The Fall in Love Checklist by Sarah ReadyMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Clumsy writing, characters built on stereotypes and awkward dialogue are actually the highlights here. When these three fatal flaws barrel headlong into an ill-conceived plot, the result is a story as inane as it is implausible.
Here’s the worst offense committed by this author—instead of digging in and owning her characters, author Sarah Ready attempts to use cheap dialogue gimmicks to carry the weight of their individuality. This taints every page of what may have otherwise been at least a mediocre story. One woman says “bah” every single time she opens her mouth to speak. A youngster moves between roles, seemingly borne of the author’s inability to commit—portrayed as both a petulant girly girl and a tomboy with a two word vocabulary—“dude” and “bro”. In yet another iteration, the author attempts to give her an “impish” allure and infers that she is surely headed for a life of con games and crime.
In the end, rather than imbuing each player with distinct characteristics that are subtle and well placed—aspects of themselves to drive their actions—Ready instead brow beats the reader with her “dialogue-carnage”. This approach is hammered home in line after line making the reading stilted, amateurish and exaggerated.
Two stars for a coherent, albeit unlikely, plot.
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