The Night of Elisa - Illustrated Edition LITE by Isis Sousa

 

Final Rating: 4/5 Stars

Pages: 214

Edition: Kindle

Time Read: 10.12.14 - 10.12.14 

Summary: 

"Sometimes, life and love can follow the most obscure paths, just as they did for Elisa.

Her life becomes a dark, cold, lonely cage the day the devil takes her as his wife. He robs her of almost everything she holds dear: her health, her wealth and what is left of her family.

Trapped between the nuances of life and beyond-life, Elisa finds herself struggling for a better tomorrow. With her health deteriorating, how will she summon the courage and strength to stand her ground? And how far will she go in the pursuit of a dream?

Embark with Elisa on this puzzling Gothic adventure set in the late Victorian era, between the world of the Living and the picturesque, melancholic Duskland."

Review:

Let me just say, I was extremely excited for this book when I saw it on a giveaway. I immediately signed up, and when I got the book I read it right away. I was not disappointed. While this is not the best novel in the world, I still was captivated by it. The entirety of this novel felt much like a Tim Burton story, and let me just say now: I love Tim Burton.

The illustrations of this story were, by far, the best part. I don't say this to sell the story itself short; it felt incredibly unique and held true to its gothic origins. But this author has some major talent in drawing as well. Every image I saw took my breath away and I couldn't help but fall more in love with the story as a result.

When putting images in novels, there are generally two outcomes; I've read both. Like this story, it can either greatly enhance the reading by clarifying objects or giving a better physical imagery, or, like another book I've read and reviewed, it can actually detract by having little or no relation to the plot.

While there was a lot I loved about this novel, there's also a few things that bothered me. The first is the romance. It was very insta-love on all sides, but I'm VERY happy to see that a certain romantic fad wasn't put into the story. Every character has some sort of immediate connection with another, and while I can appreciate connections, they were totally head over heels for each other within a week.

Another thing that bothered me was the writing flow. At times, there were a large amount of simple sentences put together, pulling me out of the story because of disruptive sentence breaks.

Finally, Elisa herself really made it hard for me to like her. For a vast majority of the book, she's laying in bed sleeping or in pain. While I get that it did work for certain parts, it honestly dragged on with how little action occured during the middle, where she stayed in bed for days at a time. I must say, Elisa did a great job at impressing me at the end though.

Overall, I'm glad to say this novel did NOT disappoint. I've been reading some novels that really didn't deliver like I expected them too, and this novel was a ray of sunshine in my dull reading experiences recently (pun intended).

I was given this book for free by the author for an honest review.