Book Review - Cursed

Title: Cursed
Author: Monica Wolfson
Series: Tysseland Chronicles
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Release Date: 7 May 2013
ISBN-13: 978-1484915004

Synopsis
When 17-year-old Sasha orders her latte at a local café, she hardly expects to get robbed. Strangely, the men don’t want money from the register. Instead they are interested in the necklace she is wearing that her mother gave her years ago.
Sasha can’t understand why the men would want the worthless piece of stained glass that hangs around her neck from a leather cord. It’s not worth anything or is it? She comes to realize not all value is measured in dollars and cents.
This is the night she meets Evan, who saves her life by distracting the robbers as the couple dodge flying bullets. It takes days for Sasha to acknowledge that her burgeoning magic abilities helped keep them safe. She’s adamant in keeping that secret from Evan. She doesn’t want him to know she’s a freak.

My Review
I received an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
When I was asked to review this I wasn't completely sure but then I saw the cover and it's totally beautiful, and I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but this one had me reaching for it.
This book is quite short at just 150 pages, a very quick read indeed. I enjoyed the plot, and the storyline flows well. A cursed teenager (Sasha) must find a way to reverse the curse before she dies. Throw in magic, a bit of a romance story, some action/fight scenes and it's complete. I actually enjoyed the progression of the story and wanted to know what happened next, but I struggled connecting with the characters a bit. The book is written very much in a 'telling' way. There isn't much emotion in the text. It reads a little bit like a list, very short sentences and paragraphs. For example - Chapter 7 (page 48)
"Sasha glowed with happiness. Evan had come to her birthday party. Even though he sort of  accepted  the  invitation,  she  wasn’t  sure  he  would show up."
 Full stops represent a pause or breath, so this becomes very disjointed. I wanted the writing to elaborate a bit, show me she's glowing with happiness don't tell me. Yes Evan has come to her party, but when did she notice him walk in? What is he wearing? Has he bought her a present? Not all these details have to be included but a bit more information would make a massive difference.
I suppose I pick this up a lot as it was a criticism I received a lot when at school and I've been wary of it since.
After reading this for a while I sort of started to get used to it, but I just feel like I was reading from the outside looking in at the events, whereas I usually like to feel like I'm in the story, with the charaters.
So I was a little bit disappointed with that, but as the story was very good it balanced it out for me, and I would recommend it as a quick, light, fun read.

My Rating