Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Genre: Contemporary, Diverse
People who should read this: If you love college sports, diverse storylines, and want the behind the scenes of student athletics.
*I was given a free copy of this book by the author for an honest review.*
This is the very reason that I hate self-publishing. I get it, the industry can be tough and biased and make all the wrong decisions. But sometimes, those rejections happen for a reason. Sometimes, they are the indication that a book needs a little more work. Sprint Dreams is the perfect example of this.
I have no idea if Dismuke actually tried to get this book traditionally published. What I do know is that no one tapped her on the shoulder to tell her that it’s not ready yet. A few more revisions, a fix here and there, and this book could be amazing. I should know, my book was at this same stage three revisions ago. I thought it was amazing. I thought it was ready to go out to agents. Instead of letting my ego and opinions rule the show, I read the hard reviews from my beta readers and made the changes. Guess what, my book is so much better. Self-publishing doesn’t force writers to jump through those hard hurdles. Which is why the industry isn’t trusted.
I’m not saying all of this to be mean. I’m saying this because Sprint Dreams could be amazing. This book needs to be on the shelves of every major bookstore. It’s the book the diverse community has been screaming for, but it can’t do that in the form that it’s in. Dismuke has the talent. Goodness, does she have the talent. There are chunks where her writing is effortless, her descriptions great. I was in those moments with Makeda. I felt the stress. The wind in my hair as Makeda ran. The parts of the story that Dismuke knew better than the back of her hand from being a student athlete.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
Enjoyment wise, Sprint Dreams deserves all the stars, but this is a technical blog too which means that I gave the book as many stars as I could. I want to encourage Dismuke as much as I can. The issues with the book really come down to three things.
First, let’s just get the darn dialogue over with. Oh boy… the biggest downfall of newbie writers. They try to make their characters sound really cool but no one talks like that normally. Or, writers try to use the dialogue for exposition… huge no. Sadly, Dismuke does both. Dialogue should be effortless and real. As my writing teacher used to say, just go to a coffee shop and listen to how people really talk. I also use reality television. Maybe not the best thing, but with Covid-19 right now, coffee shops are a no go. In Sprint Dreams, the dialogue pulled me out of the story a lot. One of the main reasons being in the second issue.
*nice transition music*
Too many topics in a single story. Instead of saving some of these very important, current day topics for other stories, Dismuke tried to throw every single issue of our time into this book. Not cool man. It’s Queenie all over again. There are about three topics that have nothing to do with the story, including the rape portion. Save that all for book two okay. What happened was that Dismuke’s characters started preaching or spouting off random facts. That’s not how the real world talks. It also causes the issue to fall to the wayside instead of being fully talked about and developed. The worst offense is that it pulls the reader out of the story by making their mind think the story is going one way, losing the point of the plot all together.
Finally, what was the point of the book? When I was introduced to Sprint Dreams, I was made to believe that the story was going to be about Makeda not getting her scholarship because she was black. The story is far from that. The scholarship becomes a tiny thing a third of the way into the story. The real plot, as I can determine, is much different. But who would really know that when you throw in the side plots and the confusing start. What really was the core conflict? What message was Dismuke trying to impart to her readers? The way that Sprint Dreams ended, the plot is more about the conflict with the coach than the scholarship. That means the first half needs to be reworked or thrown out altogether and the focus changed to the coach and the team. Something I still think a lot of student athletes need to read about. Save everything else for book two.
I wish the best of luck for Sprint Dreams. I want to see it reach number one on Amazon because it’s the book that the world needs. And I hope that all my writers out there can learn to keep fighting to make their book the best that it is. Send your book out to trusted readers. Listen to the feedback. You don’t have to use it all. I know that I didn’t. But seeing your book through a new pair of eyes will make all the difference in the world.
Happy Reading
Love Kait
Reading Challenge: 76/175