Mini Reviews for Mini Books: Automaton & Broken

Title: Automaton
Author: Amanda Clemmer
Release Date: May 22, 2015

Last Thursday I awoke to learn that I died almost a month ago. I was rebuilt from a highly experimental process of clockwork and cloning, and I don’t know why. One man knows my secret—my creator, the lead of the Leona Scientific Laboratory. He says knowledge isn’t free. I say that unless I know why I’m here, he’s the one who’s going to pay.

My friend Jack Beasley has offered his help. He has inside knowledge about the laboratory and the man who runs it. I think he also knows something about me that he isn’t sharing. There’s no one I can trust now. Not even myself.

This looked really neat to me.  I love science fiction.  And the idea of bringing someone back from the dead as basically a robot?  Pretty amazing right there.

I took some issues with how this novella was executed.  When Ada first woke up as an automaton, I felt she accepted that fact far too quickly.  Sure there's plenty of proof, but if she is emotionally the same as a human, shouldn't it affect her quite a lot?  I mean, if you found out that you're not really human, what would you do?  With that, I had a lot of trouble connecting with the main character.  With most of the characters really.  I liked Ada/Ace's friend Jack the most.  But he had a small part.  Maybe if this were longer the characters could have developed more.

I also want to know how Ada died.  Was that plot just dropped?  Or was the "it was an accident" really the full explanation?  Because Ada/Ace insists she wouldn't trip down the stairs.  So how did she really die?  Even if it was an accident, what really happened?

Title: Broken

Author: Katrina Stephens

Release Date: October 1, 2014

Anna Belford is your everyday, small town girl from Pennsylvania. Her life is perfect, that is until her stable life comes tumbling down. Consoled by her best friend Melissa, Anna begins to patch her life back together. However a second blow threatens to derail Anna's future. Will Anna have what it takes to persevere on?

Or will the past events deter her from moving forward?

So... I had trouble with this one too.  Novellas are popping up everywhere these days.  As books in-between your favorite best-sellers, as a series to make a full novel...

So I had trouble getting into the story of Broken.  At some points it felt like it moved a little too fast and then others it felt slow.  I don't really know exactly what it was really.  I wasn't able to connect with the main character.  I mean, it was sad that her dad died, and then her mom.  But I still couldn't connect to feel Anna's grief.

I feel like if this book were longer the characters would have been more developed.  But everything just kind of went by so quickly.  It was all just plot.  Telling instead of showing.  So I was never invested.

Note: I received a copy of these books in exchange for honest reviews, and that in no way changes my opinion of these books!