FTC Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a review. I was not required to leave a positive review. All thoughts and opinions herein expressed are my own.
Title: Judgment Call
Series: Shards of Sevia
Author: E. B. Roshan
Genre: Dystopian/Romantic Suspense
Rating: 3/5
Overview: I’m not usually a big fan of dystopian stories. But this one is the fourth or fifth one I’ve read this year, so maybe they’re growing on me? At any rate, this was a sweet novella focusing on a young woman who feels she’s gone too far to be forgiven. It’s the fifth book in a series, but enough background information is given that I was able to follow along with everything, despite not having read the previous four books.
Characters: Preen was a good character, with real fears and responses to situations that make perfect sense in light of her background. She goes through some great character development that feels realistic, despite the brevity of the story. Kiva seems like a nice guy. I wish we’d gotten a little more from his perspective. He did seem a bit too perfect, but he had his flaws too, so it all rounds out in the end. The naming system of the characters did confuse me a little. According to the author’s note at the beginning, Sevia is a Slavic country, but all the names sound Indian. Maybe this is explained in the earlier books?
Content: A character remembers the first time she had sex (nothing graphic). In the past, two characters had a child out of wedlock. Two couples share kisses. There are mentions of a prostitution ring. There’s some violence, but nothing detailed. A character is shot. One side of a character’s face is completely scarred. Preen remembers deaths that happened in the past. A couple of characters are said to curse, but none of the words are actually on the page.
Writing: E. B. Roshan has a smooth writing style that communicates the story well. This being a novella, there’s not much room for complicated plots, but she works well with the limited space she has, weaving the theme of forgiveness throughout the story. There are a few grammar errors throughout. It might be a stylistic choice, but there are numerous double negatives (e.g. “didn’t see nobody”). Those irked me a bit, but as I said, maybe it’s just supposed to be reflective of the local dialect.
Summary: While this wasn’t quite my cup of tea, it’s definitely an intriguing story. I liked the main theme; Roshan does a great job of exploring the different facets of forgiveness and how that plays out in practical, difficult situations. Romantic suspense fans aged 16+ would enjoy this book.