Sara's Soul by Deanna Kahler Review

"Sara sees death. Everywhere. It haunts her in her sleep. It appears as visions. And now death beckons her to join it. 

Psychic since childhood, Sara is convinced she’s living a curse. Instead of foreseeing uplifting life events, she’s haunted by images of other people’s demise. Her mother, who has been long deceased, once told her she could communicate with spirits and that a beautiful paradise awaited those who passed. But Sara never saw that. Now an adult, she’s certain that death is the end, and the overwhelming pain and sorrow she feels has convinced it’s her time to end her own life. The only problem: life keeps getting in the way.

A mysterious stranger appears just when she needs him the most. And no matter how hard she tries to escape this world, he won’t let her go. What starts as a magnetic attraction becomes a race against time, as he fights to save not only her life but her very soul."

I won a copy from Goodreads First Reads. 

I can't even... Oh, my gosh. Sara's Soul is not what I expected. From the synopsis, it seems that Sara's Soul might be a great book, but the book has utterly let me down. I expected it to be amazing, something that I could read and be swept away. But no. It was... Nothing I expected. 

There is something called "Show, not tell." I'm serious. Literally everything in this book is about "Tell, not show." (Though I do I have to admit that the parts that are "Show, not tell" are practically annoying parts that only serve to make the plot move forward. And also, to increase the drama by tenfold.) Basically, everything about the characters in the book is way too easily answered by the descriptions (or paragraphs) in Sara's Soul. I find the book to be... incredibly easy to read. 

It isn't just that. There is another little thing. Redundancy. I won't kid you. A lot of the parts in Sara's Soul is repeated several times. Sometimes, I wonder what is the point of the repetition. Once, twice... Three times is fine. But repeated every page or so? Now that is the extremes. 

I know that the relationship between Sara and Chip (the mysterious stranger mentioned in the synopsis) is one of the leading arcs. But the relationship itself is absolutely off. There is this sense of urgency that shouldn't be there, and the pacing is just off. They are a strange couple (and I'm not going to start on this). I could go on about the relationship (like how fast it is moving. Too fast, I should add), but I think there are other pressing matters. 

Sara is an okay character. She is tolerable. But I would probably enjoy reading about her, if... IF her character traits aren't repeated every so often by a random character. (Okay, maybe not that random character.) 

Overall, I would not recommend Sara's Soul to anyone. It is just too much for me. I can't believe how I gotten through it. There is a lot of editing and changing to be done (and it is possible, but there has to be a lot of revisions) to make it better. Until then...

I don't recommend this to anyone.

Rating: One out of Five