Across the Pond by Storyheart
Release Date: Sept. 2008
Publisher:Xlibris Corporation
Pages: 203
Fred Squires, a fourteen year old from England, is less than thrilled about being sent to stay with friends in the USA. While his parents are off in Australia he’ll be doing research for a school project about language differences. Of course, his attitude quickly changes when he meets their daughter, Brit. He is instantly attracted to her and before long, a budding romance is forming. As they get closer, Fred learns of a secret that Brit has been hiding for sometime now. Deciding to be her “knight”, Fred aims to get revenge for what was done to her. In a tale full of mishaps and humor, Fred learns a lot of about love and what it really means to be a knight in shining armor.
I was really torn about how to rate this book. On one hand you have a cute, fast-paced story about two teenagers in love. I really enjoyed Fred and thought he had a very honest voice. There were many times I enjoyed his antics and even felt myself go “aww” at his romantic nature. However, there were a couple of things that really distracted me from the overall story. The big one from me was the editing errors. I’m no grammar-nazi by far (even if I was an English major) but story inconsistencies drive me insane. There was one point where an entire conversation/scene was repeated in back to back chapters. I flipped back and forth several times just to make sure I wasn’t going crazy. I also thought that Brit and Fred falling in love went way too fast. I suppose this is very typical of teenage-relationships but I would have liked to see a little more depth to it. Overall, Across the Pond is a very cute story, but I think if it had been edited better and been about 100 pages longer it would have been an excellent story.
Book Blather 
I find bad editing/grammar SO distracting! Not because I’m a snob but because, hello, it’s a book; it really should have been sifted through before it went to press. I’ve noticed, also, that YA romances blossom and flourish way too fast for my taste. I know, they’re young and passionate but it just isn’t realistic. i know I’m not old enough to the point where I’ve forgotten what teenage love is like!
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Thank you for the review I am glad you enjoyed the book. The issue with the chapters 12/13 was missed by the editors, and has now been fixed and the book corrected. Some of the grammar issues are actually just down to the language English/American differences, though a couple of others that were not have also now been fixed. Guess even though I paid for editing, some things were definitely missed. As for love blossoming, holiday romances are quite normal in Europe *grin*. But I do understand.
Thank you though so much for your feed back, it’s replies like this that can only help me with the second book.
Thank you so much
Barry
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So glad to hear that chapter 12/13 was fixed! I can also totally understand about the holiday romance thing/puppy love, but I suppose I’m just spoiled by longer drawn out romances, lol.
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