Lori

This was not as good as the last book.

The main cast of characters is pushed aside for a story focused on Zaphod. This could have been interesting but in this book the author turned Zaphod into a petulant man-child. I did miss the other characters as they were better to follow along with. At least we get some Marvin.

This book had no plot, and I know that this series is supposed to be a bit unpredictable, but this one was so pointless. It felt like a filler book in the series. The wit and silliness of the first book is dampened in this one. There are elements of the original book that are still enjoyable but not enough.

Its not so bad that I wanted to put it down, but I just wanted to get though it. Hopefully, the next book is better.

This was a great read. Now that we have gone though all the set up in the last book, we really get to enjoy the story this time round.

The authors are great at creating engaging characters. The main cast are all interesting on their own but there are stand outside characters. Millier was fantastic in the first book and now we have a great line up of Avasarala, Bobbie, and Prax. This line up is used to great advantage as now we get multiple POVs.

With so many POVs the grasp of each character having defined personalities is commendable. You don’t feel frustrated with the switching POVs instead they are used to advance the story while maintaining a steady stream of information.

The expanse of the world and characters is perfectly done. There is a great balancing act though out this book in order to provide readers with information about the universe and progressing the story.

I can not wait for the next book.

This book starts out well. You are quickly taken into this weird and colourful community.

There was something so captivating about the messed-up community members, dark subject matters, and the weird girl atmosphere that just works. The book is not a laugh out loud one but was still pretty funny. As the book goes on the situation with, the main character gets more messed up and I could not help but want to see this though with her.

The last part of the book is where it starts to drop a little. The things that first made the book great start to get annoying and at this point I genuinely wanted things to end between the main character and Big Swiss. Both become harder to like. The ending isn’t bad but it’s a little over the top and somehow slightly underwhelming.

The book was entertaining and at the end I feel mostly positive about it.

This book was a good read but wasn’t quite what I was expecting.

I thought this book would be about her medical education, but the book mainly focuses on life during the time period and on female relationships. That isn’t a bad thing, but it was her medical journey that had interested me in the description. The focus on the female journey and relationships was very well done and really is what made this book so good. The strength, bonding, and trauma of all the women in the book came though to build most of the story.

The writing was well done and was good at pulling me into the story, but I did find that the author spent a lot of time describing elements of the time period more then the story. It was nice at first to get these descriptions and really helped set the scene. After a while though these long descriptions took away from the storyline.

It was worth the read and will be a book that I could recommend to others. I think I would like to try another book by this author. I really did like the writing and the relationship driven plot.

I hated this book.

The story is mostly told as a recapping of events by unreliable narrators. This removed all emotional connections with the main characters. Being told what these characters have done does not provide enough insight to be able to empathize with them. That and the fact that they all are callous people who make intentionally stupid decisions to hurt others.

This was so hard to get though. Love was not a great enough power to make anything these characters did forgivable.

The first book wasn’t bad, so I wanted to try this one. I hate to say that I don’t like a King book, but I don’t like this one.

What sticks out to me the most is how slow it is. This book could have been cut in half, and I would still say it’s to long. It takes a third of the book to start getting into the main part of the story. The narration is another thing that felt wrong. The sweeping the reader along through key holes and over hills was interesting as first then jarring. It kept pulling me out of the story with these almost fourth wall breaks as things got darker.

The last book was a touch of King multiverse, but this one just shoved the tower down your throat. It was too much King as much as that hurts to say and yet not enough. The best parts of King like the lifelike characters and heart that King can give to even simple stories is missing from this. Instead, we get to much dark tower multiverse that it pulls away from he stories.

I would not recommend reading this one.

Some of the charm of the first book is missing from this one. This book still gives a nice sense of community and magic. The mystery and side characters were also interesting. What pulls this book down is the love triangle.

We are forced to spend way too much time on the love triangle. Steve is just the worst as well. Calling the main character by a nick name she hates. Showing up at her house and forcing a date. Worst still is how clearly better Declan being. This man has so much patience and a great ability to take things as they come.

There didn’t seem to be enough time to focus on the mystery, her spellbook club, or even the new mysterious detective. All this became second to the triangle of annoyance. All that made the first book so good took a back seat.

The book is not the worst, but it could have been better. I am hoping the next book will redeem the series.

This book was better in the last but had a few storylines going on.

There is a bit of a jump from the last book to this one. The ending of the last had our main character deciding she didn’t want a romantic relationship with Steve then in this this book she is in a steady relationship with Declan. Although I am happy that Declan was the chosen one, this book had the main character spending a lot of time with Steve.

I am not a fan of love triangles, and I was hoping this would be done. Instead, we got Steve hitting on Katie even though she has made it clear that she only wants a friendship and Katie being a bad girlfriend to Declan. The book does have Katie recognize that she hasn’t treated Declan right and does fix this. I do hope the next book gives Declan a bigger role.

The main storyline is good. I did find this book had a lot of side stories tied together and some of them didn’t have enough of a resolution at the end. It was a little slow at first, but I liked the introduction to Katie’s Mother and their family reconciliation. Each book in this series has the main character grow in magic, friendships, and relationships. This has made the series so enjoyable to read.

I am looking forward to reading the next book.

I mainly wanted to read this to finally get the part of Holly Gibney’s story that I had missed. I am happy I did as If its bleed was the best story in the collection.

Mr. Harrigan's Phone – reminded a bit of the beginning to Fairy Tale. Young boy helping out an old man down the road. For the first part of the story, I forgot what I was reading as I was more then happy to read along about this friendship. It does take some time to get to the cell phone part that the story is named for. From there its good but rushed.

The Life of Chuck – Was weird but engaging. An apocalyptic slice of life.

If It Bleeds – Was the best story. This may be because I have read the other books with Holly and the gang in them and have loved them ever since. The idea of this creature and how it feeds was well done. Though out the investigation you get to build up a creep factor long before meeting the thing. It was well paced and kept you interested.

Rat – This is my second favorite story in this collection. The build up is slow but intense. The process of writing a novel is interesting along with the motivations behind it. The beginning is the best part. After making a deal with the rat the story loses its intensity. The ending is of but not a strong as some of the others in this book.

This has been a book recommended to me multiple times over the years, and it was worth the read. Once the action starts, it doesn’t really stop. There are constant little quips, all ridiculous, that add to the humour of the book. I wouldn’t say this is as funny as Good Omens, as this book is more silly than witty. Although there are some magnificent quotes from the book.

There is not much of a structure to the book’s universe, so it is hard to guess what will happen. Not much will make sense, so I would say this is not a book for everyone. If you are willing to go with the flow, this book is a huge adventure.

It’s worth the read if you want a silly sci-fi comedy.

It’s a cute story but not as good as the others. There was less of a connection between the two main leads.

The author still does an excellent job of setting up the community and light cozy feel that her other books have had. You get a nice update on previous couples and a good nudge about the next couple. This has been a great lighthearted series which makes this entry a letdown. I liked the side characters more then the main ones as they had more life to them.

The personalities and romance of the two main characters is weak. They feel rushed together, and by the end I thought they need more time to work on themselves. Its not a terrible relationship but there is not enough romance it’s more lust.

It’s not a bad story and there is a lot to like. Hopefully, the next book is better.

I liked this one. I am a sucker for a nice book cover and was happy that this wasn’t another disappointment.

There were a few things I didn’t like. First was the large cast of characters. We didn’t get enough time with all of them and there was too many to remember. Secondly the main character did some stupid things. Like taking evidence from a crime scene or confronting a killer on her own.

There was a lot to like with this one as the mystery was interesting and there were no large logical leaps. The main character is likeable, and the secondary story of the great-aunt was a great addition to the story. There is a hint of romance in the book, but I like that it isn’t the focus.

It’s a good mystery and think I will try the next book.

This is another classic that was a disappointment. I couldn’t care about anything in the book.

Most of the contrasts made in the book are simple and often played as an unfunny joke. I can’t tell if this is because the book is older and might have been received better at that time. The Jewish character was one of the hardest to read. I know older books have a casual racism to them, but this was really a hammer to the head.

Oliver himself is lifeless, which makes the idea that all these random people become obsessed with him hard to take. I found him too passive in the story. There is not enough personality to help you root for him.

The ending wasn’t bad, as it closed off all the storylines quite well. This is not a classic book that I would recommend.

I both liked and didn’t care for this book. The way the book is written with the perspective of the dead girl in the afterlife is creative. What I don’t like is the actual writing.

The descriptions are weird and off-putting. The author often describes movements in a way that makes no sense. At the same time, the author doesn’t give enough details on this in between place. It was a fascinating part of the book that is overlooked.

With such a clever idea for the book and a strong start the book lacks personal connections to keep you embroiled with each character’s struggle. This is hard to take as the intricacies of surviving the loss of a loved one is the main focus of the book. If we got more information on each character’s feelings that would have helped develop a better connection to them. This is not to say the author doesn’t get across how this has affected each person, but we are told in a way that takes the empathy out of it.

What puts this book into the territory of not liking it was the ending. The resolution of many arcs is done terribly. Each felt worse then the last. Also, the sex scene was utterly wrong. Taking over the body of a lesbian to have sex with a boy you dated for a week isn’t right. Why is that the thing that lets he move on!

For the most part the story is good. But better descriptions and more focus on feelings would have made this a better book.

It’s hard to find a good mystery series and I wanted to like this more then I did. There are good parts to the book but there is too much disappointment for me to really like it.

The author doesn’t seem to know how collector books work. Library books are used so much that the books will be well worn and have tag/stickers on them for cataloguing. This alone makes the driving force for the murder useless. It’s really not hard to guess who the murder was which makes all the main characters guessing near the end annoying.

The characters aren’t bad but the main character is a terrible friend. She immediately suspects her friend and her friend’s new boyfriend. She also doesn’t seem to care what is going on with anyone but her self. The love interest did something horrible to the MC in high school but the MC still can’t help but be week around them. Meeting again the love interest doesn’t even remember the MC and there is no apology.

I don’t think I can continue with this series. It had good parts and most of the characters are likable. Loved the cat. Its not a bad book but just not for me.

This was a fun book to read. I found it light and easy to get through although the ending felt too fast. There are a lot of small parts that I enjoyed that I kept thinking about after. This is more British humor and can be dry at times.

The books pacing and additional details are the only things that slightly bothered me. For pacing the beginning is slow but once you get to the last third of the book there just wasn’t enough time to enjoy the story. For the additional details there are good additions to the main characters back stories or side stories but it can be too much. There are characters we are introduced to that have no weight on the story and aren’t funny/witty additives.

I liked the book and decided to watch the show afterwards. The first season was great although there was of course some changes to the story. I would recommend this book to others.

I had read a short story by this author and liked their writing enough that I had wanted to pick up another of their books. This was not a bad place to start.

The story itself is captivating and gets though the suffocating helplessness that many feel when the authorities just don’t care. The main characters are interesting, and I liked the feeling of community though out the book although I would have liked to spend more time with some of them.

I feel like the book missed out on really pulling depth out of the characters. We get a lot of the main character telling us she likes to run, but it backs out of any further developments. This cuts some of the emotional connection the readers could have had to the characters. This could have been an excellent book if we got to know more about the main characters and their lives/motivations. The book does at times add too much detail. We get a lot of descriptions about what people are physically doing that aren’t needed.

Despite what the book missed the story is good and the main character was a driving force that kept me engaged. When I have time, I would like to read another book by this author.

I picked this book up because I like the writing of the author but not quite the storytelling. I was hoping this book would be an improvement to the last story and there was some improvement. This book does better with introducing the characters and the fictional country the story takes place in. The pronouns are introduced and quickly explained more naturally than in the first book.

The story is just a little slow and not much happens. If I were to describe the story to someone else, I know I wouldn’t have much to say. The whole story is a bit tepid as there is not much pulling you in. The writing is good, but story could have used more work. It almost felt incomplete.

I can’t tell if I am going to try other books by this author since I have heard such good things about them.

I had seen the film before reading this book so I went in with some high expectations and ended up finding the book incredibly boring.

This book just misses the mark on its horror elements. The film does better at creating an atmosphere of unease which could be because the book spends a lot of its time on the mundane parts of moving into and decorating an apartment then the film. We spend a lot of time with Rosemary but not with her pregnancy. Even the cult is mainly background noise.

It has all the elements to make a suspenseful supernatural cultish horror novel and while there are some good scenes it doesn’t follow through with them. Most of the book is light in its suspense and even in the last part of the book when tension is ramped up it didn’t have the impact it should have. That is the biggest detractor of this book it doesn’t hit hard on horror.

This is not a bad book and overall it is a good story it just doesn’t have that weight truly to horrify you.

This book started of so well. Independent, resourceful, and confident businesswomen are great to see in romance books. What I don’t care to see is love triangles. Simply because it’s hard to get right and this book does not get it right.

It's noticeably clear which person the main character should pick. How many times should you get a gut feeling that the person is off or lying for you to trust it? This stupidity on the MC's behalf puts us through two terrible night scenes with the wrong guy. Her best friend was right never giving bad nights a second chance. It was nice in a way to see this happen as it reinforces standing up for yourself and getting what you need. Something you don’t always see in romance books.

The wrong guy is too clearly the wrong person for our main character and her continuous doubting of her instincts is a little annoying. The right guy is so clearly right that I felt a little bad for him being strung along while she took her sweet time to realize the wrong guy is just awful. She gets so much advice on how to choose the right person and even says the right guy fits most of the advice but still wants to wait on the wrong guy. It’s awful that she only picks between them after having another bad night with the wrong guy. This led to bumbling the relationship with the right guy during and after the big confrontation.

What the book did right was the making the main character a strong businesswoman, setting up good familial bonds, and real friendship ribbing. The writing of the book is good, but the romance story is not.

I have no plans to start running so I might not be the best person to write a review on this book. I picked this up since I need a book about a run club for a reading challenge and this book looked interesting.

I listened to the audiobook that was narrated by the author and must say this man had me ready to run out the door. From what I understand this book has a good basic running guide. I liked that the author slowly guides us in what you need for running, how to run, and what to expect

interspersed with motivation and life lesson stories. It made for an easy introduction to running that didn’t feel overwhelming. You aren’t laden down with technical jargon and I was almost looking forward to getting out there despite not wanting to run.

The authors honesty with lessons learned really gives this book heart that I haven’t always felt with other guides. His motivational speaking is something I will take into other activities I am learning and working on.

This is worth a read even if you are not into running.

This book was good. I am still sitting with that ending. It was sort of what I was expecting, but also much better than what I thought would happen.  

It is a slow start to the book as it spends a lot of time building and explaining what the world has become. There is also a part with some puppies later in the book that I found hard to read. I can see why the author has included it but damn why do that to puppies. The horror of this book comes from what the world has transitioned to and what the people have allowed.

Though out the book it was interesting to read the changes to this society and the process of identifying humans as animals.  

The second part of the book did feel a little rushed which is sad as the second half raised some of the more interesting topics/issues of this world. It’s brought up that the main character helped develop some of the regulations for this system and it left me wanting more time with this line of thinking. I did sometimes wish the author explored more of the impact of this new system on the people.  

This book is thought-provoking but doesn’t focus on right and wrong. There are no real discussions about any of the issues in the book instead we are exposed to increasing horrors. The thoughts and views are left to us to work out and live with.  

I did still enjoy this book as it was brutal and unrelenting.

This would be a good book for kids as it’s simple to read and the morals of the story are brought up or thought about by the main character after each event. For an adult, the writing is not that great but for a kid or young adult its themes are shown and then told for reinforcement.

I don’t have much to say, it’s a good and simple story that’s effective at getting across its ideas.

Oh, that child is so evil! I will say this book is a little slow and is mostly internal dialog which can be hard to get though. Although I like the slow escalation of events and reveals that story presents.

Throughout the book, I did question why the mother wouldn’t use her phone to record the daughter or even have more security cameras in the house. All this aside I enjoyed being creeped out by a child because my goodness is she just evil. The back and forth of narration from chapter to chapter is well done. The daughter’s point of view is gradually expanded to encompass her true thoughts and motivations while the mother's view develops her past trauma and disconnection to the thing that she must call daughter.

I thought this would be a little more messed up than it was. Most of the horror comes from the thoughts of the characters and then actions until you get closer to the end. It is had to get through the beginning as it's just a bit too slow and a bit frustrating. With the mother not communicating more with the father and the father not listening or just ignoring all issues you get tired of this quickly.

I did like the story and the ending was good but since this was a modern story it’s hard not to ask why the mother or even the schools didn’t get any video evidence of this child’s behaviour. I found out there is another book after this, and I am looking forward to reading it.

This book reinforces how good the author is at making characters come to life with internal monologues, dialogue, and pop culture. Go Jade Go! If there’s a team, I want to be on hers.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first book but the farther I got in the series the fonder I look back on the first book. This span of history and experience makes the growth of the community and main character more impactful. It's worth reading each book just because of this.

Its hard to say what makes this book so good. It could be the connection you build to the characters or maybe because it fills all cravings for slasher culture that you can have. Each book gets progressively better, and this last book is just that last touch of perfection rounding out the story.