Wednesday 18 July 2012

Chasing Pavements Reviewed


So, the first review of my book Chasing Pavements is out!  Written and posted six days after the writer of the review, RosieReview, downloaded it from the Apple iBookStore.  That’s good time for a 168,000-word novel!  I would like to thank her for taking the time to read and review it and am delighted that she enjoyed the book so much.

I won’t copy and paste the review here – you can read it on Rosie’s book review blog: http://rosiereview.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/chasing-pavements-neha-yazmin/ – but I will touch upon my favourite parts of her review.

Rating:
She has rated Chasing Pavements as a ‘must read’, which is wonderful. 

Reviews, word-of-mouth and reader recommendations are vital for new independent authors like me.  A couple of favourable reviews assuring prospective buyers that the book is worth reading can often be the determining factor when a browser is hesitating over taking a chance on a writer who they have never heard of.  The author goes to great lengths to reel in potential readers to their book page but can lose them so easily if there is not one review.

I can go on for a while about the importance of reviews and recommendations, but instead I will quote fellow indie romance novelist Susan Buchanan, author of Sign of the Times.  “Like a book?  Why not tell your friends, and if you really like it, why not leave a wee Amazon review?”

The Characters:
I was thrilled to see that Rosie felt so strongly about the male lead’s mistakes and flaws, making clear that she cared about Mukti, the heroine, who was most affected by his decisions.  This is the most you can hope for from any reader – that they care about your characters. 

I’m so glad that Jamie and Mukti captivated this reader from the first page, the same way Jamie fascinated me from the moment he popped into my head on August 1, 2010.  He was already quite unique when he came to me and I wanted to stay true to that, wanted him to be different from the heroes in most romance books.  Complex and enigmatic, in some ways, he is quite simple and straightforward.  He’s the reluctant hero, almost an anti-hero, and yet he is quite heroic in certain points of the novel.  In his own special way.

Following her review, Rosie went on to say that she was missing Jamie and Mukti after finishing the book.  This gives me an excuse to say that Chasing Pavements is a love story between two unique characters that will stay with you after you have turned the final page.