I mentioned that I recently discovered your blog. I hope to see your book on the shelves at some point. I like what I’ve read so far.

Second Read [the critical one ]
The American comes across as a bit of a stereotypical A*hole. In other words, it seemed a bit heavy-handed. On the other hand, maybe his rough character and immediately-unlikeable character is WHY he’s buying a wife from another character. Someone that will have no real choice but to be tied to him. Still, it seems like he would still be a little more eager to impress her. I think it’s important for the reader to dislike the husband because it felt right to side with the Ukranian for the risk she was taking and justify her secret. But maybe he could be unlikable without being too much of a stereotype.

The other thing that rang a bit false is that he wanted to know all about her in the taxi ride. The subject-change was abrupt and it seemed like most of those conversations would have happened prior to their actual meeting. I don’t have any suggestions here, just an observation.

The ultimate fascination for me with this story was the “what if.” I didn’t find it too hard to guess what her secret is. And it’s pretty shocking. What if he DOES find out!? What will the reprecussions be? The fact that he was so unlikeable gave it an element of wicked, karmetic humor if you suspect her secret.

Ultimately, it was well paced and interesting. It’s far easier to be a critic than a writer and my criticism is purely intended to be constructive. Thanks for putting your work out there!

PS: I can’t spell “reprecussions” and I doubt “karmetic” is a word but I’m defining it as: having a karma-like quality.