Review by Zora C Penter -- The Reel Sisters

Zora C Penter · Post by **Zora C Penter** » 25 Feb 2019, 22:31

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Reel Sisters" by Michelle Cummings.]

3 out of 4 stars

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While The Reel Sisters by Michelle Cummings could be described as that one book about a bunch of women who enjoy getting together and fly fishing, it is so much more than that. Written from the perspective of each of the five “Reel Sisters,” there is definitely fishing, but there is also a lot of story in between as well. The characters of Sophie, Rose, Amanda, Veronica, and Melody share a unique bond within the novel that transcends just a love for the same sport.

Popular media so often portrays women as unable to get along because of “catfighting.” It was extremely refreshing to read about women from vastly different backgrounds who actually get along. Even when the women do argue within the book, the characters never lose sight of the value that their relationships with one another holds. The characters in The Reel Sisters felt so real that I did research to make sure that the novel was actually fictional. The stories of these women and the relationship between them felt so tangible that I became invested in their lives as a reader. Be prepared to laugh, cry, and possibly even cry from laughing with these women.

I genuinely enjoyed reading this book from the very first pages as we are introduced through the perspective of Sophie. The humor, often irreverent, infusing that first chapter definitely had me interested in reading further. I also never realized how many analogies one could make between the art of fishing and the art of succeeding at life until I read this book.

However, a few issues did prevent me from giving this novel the highest possible rating. Sophie, the character that the reader is first introduced to, does not stay entirely consistent from beginning to end. The pacing of the story is also a bit sporadic. It hops back and forth in time and moves incredibly fast at the end compared to the rest of the novel. In addition, the number of errors I found exceeded 300. This largely consisted of missing commas along with missing words, misspellings, and subject-verb disagreements.

Because The Reel Sisters was such a joy to read, I gave the novel a rating of 3 out of 4 stars despite the errors and pacing issues. I do not recommend this novel to people who do not want to read anything with a healthy amount of descriptions of fishing or a plot based on the strong bonds between female friends. If you do enjoy strong female characters and are looking for a slice-of-life story with a huge helping of humor, I will borrow the words of the author and say: “what are you wading for!”

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The Reel Sisters
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Delaney35 · Post by **Delaney35** » 28 Feb 2019, 15:51

This sounds like a fun book. I hope the author is able to get some editing help to improve it.

Kristin Ransome · Post by **Kristin Ransome** » 01 Mar 2019, 09:04

The depth of these characters seems amazing! Its unfortunate about the quality of the editing though, I'm not sure if I could read through a book with that many errors... Thanks for your honest review!

labibliofile · Post by **labibliofile** » 01 Mar 2019, 15:21

A hundred errors? That must have interrupted a lot with the reading! I was almost convinced to read the book until you brought that up! Guess I'll have to hope and wait for the book to go through another round of editing before picking this one up! Thank you for the heads up!

unamilagra · Post by **unamilagra** » 02 Mar 2019, 01:12

Sounds like a great book! I just finished reading Man Mission, which sounds like it is the male version of this type of book (although that one was very well edited). I love when novels are able to present the characters in such a real, relatable way, rather than typecasting them.

Rayasaurus · Post by **Rayasaurus** » 03 Mar 2019, 14:08

This books sounds like a super fun read! While I’m not a huge fan of fishing, I might pick this one up and give it a try anyway.

Zora C Penter · Post by **Zora C Penter** » 04 Mar 2019, 20:59

Delaney35 wrote: ↑28 Feb 2019, 15:51 This sounds like a fun book. I hope the author is able to get some editing help to improve it.

It was definitely fun, but it had its sad moments too. To be fair to the author, I haven't read a book on OBC with less than 10 errors yet...and most of them have had over 100. I check the author's nationality now before I count some types of comma errors too.

Zora C Penter · Post by **Zora C Penter** » 04 Mar 2019, 21:02

Rayasaurus wrote: ↑03 Mar 2019, 14:08 This books sounds like a super fun read! While I’m not a huge fan of fishing, I might pick this one up and give it a try anyway.

I'm not a huge fan of fishing either, but fly fishing is definitely the most active form! But the fishing itself takes a backseat to the novel's characters, thankfully.

Zora C Penter · Post by **Zora C Penter** » 04 Mar 2019, 21:04

Firefawkes wrote: ↑01 Mar 2019, 09:04 The depth of these characters seems amazing! Its unfortunate about the quality of the editing though, I'm not sure if I could read through a book with that many errors... Thanks for your honest review!

To be fair to the author, most books I've read on OBC have had 50+ errors. The majority of the errors on this one were missing commas. I'm just a little too used to grading essays, I think.

Zora C Penter · Post by **Zora C Penter** » 04 Mar 2019, 21:04

unamilagra wrote: ↑02 Mar 2019, 01:12 Sounds like a great book! I just finished reading Man Mission, which sounds like it is the male version of this type of book (although that one was very well edited). I love when novels are able to present the characters in such a real, relatable way, rather than typecasting them.

I might have to check out Man Mission. That sounds like fun!

DogoMulla · Post by **DogoMulla** » 14 Mar 2019, 21:39

Short but superb review! I can only imagine the drama when five women come together. I don't know much about fishing, but I certainly know that laughter is the best medicine. Still, I would still be skeptical to read this one.

Jessacardinal · Post by **Jessacardinal** » 22 Mar 2019, 12:38

I love stories that fully draw the reader in to a completely separate reality! I am impressed by the range of emotions you experienced while reading and reviewing this book. It is ashame you were able to locate so many errors in the book. However, it seems the author will have a hit after a few rounds of serious editing. Thanks for a great review!

Zora C Penter · Post by **Zora C Penter** » 22 Mar 2019, 21:19

Jessacardinal wrote: ↑22 Mar 2019, 12:38 I love stories that fully draw the reader in to a completely separate reality! I am impressed by the range of emotions you experienced while reading and reviewing this book. It is ashame you were able to locate so many errors in the book. However, it seems the author will have a hit after a few rounds of serious editing. Thanks for a great review!

I definitely agree that this book could be capable of 4 stars with another round of editing! I do have to mention that the majority was just repetition of the same error. To be honest, about half of the books I have reviewed for this site have 100+ errors.

Vscholz · Post by **Vscholz** » 25 Mar 2019, 23:00

Zora C Penter wrote: ↑22 Mar 2019, 21:19
Jessacardinal wrote: ↑22 Mar 2019, 12:38 I love stories that fully draw the reader in to a completely separate reality! I am impressed by the range of emotions you experienced while reading and reviewing this book. It is ashame you were able to locate so many errors in the book. However, it seems the author will have a hit after a few rounds of serious editing. Thanks for a great review!
I definitely agree that this book could be capable of 4 stars with another round of editing! I do have to mention that the majority was just repetition of the same error. To be honest, about half of the books I have reviewed for this site have 100+ errors.

I, too, have noticed that most of the books listed here have a lot of errors, and it baffles me how many books receive perfect scores. However, I also have spent the last decade and a half studying English/literature and half of that has been teaching composition, so I may just be more aware than others. I'm glad someone else notices as many errors as I do.