Fun book but would have benefitted from an editor
920889
I recently heard someone gleefully saying how digital publishing had "...freed us from the Gatekeepers". In my opinion, like all too many self-published books, this one could have been great instead of just good with the input from just such a "gatekeeper". Starshine features great pacing, good dialogue, cool science and an engaging overall plot. The protagonist, Alexis Solovy, and her goals and conflicts are fully realized and the character deepens as the book moves along. Even more fascinating and well-realized is the character of Caleb. Unfortunately, I found the villains very two dimensional, especially Marcus. The lowest note is that apparently in the 23rd century, people are still saying, "My bad.", a colloquialism that no doubt will disappear as rapidly as "rad". A major disappointment too, which seems to be the trend as more and more writers are creating "series" books, is the complete lack of any ending or denouement, and over-reliance on a cliff hanger ending that forces you to go to the next book. The best series books I have always loved like Dan Simmons' "Hyperion" saga, Frank Herbert's "Dune" and even Asimov's classic, if dated "Foundation" books, all contained self-contained books with real endings and didn't rely on cliffhangers. I like a sense of completion and if the writing is good and characters are strong, don't need to be manipulated to buy the next book. I was frustrated enough by this alone, as well as the pale villains, that I doubt if I will go onto the next one.
3552444
It's hard for me to rate this book a 4 star because the story was so wonderfully thought-out, the plot compelling, and the characters engaging and intriguing. If this book had been better edited, and a person wasn't left to plow through the endless spelling and type errors to piece together the story, it would have gotten a 5 star rating and very high praise.

I find it a shame that the author and publisher don't invest some money in reformatting and editing the script. I would be delighted to pay $10.00 for such a well- conceived book if it was presented more professionally.

I hope to see more from this author and am looking forward to the further adventures of Anais.
3315411
This book is interesting and we're glad to have it.  However, we sincerely hope there will be another book to come (3peat, anyone?!) but that it will be heavily edited for grammar and tense.  It's distracting to find so many glaring grammatical errors when we're trying to read about the beloved Mountaineers.
4647301
If this author had had an editor it would have been helpful. I think it's a cute, sweet, fantasy, but needs some serious editing. For instance, every time the author meant to say "than" as in "better than", he said "then." This wasn't the only consistent error, but it kind of spoiled the reading for me. I think it's a fun read, but not a page turner.
886659
I would have loved to give this book 4 or more stars....premise was great, loved the characters and the two POVs.  BUT (and it's a big one) IT NEEDS A BETTER EDITOR!!!  Please get it fixed!
2456191
The story was relatively fun to read. A bit repetitive at times, as it is clearly a book for older children, but still pretty good.  I was not happy though that the book just simply ends, with major parts of the story incomplete.

Given the overall good job of editing, it was surprising that there are a fair number of mistakes with something as simple as apostrophes, with many plurals having apostrophes (when they shouldn't), and a few contractions not having apostrophes (when they should).  There were a few other mistakes (like "of" instead of "off", etc.), but there weren't tons so it wasn't too annoying.

I am also confused as to the author having people in the book refer to soda as "pop" in NJ.  The vast majority of people in NJ and eastern PA use the word soda, not pop.  In California, soda is also the common term. Pop is usually used in the midwest, north central and northwestern states, so it's odd to have people whose families have been living in NJ for generations use the word pop.
3917700
Interesting story, but filled with typos. Would benefit greatly  from a good editing. I would have enjoyed reading it so much more if I didn't feel like I needed a red pencil to mark the corrections.  Otherwise a good read, lots of action and interesting characters. The circumstances of the world affairs and characters' background unfold slowly as the stories progress, drawing you in and keeping the stories interesting. Much potential here.
4568318
I love a good story and there were. some laugh out loud moments.  Sarah was a treat.  Better editing would have improved this book.
1228582
This could easily be a five-star novel with a good editor and formatter. The plot is good, making it a fun read. There were a few errors in the beginning but by the end, there were many misspellings and poor word choices. This reader felt as if the author got tired of looking at her writing and just stopped editing. I would strongly recommend taking it down and having someone who knows the business and craft of writing edit this book.
1437908
Despite the horrible editing, this was a good book.
970978
While I liked the plot and characters, the book needed a good editor. It is clear that this is the author's first novel as there are many places with needless descriptions of mundane activities. A good editor could have cut a quarter to a third of the book without losing any vital elements, making the book flow at a better pace. The book also needs a proofreader, but that is unfortunately too common with e-books these days. All that said, it is an enjoyable story with some interesting characters. And it shows promise for a new author.
4110119
The story was enjoyable sometimes.  Some of the plot devices were a little overdone.  It certainly needed a good profreading, not to mention editing--a lot of misused words and "apostrophe's" almost killed it for me.  Self-published authors don't have editors; I get that.  However there are plenty of style and usage guides out there.  This author has a lot of potential as a stortyteller and would really benefit from some nuts-and-bolts work on her craft.
776638
I'm in the process of reading the Kindle edition of this book and I find it interesting.  So far so good but it definitely needs editing.  There are misspelled words, no commas where there should be, and sentences where it appears that he was thinking of two ways to say something and then ended up with a jumble of the two thoughts, which makes the sentence "not make sense".

Other than the poor editing, it's a great read.  He is a good story teller and his book is one of the better ones out there.  Get yourself a better editor though, Possible.
2090772
I enjoyed the story of Andi's struggle to find the missing lottery ticket and the changes she made in her life because of 'winning the lottery.' There were funny, enjoyable and very real characters, which is important to me when reading. They were well rounded and added a lot to the story. Overall the story was very good, even if the ending was a bit predictable.

Why did I rate this 3 stars then? Punctuation, spelling and grammar. Yes, even though, according to a few sentences in the acknowledgements section of the book, this makes me the grammar and punctuation police. Obviously, by including that statement, the author is admitting these errors exist and that she doesn't care. She'd rather take cheap shots at those readers that do care than pay an actual proofreader to clean the book up. Those are the reasons behind the 3 star rating.
1295327
The story is unique, murderer was unexpected, loved the golem (although some of this storyline was unrealistic), cats were cute, characters were quirky (some likable, others not so much), no cliffhanger. Those were the good parts. The bad: This book doesn't just have a few mistakes (typos, grammar, punctuation)--there were hundreds of them, sometimes as many as ten on one page. I have never read a book with this many errors and can't count how many times I lost concentration on the story because of them. Please hire an editor!!
2624061
I thought the story line was well developed and the characters were engaging and well developed. I kept reading because of these two things, it was enjoyable but the story needs a serious editing.  There were so many mistakes that are distracting and annoying and shows poor professionalism. Most of these articles and sentence switching and dropped articles and spell correction errors should have disappeared with any attempt to reread the work so this was very saddening.  Still very enjoyable just wish it would have received some serious proofreading.
1647549
This is a good book and I enjoyed it. What held me back from giving it 5 stars was the editing. It wasn't horrible, in fact it was better than a lot of ebooks. There were just a few sentences were the wrong character was named.  For example, in one chapter told from Holly's perspective, Elizabeth is speaking to her, and therefore should be speaking about Natalie, the third woman, rather than Holly. The errors aren't real irritating, but they do break immersion somewhat.