2 out of 4 stars
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Absolutely: An Intriguing Story by William Emdee is a work of realistic fiction. The book is relatively short and could be best described as a novella. It covers the themes of family, the bond between brothers, the highs and lows of romantic love, and the thrill of adventure. I rated this book 2 out of 4 stars. I liked the characters and the story and I frequently wanted to know what was going to happen next. However, the high number of grammatical errors, typographical errors, and improper word use errors prevented me from giving this book a higher rating.
The story opens with brothers Bill and Terry exploring the North Dakota hills on their dirt bikes. After one of the bike breaks down and the brothers are forced to spend the night outdoors, they discover a long-buried parcel containing an ancient native artifact. This discovery leads the brothers down a path that radically changes both their lives. They meet two brilliant women educated in archaeology and learn about ancient civilizations and their rituals and customs as they discover more about the parcel they found. The brothers’ relationships with the two archaeologists move beyond professional and their feelings grow stronger as they work together to solve the mystery of their discovery.
I enjoyed many aspects of this story. I liked the brothers, Bill and Terry, and felt their bond was honest and sincere. Their adventure in the hills of North Dakota was described vividly and realistically. The romances the brothers develop with the women they meet were both sweet and I wanted them to succeed. I also really liked learning about the artifact Bill and Terry found and its history and the civilization it came from. The archaeology aspects were some of my favorite parts.
Unfortunately, the story had several holes and portions that made no sense. For example, Absolutely: An Intriguing Story appears to take place over the course of about 3 years, but dates are mentioned that range from year 2000 to 2010. The story is also presented linearly, but when months are mentioned, they skip around out of order. There were also dozens of grammatical errors and word use errors. A common error was the use of the word know instead of no and vice versa. The book also contained many typos. More work from the author and a skilled editor could easily clean up this book, but as it is now, it does not appear to be very professional.
I recommend this book to anyone who would enjoy a quick adventure story and isn’t easily turned off by errors. There are no graphic sexual scenes or violence and I wouldn’t hesitate to let younger readers have a look at this book. However, I would warn readers that the holes in the story and the errors may make the book hard to finish, even though the story itself has a lot of merit.
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"Absolutley"
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