The Blackhope Enigma

  The Blackhope Enigma by Teresa Flavin fell flat.  While the premise was promising the writing and story were underwhelming.  The story chronicles Sunni, an art student, who goes to study a famous painting at the Blackhope Tower along with her sort-of-crush Blaise.  While there her little brother, Dean shows up and vanishes into the painting.  In a panic Sunni repeats the actions her brother took and finds herself inside the painting as well.  Blaise follows shortly after.  Once inside the painting the team must find each other, work together to move through the different layers of the painting, find their way home, and determine which of the fantastical characters they meet along the way are friend or foe.

  The idea of wandering through a painting is intriguing but Flavin lost me with the predictability of the storyline and underdeveloped characters.  At some points, I found myself wondering, "who cares"?  I suppose this book could have been saved if I had found myself more deeply invested in the characters, but I wasn't.  The writing, characters, and ending were all paper thin.  Hopefully Flavin's next book offers more to her readers than this one.