C L

The protagonist has very little to none redeeming quality to me. However, everyone in her life just unconditionally helps her and takes a liking to her instantly. SPOILER How the protagonist "figures out" that the woman (the mom) is lying to her is just a big leap and lazy writing. (I even thought maybe I accidentally flipped to the wrong page). Even though the book hasn't made much progress and the protagonist is often in "seeking advice" mode, suddenly, she knows and quickly confronts. And the reason for this whole thing is a stretch: A wealthy woman steals a child and the child's real mom haunts the kid? The real mom doesn't think making her baby draw scary pictures is bad? The characterization of the parents is flip-flopping and not convincing. Well, the author doesn't seem to care about details, because many descriptions cannot withstand a second look. I also find the repeated mentioning of religion/faith and Hallmark Channel unnecessary. Maybe because I already read the Japanese novel, Strange Pictures, by Uketsu, so I find this one quite bad. Strange Pictures also talks about mysterious drawings but the mystery in that one is so much better.