Released: August 2019
Publisher: The Parliament House
Pages: 246
Rating: 2.75/5
What if your fictional characters came to life?
From the publisher:
Most writers choose the endings to their stories . . . most writers are not Weavers.
Laney Holden is a freshman at Madison College whose life goes from normal to paranormal in a matter of seconds. When the antagonist in the book she’s writing shoves her down the stairs at the subway station, she learns she is a Weaver. Weavers bridge the narrow gap between fantasy and reality, bringing their words to life.
Laney soon meets William whom she also suspects is a character from her book—one she’s had a mad crush on since her pen hit the paper. But he’s in danger as her antagonist reveals a whole different ending planned for Laney’s book that involves killing William. Laney must use her writing to save the people closest to her by weaving the most difficult words she will ever write.
THE WEAVER is the first installment of The Weaver trilogy. It is an NA paranormal romance set in a small town on the north shore of Boston. It will leave you wanting more.
When it comes to assigning a star rating to a book, I’m a little more generous than other reviewers for a couple of reasons. Writing a book and putting it out there is a monumental task, one I greatly respect because goodness knows I have about a dozen half-finished novels abandoned across the various computers I’ve owned over the years.
I also do research before I decide whether to read a book so I don’t often end up reading something I completely disliked. Even if I wasn’t a fan of aspects of it, there’s usually enough there for me to not want to throw it against a wall (Catcher in the Rye being a rare exception- I will never not hate that book). Whether I was given the book from the author or publisher or whether I bought it myself doesn’t come into it at all of course.
However, I struggled with The Weaver. I really wanted to like this story more, but except for the last few chapters I found the only reason I was still turning the pages was to see if it got better. Luckily it eventually did, but it took awhile to get there.
I’ll start with the good.
The cover is utterly stunning and really captures the atmosphere the author was trying to create in the story. Being set in Boston where there is a lot of history and links to gothic literature really added to the overall plot.
The premise was really compelling. I was excited to read about fictional characters coming to life and causing dangerous havoc in the real world. Plus who wouldn’t want to write the perfect mate and then have them come to life?! And it’s a book about books! Book nerds never stop loving books about books.
I liked that the ability to bring fiction to life is an inherited trait, one only a handful of people have, and that there was a secret society for it. I would have loved to spend more time with her grandfather Grady as he was an interesting character with a fantastic backstory that deserves its own book. Same with the other Weavers Laney came across.
The last few chapters were a blaze of action and emotion that ended with a cliffhanger leaving me wanting more. If the rest of the book had been like those chapters, I easily would have rated this book higher.
Now for the not so good.
The characterizations weren’t very believable and the main character Laney was judgmental and melodramatic. I think you’re supposed to feel sympathy for this “gifted and misunderstood” girl but honestly it seemed like most of the issues she had with those around her were entirely of her own making.
Except for her grandfather, everyone in this book was caricature of a stereotype (jocks vs nerds vs prom queens) or not fully developed enough for me to take them seriously. And her father- holy cow, what a volatile bag of noise. In the book it’s shrugged off as, “Oh, that’s just Daddy!” but that guy was an emotionally abusive jerk.
Most of the issues with the characters would have been solved if this had taken place in a high school rather than a college campus. Maybe it’s different in small private colleges, but none of the colleges I went to cared about the social dramas from high school. I get that being a freshman in college isn’t that far removed from being in high school, but it still struck me as odd how all these people were carrying on like they were in a 90’s teen movie. Because of its overall immature feel, it seemed more like a YA book than an adult one.
As for the plot, there were several parts that left me frustrated. For example, in the opening chapter Laney cracks her skull on a concrete staircase but she’s released from the hospital the next day. There isn’t a lot you can do for those injuries, but her going back to class right afterward seemed negligent. Plus her parents only came for an afternoon to check on her before going back home (with her dad being a loud jerk to boot). If my kid got that injured their first week away from home, I wouldn’t just make a day trip out of it. Or scream at her friends.
It was also strange that Laney immediately accepts without hesitation that her fictional characters are real and trying to kill her. I have a great imagination and always wish fictional worlds were real, but I still wouldn’t react to Laney’s situation like she did. “Oh him? He’s just a character from my book who wants me dead for some reason.”
I feel like I mostly only have negative things to say about The Weaver, but there definitely were some good elements. This is the first time I’ve read a paranormal romance book so maybe this is how the genre tends to be written and I’m just not used to it. Several other reviewers seemed to really like this book so maybe you will too!
It’s disappointing that so much of this novel was aggravating for me. I kept with it anyway and I don’t regret doing so because like I said before, the final chapters of the book were incredible. By that point it felt like the author finally knew what she was trying to do with the plot. Those chapters were strong enough to make me consider reading further installments. Hopefully further books in the series will follow in this vein.
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A Little Nerd Told Me 
I would want to read this book for all the reasons you picked it up lol That cover is great! But knowing myself and my own woes with YA antics, I would probably end up feeling the lackluster that you are, thanks for the well laid out review.
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Thanks! I mean, I love YA but I don’t think this book has been classified as YA so that’s why I was surprised to find everyone acting like a 15 year old.
It was interesting, though. The ending showed a lot of promise.
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Jocelyn – Thanks for your honest review of the Weaver. I hope you give The Watcher and the Ender a chance. I really love where the series is going and the second two books have more of the feel of the ending of The Weaver.
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Thank you for letting me know!
Also FYI I have a bit of a book crush on William so I’m looking forward to reading more.
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