Spotlight and Review: A World of My Own by Becca Bates

A rough life leaves Marie desperate for a way of escape. When she and her secret crush find a portal to the magical land of Sonara, it seems she has found just that. Now, she has everything she could want except the sister she left behind. Determined to save her from their abusive stepfather, Marie sets out to bring her sister with her to a new home, but Sonara may not be the idyllic land she dreamed of.

Clare's Review - 4 of 5 stars

I liked the idea of this story, the Alice in Wonderland story has always been a favourite for me and this promised some of those ideas within this story. Sonara is an interesting place, I really felt like I could imagine being there and being a part of the character's lives as they travelled through this mysterious place. I liked the main character although at times I felt I couldn't quite work out her personality, there was one moment in the story that really annoyed me with the character interaction and I felt this could have been avoided with a bit more work.
I guessed what might be happening early on and what the outcome could potentially be so although the story was enjoyable this made me a little less excited. My overall feelings were that I really enjoyed the overall story and the the way it was written, I really feel like it would of been better in a full length novel, this would have done the story itself more justice. I will read future materials from this author as I feel she has great story writing potential!

Lisa's Review - 2 of 5 stars

The concept of World Of My Own is a good one -  follow a troubled teenage girl in to a modern day,  sci-fi/fantasy Alice in Wonderland type of world. Had a bit more time been put into it, and had it not been a novella, it could have worked well.
The world of Sonara could have been pretty epic if the author had decided to turn this into a full length novel, but due to it being a novella everything felt 'cut off', limited, which ruined the flow of the story, leading it to be rushed and somewhat predictable.
There was one main 'flaw' once the characters were in Sonara that irked me for the rest of the book, and I found myself irritated by it, and it ruined the rest of it for me, although the ending itself wasn't great. I was left confused by it, and although it wasn't the predictable ending I had been waiting for, it was so baffling that it made me wish it had been.

Becca Bates was born in August 1990 in southern California. From an early age, she was an avid reader and often created stories of her own, though it wasn't until high school that she began writing her first novel. After writing for a few years as a side hobby, her love for it grew until she decided it was her greatest passion and something worth pursuing professionally. Her first novella, A World of My Own, was published in October 2015.

Becca is currently working on two full-length fantasy series, Satyr Wars and The Eridan Chronicles. She lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.