A Lost Innocence

Rating:
Summary: Very difficult to read
Review: "If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all."
Wish I could. But unfortunately, I read the reviews here and purchased the book based on their say-so. And I've been cheesed off ever since. It isn't nice to scam folks from their hard-earned cash by posting glowing reviews about a complete non-story. I don't understand the rave reviews. I can only think that the author either wrote them himself, or had biased friends/family/blackmailees do it.

I hate to say it, but I hate the thought of others being suckers like myself and buying this crap more. This book was money well-wasted. In a word, this book is terrible. First of all, the layout of the dialogue is such that it's nearly impossible to read, and extremely difficult to follow, i.e. run-on, no hard return per speaker. It felt like one, never-ending paragraph. What a headache.

The other incredibly annoying feature of this book was that it was all "Tell" and no "Show". It simply refuses to allow a person's imagination to do any filling in of imagery. Even when someone laughs in the story, it isn't, for example, "his broad shoulders shook from the force of his laughter", it's: "'Ha, ha, ha!' I laughed." Really! What's up with that!? There's no imagination involvement *at all*. I wrote more descriptive material when I was in the fifth grade.

As for the so-called sex scenes... Who cares? There's no emotional involvement by either the reader or the characters, and again, the reader isn't allowed to use his/her imagination. The male character, Dean, is supposedly some stud-hero, but he's got to be the lamest "playah" in history. He so did *not* turn me on, in fact, he was downright weak and so was his game. And April *insert eyeroll here*. As a female, I should be sympathetic, but seeing as how she's as one-dimensional as Dean, I could care less. Well, that's not entirely true. I did want to slap her for not having a clue when Dean was talking to her on the phone while being *otherwise occupied* with another one of his harem. He passes it off as watching porn at a male friend's house. Yeah, right. And I wanted to slap her not because I cared about her character, but because I wondered if her character --and those of the other female characters -- was a direct reflection of the author's own feelings considering women. Not a flattering picture, IMO. Makes us look bloody gullible and beyond naive into stooopidd.

In all fairness, I can't give a complete review because I thought this story sucked so bad (plus there was that giant, run-on sentence factor that killed my eyes) that I couldn't finish it. It has 224 pages; I made it (just barely skimming each page) to page 40, then I skimmed to page 50, then I gave up.

If you have money to burn, or an enemy you'd like to have go blind, by all means, buy this book and send it to them. Or if you're a writer yourself and want to feel better about your own attempts, buy this book. But if you're a serious reader with a vivid imagination that you enjoy using, RUN, don't walk, away from this fourth-grade material.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling book!
Review: I thought that A Lost Innocence had a new twist on a good old fashioned crazy relationship! Rod Griffin wrote this compelling novel about a on again off again relationship where both partners are up to no good. What I liked the most about his book was that these characters grow and learn from their mistakes but it takes one heck of a roller coaster ride to get them there. The character Dean really ticked me off and I kept on reading! I read a lot so when an author can get an emotional response out of me I know it is very good writing. I definitely recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Good First Romance Book
Review: I've read his Martial Arts book and really enjoyed it, so I had to read his first romance book. I liked how he spoke from the first person, like I was really there with all those feelings and emotions. It was interesting to me that it was written how people really speak to each other. I love to read and I look forward to his next book...

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: My gosh, is there anything this guy doesn't do! Somebody give this guy a book award! This is a very good read, I was surprised at how easily the author was able to jump back and forth between the characters. A suspenseful, romantic and very entertaining read, I highly recommend it. I'm waiting for the next one!