Review for " Nadia's Heart: Part 1" by Wendy Altshuler

Review for "Nadia's Heart: Part 1" By Wendy Altshuler

Nadia's Heart is the first book in a series about Nadia, a young girl in a small village who is suddenly thrust into multiple strange new worlds, with a mysterious boy as her guide. Nadia seems to be brought along by this boy on his quest, only to eventually learn she plays an important role in his quest. Nadia struggles to come to terms with this knowledge, while trying to help the people she meets and comes to appreciate.

Woah boy, this book was a ride, and I can't be sure it was a good one. The book starts relatively safely by introducing the reader to the main character, Nadia, and it also introduces her weird hobby (spoiler alert: it revolves around hearts). Altshuler doesn't however, describe much else. In fact that's a pretty consistent theme in the book, where places are mentioned, people spoken of, dialogue present, but there is very little detail given. Many times in books the author will keep things vague and keep secrets, only to reveal them either mid way or throughout the tale, which brings on an 'AHA' moment, and despite waiting on the edge of my seat, that moment never came. If I had to make an analogy to how it felt reading this book, I would say its like sitting on a train and watching through the window straight on and getting dizzy from watching the scenery whiz by. I mean so many plot points and characters came flying at me when I read the story, and considering it was only 77 pages, that's quite the feat.

Despite the execution somewhat lacking, I did like the story. There is huge potential here with what Altshuler has laid out already, and even though I would say he plot is chaotic there is still interest there about where the story is going. I also know that the more you write, the better you get at it, so perhaps later books in the series will read a little more cohesively. I will also say there is something to be said for quick reads; where you want to throw yourself into a new world, a new plot or timeline, but perhaps larger volumes are just not for you, and if that's true then I think this series would be great, its got enough to satisfy any love of reading, while not totally eclipsing your life (looking at you Fire & Ice).

To learn more about the author, Wendy Altshuler, click here.

To purchase this book, go here.