Elaine White's Life in Books
The Author
Elaine White is the author of multi-genre MM romance, celebrating 'love is love' and offering diversity in both genre and character within her stories.
Growing up in a small town and fighting cancer in her early teens taught her that life is short and dreams should be pursued. She lives vicariously through her independent, and often hellion characters, exploring all possibilities within the romantic universe.
The Winner of two Watty Awards – Collector's Dream (An Unpredictable Life) and Hidden Gem (Faithfully) – and an Honourable Mention in 2016's Rainbow Awards (A Royal Craving) Elaine is a self-professed geek, reading addict, and a romantic at heart.
The Reviewer
I’m an author and reader, who just can’t get away from books. I discovered the MM genre a few years ago and became addicted.
Top #50 UK reviewer on Goodreads
#1 reviewer on Divine Magazine
Ocean of Secrets Volume 1 Manga
Book – Ocean of Secrets, Vol 1Author – Sophie-Chan
Star rating - ★★☆☆☆
No. of Pages – 160
Cover – Gorgeous!
Genre – Comic, Manga, Teen, Graphic Novel, Fantasy
** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **
To be honest, this one had so much promise but it just didn't work for me.
The story is full of gorgeous illustrations, but sadly they're completely ruined by the huge watermark stamp plastered across the page. If it was a little more faded or discrete, it would have let me see the images better, but it felt really intrusive.
As for the story, I found myself unable to get into it, with the incredulous and obvious plot, along with the additional small graphics at the top of certain pages that had nothing to do with the story and didn't make sense (such as page 62/63). Pages 50-51 also didn't make sense, since the characters were in two different places, but having a conversation; an ability that wasn't apparently allowed within the plot arc.
The illustrations also varied a bit too much between scenes, sometimes being shown in great detail and at others appearing more Chibi/cartoonish.
Overall, the story had hints of steampunk/fantasy, with magic, mentioned and links to the Bermuda Triangle, was just a little too contrived and obvious. The whole framed for murder and long lost princess concept was simple and didn't feel well explored for the amount of pages.
