This month’s book review is on a new fantasy romance called “Balance” by Inghild Okland. This book is Inghlid’s debut novel, an accomplishment in itself, and something fun I found out in her bio is that she is a soil scientist. Coming from a farming family, I found that particular bit of info neat.

In the book, Inghild does a great job building her world of a sprawling desert with the occasional oasis. I also feel that she gave her main character, Vildi, a fun personality. This book was clean in violence, language, and sexuality, and where it’s written in first person, I found it hard to put down.

However, I also came across some things that bothered me about this book. The first is that the pace is quite slow, and the first three chapters were the character living the same day over again (think the movie “Groundhog”). It took a very long time for me to understand the purpose of Vildi’s “Do-Agains,” which pulled me out of the story several times.

Another thing that slowed things down in this book is that most conversations took place over a meal. Now, I get that this happens in real life, but it is one of the most boring ways to deliver dialog, and my editors were quick to point it out in my own books. Instead, I feel the author could have made a more engaging book by having greater amounts of the conversation happen while the character was actually in motion.

Despite the faults of this book, I found myself reading it well into the night and intrigued as the romance between Vildi and her prince grew. It was well-formatted, and I saw no significant issues with the text itself (typos, etc.). However, I would only give this book four stars for the above problems.

This book may not be action-packed (I’m looking at you, Garret), but if you are looking for a sweet, clean romance book for you or your daughter to read, I would highly recommend it.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the newest book review, and if you pick up this book, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

Until next time!

Vanessa

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my social channels on Thursday for the cover reveal of “The Comstock Chronicles, Book 2, The Raider’s Curse.”