Sophia Barsuhn’s Reviews > In the Heart of a Mustang > Status Update

I feel like I've said out loud, "Nobody talks like this" at least twenty times. A good editor could have really, really helped.

The amount of editing I'm doing is wild. Are there some things I like about this book? Absolutely. But there is a lot to fix. Also, we know that Julius is black. You don't need to be constantly talking about his dark skin.

Clunky writing aside, I like Betsy Fowler. She actually has a personality and it feels real. I like how she cares for people.

I genuinely don't think anyone edited this.

The use of phrases like "the suffering teen" or "the young boy" in place of Hunter's name is incredibly annoying, as is the dialogue. The writing is akin to a twelve-year-old's first attempt at creative writing. Yes, this book was written several years before the other M.J. Evans book I read, but the writing in both of these books is not good.

The problem with jumping right into the action at the beginning of a book is that I have absolutely no idea of who our main character is. I don't know his personality, his likes and dislikes. So any reaction that he has to anything feels inorganic and forced.

5 pages in and already finding and fixing multiple typos. Oh boy.