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A review by madeline
Rootbound by Tarah DeWitt
3.0
I've really enjoyed Tarah's books, but they all definitely need a better edit (particularly this one - girl if you paid someone to copy edit this, ask for a partial refund). Tarah sets up these big personal conflicts for her characters that get underexplored, and then when they're not useful to the plot anymore, they're just kind of handwaved away. Like, here: Tait's mom ends up being the Big Bad here - she thinks her dad just had no interest in a relationship with her and her sister after her mom left him, but really her (now dead) mom was preventing any contact between anyone. That's not cool! And Tait's relationship with her dad has obviously suffered and they're working to overcome that, but when the extent of her mother's manipulations is revealed, she's just kind of like "huh! Well, not what I thought, I guess. What's for dinner?" These conflicts are not functional and you could excise them for a much tighter book, plot-wise.
I'd love to see more from Tarah, because I think she has a lot of talent. A traditional publishing house would give her the tools she really needs to shine, but if she continues self-publishing, spending the money on a very good developmental editor could get her to basically the same level.
I'd love to see more from Tarah, because I think she has a lot of talent. A traditional publishing house would give her the tools she really needs to shine, but if she continues self-publishing, spending the money on a very good developmental editor could get her to basically the same level.