1 out of 4 stars
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Have you ever wished you could disappear? Simply become invisible and enjoy the freedom to roam the earth as you wish, sans eyes of the world. Freddie Lynch doesn’t have to wonder what that’d be like. When she consumes a dietary shake that’s been accidentally enmeshed with a chemical concoction from one of her father’s scientific experiments, Freddie disappears from the planes of visibility. For an entire year, no one but her dad is aware of her invisible existence. Her best friend was informed she’d decided to attend a boarding school, and no further communication was had. She simply appeared to have dropped off the face of the earth.
It’s not until her eighteenth birthday that Freddie becomes fed up with being trapped alone in her home. Daring to venture away from the safe confines of her house and into the world, Freddie strips down to her birthday suit and sets out to reconnect with her childhood best friend, Kyle. However, when events go awry, it’s Kyle’s cousin Edwin who discovers the invisible Freddy. Edwin ends up offering Freddie a job at his company, and grateful for the opportunity to interact with the real world again, she accepts. Then, despite the ten-year age difference, connections are had, emotions involved and hearts taken. Freddie also goes back to tell Kyle of her misfortunes, and it’s not long before she has more than a few people sympathetic to her state of being. Things are finally looking up for Freddie Lynch, and adventures with her new cohorts ensue.
I’ve always considered invisibility to be a desirable superpower. I mean, think of the possibilities such a thing would present! But in Invisible Me, H.M. Irwing shows that involuntary invisibility would be a curse rather than a blessing.
My biggest qualm while reading this book was the extremely obvious lack of professional editing. It read like a first draft; it had potential but failed miserably as a finished product. My ebook was lit up like a Christmas tree with the number of highlights I made until I finally gave up keeping track of the mistakes altogether. A plethora of missing or incorrect punctuation, run-on sentences, incorrect, unnecessary and misspelled words, awkward sentences that were difficult to interpret - you name it and the mistake probably occurred. There were also several sentences that switched from first person to third, past tense to present. “Then on still till I was too hoarse to cry out the pain anymore” was but one example of the poor writing quality.
With difficulty, I managed to look past the editorial issues and focus on the story. While I liked the spunk and independence of the main character, there wasn’t much else that appealed to me. Freddie grew up as an awkward, chubby, big-mouthed but lovable girl. Used to being called Fatty Leech, self-consciousness in her body image evoked the whole invisible mess. This was supposed to be a dominant theme throughout, but I didn’t think enough was accomplished on the topic. Freddie did lose some weight, but it wasn't that she'd come to terms with her body or even strove for a healthier lifestyle; she simply ended up having a flattering figure and a beautiful face. Like voilà, magic.
You would think the invisible trope would provide ample opportunity to allow each character to fall in love with the other’s personality rather than their outward appearance. In this case, however, the author didn’t quite capitalize on the situation. Surprisingly, considering Freddie was invisible and they barely knew each other, a healthy dose of Freddie and Edwin’s initial interactions were based entirely on lust. Also, let’s not forget the ten-year age difference between the two. She hadn’t even graduated high school when they began getting close. Nevertheless, I would’ve appreciated a more in-depth understanding and meaning behind their relationship. As it was, I was a little disgusted and unconvinced of their special connection.
I was also hoping for Freddie to take advantage of her undesirable, yet useful, superpower. The one time she decided to use her ability for good, she explored her skills as a spy in order to help Edwin with his sinking company. A little action and intrigue were introduced, but not enough. The issues surrounding Edwin’s business weren’t especially clear, and after Freddie’s little game of espionage, closure wasn’t given as to what ended up happening to the company.
Also, the way in which Freddie figured out her invisibility problem was utterly ridiculous. Not just the way it happened, but the situation surrounding it. Prior to that, aside from the writing issues, I thought the book was fine. Not great, but ok. However, after that certain event, the book took a nosedive off a cliff and dropped into a ridiculous, eye-rolling, confusing pit of muck. Things were left unexplained, information as to timeline and location was missing, and again, the romance was ridiculous. Not something I’d consider worth reading.
After vacillating between the two lowest ratings, I’ve decided that as it is, I can’t give this book anything higher than a one out of four stars. Unless the editorial issues can be fixed, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. However, if those mistakes were to be rectified, perhaps romance fans would consider reading this. Although I should also point out that the book had a juvenile quality to it; it seemed more fitted to the young adult genre, yet I wouldn’t say it’s suitable for younger readers due to several brief, graphic scenes.
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Invisible Me
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