Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris is about a group of cliched characters dancing around a well-knit plot. The characters are a damsel in distress, two knights in shining armour; one is a loser with a good heart, another one is a winner with a hard one. Her choice is very original [Sarcasm].

There are menacing parents who “love in their own way”, strict bosses with the same tough love, and kids with shallow kid-talks.

The storylines are strikingly predictable but there are no loose ends. Most characters have a dramatic past up their sleeve to talk about while violins are playing on the background. All obstacles comfortably turn out to be from the dark side so they are subject to rightful demolition. All little Chekhov’s guns that are spread along the novel shoot at some point. It’s still awkward that the plot exists just because the main character screwed up. Initially I thought the story could make a good movie even when failing as a good book. By the end of the book, though, the characters were so cemented in cliches they looked like cardboard figures that even a movie wouldn’t revive.

As for the writing, I believe if I ever see one more “torso” with “muscles of his arms defined by shadows” my book will fly out of the window even if it’s a Kindle. Some authors seem to think the readers should be lured to the book in the same manner soap advertisers tried to lure customers in the 90s.

Also, dear Sir/Madam who teaches authors how to create realistic characters, can you please stop telling them that characters should restate their beliefs in follow-up phrases?! Phrases like “He was happy, he truly was” and “They will be all right, they both will” belong to cardboard characters. They truly do.

I’m not sure if I’m giving the book 2.5 stars because it really deserves that many or because I’m experiencing a version of Stockholm syndrome. The book is new. It was published just two days ago. I couldn’t preview the book before it appeared in my Kindle. I had preordered it and so I was stuck with it. Thus, I might have had no other option but to like it at least for 2.5 stars.

I would not suggest this book to anybody. And maybe preordering a book is also a bad idea .

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