"Volnavia seems perfect in every way. She's beautiful, educated, talented, world renowned, and dedicated. Her life is perfect... or is it?"
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Balance by Faline Adolph Trafford Publishing
book review by K.R.Mecom
It is hard to classify the genre of Faline Adolph's Balance; it somewhere between a short story and a novella in terms of length, and is a suspense that, unlike other stories in that genre, focuses on the nuances of characters. But Adolph packs a lot of punch into the span of the story. Volnavia Lance is a highly successful individual; she's beautiful and smart; and she runs her own architectural company. But hidden in her past is a childhood filled with physical, mental, and sexual abuse by her father. Enter Dr. Hillard. As a therapist, he tries to help Volnavia when she complains of not being able to sleep at night. Dr. Hillard becomes obsessed with her and is drawn dangerously into her drama, as he and the reader along with him try to figure out who Volnavia really is. Adolph deals with some weighty subject matter and adult content, but it always serves to illuminate characters and answer questions about who they really are and why they do what they do.
Although Adolph presents an interesting story, the many editing mistakes such as tense changes, random capitalized words, and missing quotation marks take away from the story she is trying to tell. However, as the book clocks in at a brisk fifty-six pages, it is a good, quick read for somebody who is spending an afternoon at the beach or somebody who wants to enjoy a thoughtful read on their lunch break.