Review of It's All Up To You
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Mehedi Hasan 120
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Review of It's All Up To You
[Following is a volunteer review of "It's All Up To You" by Jerry A Greenberg.]
It’s All Up To You by Jerry A Greenberg is the story of Leonard Bennetto, a struggling author from a wealthy family, who becomes entangled in a thrilling adventure after meeting Andi, an undercover DEA agent posing as a drug lord’s girlfriend. The book's main theme revolves around their chase and the development of their feelings for each other amid the chaos.
I wouldn’t say I didn’t like the book, but didn’t love it either. While the premise has potential, the execution didn't fully captivate me. First of all, there’s the length. This one is completely subjective, but being a fan of larger novels, the story seemed somewhat too fast. However, this can be seen positively as well. In these busy days, fast-paced stories do have their relevancy. However, that still does not compensate for the lack of depth felt at certain points. The plot unfolded swiftly but left little room for meaningful character development and emotional investment.
Talking of character development, I liked whatever of it was there. The two major characters are Leonard and Andi. Both try to find themselves throughout the plot. In the end, Leonard understands better what being an author means, and Andi understands better about embracing her feminine side. Developing these characters with more depth would have been great.
The story is mostly chase and action with a pinch of romance and a couple of twists. Though the twists were somewhat predictable, I like the fact that they were there. There were also a few minor plot holes like when at the beginning of their journey Leonard asks Andi something about being in the military, though until that point, Andi never directly mentioned to Leonard anything about her being in the military.
Now, what drew my attention most is the narrative of the story. The language was quite simple and fluid in general. We have two narrators here, Leonard and Andi, both writing in first-person narrative. However, out of the twenty-four chapters, only three are in Andi’s narrative. Perhaps a bit more from Andi’s perspective could enhance the style. Another aspect of this narrative is the abundance of dialogue, which I like by itself. But for some reason, the conversations here seemed artificial and lacked the natural flow of real-life interactions. The liveliness usually found in dialogue-heavy narratives was present but still felt somewhat incomplete. This was felt again and again throughout the book.
In terms of other aspects like profanity, nudity etc. the book is very clean. I didn’t notice a single word that needed censoring. In terms of violence, there’s some minor gun violence and a car crash during a chase.
Overall, I would rate this a three out of five. One star was deducted for that missing feeling of immersive-ness, and another one for the mechanical tone in dialogues and those minor plot holes. Other than that, the rest of the book was a quite enjoyable pleasant read.
So, if you are interested in a relaxing, swift and action-packed story, It’s All Up To You by Jerry A Greenberg might be a suitable choice. Just don’t expect anything revolutionary or extraordinary. It’s the kind of story where you somewhat already know how it ends, but still just flow with it. However, if you're looking for a more immersive and emotionally resonant experience, you might want to explore other options. In the end, it’s really all up to you.
******
It's All Up To You
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
It’s All Up To You by Jerry A Greenberg is the story of Leonard Bennetto, a struggling author from a wealthy family, who becomes entangled in a thrilling adventure after meeting Andi, an undercover DEA agent posing as a drug lord’s girlfriend. The book's main theme revolves around their chase and the development of their feelings for each other amid the chaos.
I wouldn’t say I didn’t like the book, but didn’t love it either. While the premise has potential, the execution didn't fully captivate me. First of all, there’s the length. This one is completely subjective, but being a fan of larger novels, the story seemed somewhat too fast. However, this can be seen positively as well. In these busy days, fast-paced stories do have their relevancy. However, that still does not compensate for the lack of depth felt at certain points. The plot unfolded swiftly but left little room for meaningful character development and emotional investment.
Talking of character development, I liked whatever of it was there. The two major characters are Leonard and Andi. Both try to find themselves throughout the plot. In the end, Leonard understands better what being an author means, and Andi understands better about embracing her feminine side. Developing these characters with more depth would have been great.
The story is mostly chase and action with a pinch of romance and a couple of twists. Though the twists were somewhat predictable, I like the fact that they were there. There were also a few minor plot holes like when at the beginning of their journey Leonard asks Andi something about being in the military, though until that point, Andi never directly mentioned to Leonard anything about her being in the military.
Now, what drew my attention most is the narrative of the story. The language was quite simple and fluid in general. We have two narrators here, Leonard and Andi, both writing in first-person narrative. However, out of the twenty-four chapters, only three are in Andi’s narrative. Perhaps a bit more from Andi’s perspective could enhance the style. Another aspect of this narrative is the abundance of dialogue, which I like by itself. But for some reason, the conversations here seemed artificial and lacked the natural flow of real-life interactions. The liveliness usually found in dialogue-heavy narratives was present but still felt somewhat incomplete. This was felt again and again throughout the book.
In terms of other aspects like profanity, nudity etc. the book is very clean. I didn’t notice a single word that needed censoring. In terms of violence, there’s some minor gun violence and a car crash during a chase.
Overall, I would rate this a three out of five. One star was deducted for that missing feeling of immersive-ness, and another one for the mechanical tone in dialogues and those minor plot holes. Other than that, the rest of the book was a quite enjoyable pleasant read.
So, if you are interested in a relaxing, swift and action-packed story, It’s All Up To You by Jerry A Greenberg might be a suitable choice. Just don’t expect anything revolutionary or extraordinary. It’s the kind of story where you somewhat already know how it ends, but still just flow with it. However, if you're looking for a more immersive and emotionally resonant experience, you might want to explore other options. In the end, it’s really all up to you.
******
It's All Up To You
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Snatched Up to Heaven! by Jemima Paul and Arvind Paul
