Title

The title 'Switched At Game' makes me assume that there is obviously some kind of game being played throughout the story. This could be a game revolving around friendship, love, or something completely different - possibly gang related because I'm aware that gangs tend to have many games being played within them to out-throw one another.

The word 'switched' fits perfectly in the title as it's almost like when you have to be alert and know that the game you're playing is dangerous so you can't afford to make any wrong moves if that makes sense.

It's a basic title. I wouldn't say it's anything special or creative in terms of originality, but looking at the positive side, it is intriguing.

Cover

That cover of yours certainly does the job of blinding the reader with those bright colours and grabbing their attention at the same time. You have included a lot of colour on the cover with the busy city life background and all of those lights and then of course, you have included an image of a girl at the front so she's the focus on the book.

However, I feel like it might be a little too much because it's like I don't know where to look. Am I looking at the background or am I looking at the girl? The background kind of takes the attention away from the of the image of the girl. I don't know if that's what you wanted but that's what it does.

My feedback for this would be to use a less distracting background; one in which you can still use a city life but maybe position it a little better so it doesn't clash with the rest of the cover. On the other hand, your cover does tell a little bit about the story already with the images used. I'm assuming this has definitely got some kind of gang related elements in it and that kind of makes me want to read the book more.

The font used on the cover is not bad; it's pretty fun and quirky if anything and I like that. However, there's a lot of shadow on the text if you look at it and it is quite distracting because it makes the title look kind of like a blob and splodge basically. The colour of the text is a good choice as it does stand out and is visible for the reader to see on the cover; it doesn't clash with the cover either which is another good thing but I would suggest changing the colour of the word 'At' to red maybe as this just looks better in my opinion, rather than pink or purple.

I would also suggest finding a different font which suits the cover than the current one so you can see the letters of the title more clearly. If you want to use the current font, then that is totally fine but I would suggest getting rid of the shadow effect on it because it doesn't add anything at all.

Blurb

I have mixed feelings about the blurb if I'm being honest. You've used the line 'My lover is the killer' and from this I'm assuming that the main character whoever she or he is falls in love with someone who is basically a criminal and a murderer or killer or whatever. So, we're introduced to the main character Paigdre who falls in love with Jeremiah who just so happens to be the person who killed Paigdre's best friend. I'm not going to lie but it already feels like this is going to include some cliche elements in it and I'm not a big fan of that sort of stuff personally.

We are also told about Jeremiah and how he wanted revenge on Xavier who is Paigdre's brother but ends up killing her best friend instead. I feel like the blurb kind've gives too much away because you're practically exposing Jeremiah's intentions and Paigdre's thoughts and feelings already which is too much on a blurb. I mean, all of that stuff could have been included throughout the book instead in some kind of plot twist or cliffhanger.

My feedback to you would be to summarise the blurb up without giving any spoilers away and revealing too much: write enough to make the reader interested in the book but don't write too much. Also, I've noticed that your writing for the blurb isn't very good. You've missed out whole words from sentences so they don't fully make sensem and that is something you need to work on.

First Chapter

I was right about gang elements being included in the book because there was a lot of it in the first chapter. The chapter begins with Shantel being taken to hospital where I'm guessing she dies. Shantel is Paigdre's best friend and Xavier's girlfriend I think and she just gives Paigdre a name, 'Prince'. Obviously because I've read the blurb and now when I come to the first chapter, I already know that Prince is Jeremiah's last name so he is the killer and that's already a spoiler, which I think ruins what could be a very dramatic moment.

I feel like the first chapter is going at a very fast pace. It's like one minute, her best friend just died and then fast forward
a week and they're all trying to find out what's going on and doing other stuff. I was expecting a chapter with a funeral at least, and that would have been the perfect scene for another fight to break out if Jeremiah attended the funeral to get revenge on Xavier. That's just an idea of mine that I would have liked to have seen happening in the book but unfortunately it didn't.

I don't think that the first chapter is solid enough; it didn't really interest me or make me want to carry on reading because it seemed so generic and it felt a little rushed too. My feedback to you would be to maybe look through the chapter and make some amendments. You need to remember that a reader always looks at the quality of the work and doesn't just expect you to be pumping out chapters.

I can totally appreciate the fact that you've gotten into the shoes of the characters. I figured out that the characters are of a black race not only because of the image you used on the book cover but also because of the way the characters were communicating with each other. I'm just assuming stuff but I could be wrong here, I don't know yet.

Plot/theme

I feel like the plot is going at a reasonable pace overall, however, there are so many gaps and holes that need to be filled in. It's like you know where you want to go with the book but you're not expanding on your points enough and making it happen.

When I was reading the book, it was like the attention was moved away from the plot at times. We had more scenes with Jeremiah and other characters making out every two minutes than of the plot actually being developed. I understand that you want to include sexual scenes in your book for a little entertainment but it was like every chapter had one going down and it was just too much. I kind of got sick and tired of it, like, what am I even reading?

My feedback for you would be to go over your plot properly and expand on each point: make sure something is happening in each chapter that makes the reader want to continue reading. That doesn't mean including sexual scenes in every chapter. I understand that it's action but it's not the kind that's always going to interest the readers.

As for the themes in this book, there are more than just a few with some being love, friendship, and revenge. However, I did notice that there were a few times when rape was mentioned and your sexual scenes are a little graphic so I think you should make sure your book is put down for 'mature readers' only and maybe include a note at the beginning of your book to warn your readers as well as some topics in the book will not be taken lightly.

Writing

Your writing style isn't very good, in my opinion. It didn't make me enjoy reading the book and I felt like it was all over the place. There were issues with the spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It was like every single chapter was full of mistakes. This can really put a reader off from reading your book because no one wants to read something full of spelling errors or missing punctuation. I mean, I know I read the book, but only for the sake of writing an honest review or else I wouldn't read it past the first chapter.

There's also the problem with the wording of your sentences as they don't always makes sense. This is because you're either missing words out or including words in the wrong section of a sentence which makes it very confusing for a reader. I feel like you need to actually find your writing style and experiment with it, this should help you improve.

Your writing is initially lacking what a book should include. There were no descriptions or descriptive language used at all. Not even a single, basic adjective was used, nor any adverbs and this showed in your writing because it began to get boring. Descriptive language can help you to add a little extra flavour to your work and allow the reader to enjoy reading your book, and be able to imagine what's happening more vividly.
Characters

All of your characters seem very similar to one another. I wouldn't say there's much development when it comes to the characters. In terms of emotions and feelings, of course there was some development with Jeremiah and Paigdre as their feelings became stronger as time went by, and sometimes this did show through their actions.

In terms of personality, I feel like all of your characters lack it and don't really have any individuality like they should. As a reader, I want to be able to get to know each of the characters - even side characters - and what they're like but they all seem exactly the same in your book which makes it more boring to be honest.

My feedback to you would be to try to be creative with all your characters and give them all different personalities and portray them in their own way so they don't seem so basic and generic.

Overall Impression

I didn't really enjoy reading the book which is an actual shame because I normally like reading books involving gangs and revenge but this book just didn't make the cut for me. I feel like there are many areas of improvement that you need to work on as a writer and unless you work on them and make changes to the book, then there's no way you're going to make progress with your work.

I wouldn't recommend this book to others because I don't think everyone is going to enjoy it due to the writing style and plot development, there's a lot of work that needs to be done with it. I mean, if you want to check the book out and read it then go ahead but I do believe it needs some changes before I would consider it a good read.

Reviewed by: Pixie