Reviewer: therosepoetk

Restricted Truth by Rushika (ruh_says)

I like the wordplay of your title, first of all. Usually titles that involve the word “truth” are met with a juxtaposition or oxymoron, and I like how you took a different turn with that and added the prefix of “restricted” instead. I also am in love with your cover, as it looks so professional, beautiful, and I want to know so much about who that is on the cover. Great work. I like your blurb too, but I think it could use some grammatical touch ups to really enhance that small piece of writing. I know that in your blurb, you are introducing the two main characters, but I want you to write in a way that somehow brings the two together. Make the reader associate the two in some way only from the blurb. But I like the detail, so it’s good. Your opening was very calming and descriptive, and I really admire how the reader gets to meet the main character up front and centre. The plot flows nicely, and I am a huge fan of mystery thrillers so your book was definitely a chef's kiss. Your characters are all interesting enough, and I think it’s pretty cool how you had aesthetics for them each at the beginning as for the reader to understand what kind of vibe each of them presented. A next step for this is to perhaps make the artwork or even the writing style more mysterious, as you are working with a potentially dark theme and I want the “exterior” aspects of your story to reflect that. Your grammar is great, just work in connecting sentences through transitions and you’re golden. This ties into flow, as sometimes the dialogue is a little choppy, but at least comprehensible. The emotional appeal is also great, and I’m really looking forward to that final chapter - I’m literally on the edge of my seat right now. I can’t go without saying that your writing style is also very poignant and elusive, and I’m sure that you would make a pretty neat poet if you tried your luck with prose. Terrific debut novel Rushika!