfully complex characters, but I had difficulty with the style of narration the author chose. Skye’s story is told from her point of view in the first person, while Damian’s chapters are told in the third person. What’s odd is that the author sometimes lapses into sharing Skye’s experiences in the third person perspective. Besides being inconsistent, it’s just rather confusing. Personally, I’m not a fan of third person storytelling. Unless it’s extremely well written, it tends to detach me from the characters’ emotions. That said, if you’re going to write a story in the third person I think you should commit to writing the entire story in that style.
The themes of revenge and redemption are compelling but sometimes come across as preachy. I’m sure many people will find this to be a powerful book. It just fell short of my expectations.
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