Karen

I'm giving this 2 stars, but let me be clear, it's not because it's not a good book. I can tell that if I had read this when younger, I would have devoured it and absolutely loved the series. It's very good for a fantasy YA, but I think my personal tastes, now that I'm an adult, run in a different direction. There were too many things that felt like plot holes to me (the big bad villain has been exiled in a wasteland for 15 years, yet they talk about how he's hiring lots of mercenaries who will work for anyone who gives them lots of money - where is he getting this money?! He's exiled, alone! etc) and the story was enjoyable but very predictable, and the characters were fairly stereotypical and didn't have much depth. All that said, if you like YA fantasy, or you have younger kids/teenagers who like fantasy, I think this will be a very enjoyable read for you.

A very well written book, and a good story, but I'm only giving it 2 stars because of how deeply uncomfortable it made me. The mating rituals and reproductive strategies of these aliens are basically rape, and the humans don't really have any choice.

Fun, easy read; if you like anything else by Kelley Armstrong, you'll like this series as well.

My only criticism is that I wish we had more of an epilogue. I want a “One Year Later” and I want to see what happened with everyone. How are they moving on from the Last Battle and what are they making of life? But that's it. This series is so great.

When all my goodreads recommendations were suddenly urban fantasies about women in their 40s having a midlife crisis, I started to get pretty annoyed. Look GR, I know I'm inching up on 40 but are you trying to tell me something? I went ahead and gave this book a shot anyway and holy crap I'm glad I did. I love just about everything by Elizabeth Hunter, and this is no different. I relate HARD to the main character Robin and I devoured this book in a day. Can't wait to read the others.

It was a good read; I couldn't put it down. It wasn't necessarily shocking; I already figured out the “surprise twist” about 40% into the book. I don't think anything about this book is particularly shocking or revolutionary; but the writing is very good, I really enjoyed the style, and it was entertaining. A lot of YA books become very frustrating because the characters feel more like caricatures and you spend most of the book yelling at them, “No one acts like this in real life! No teenager says that!” But that is definitely not a problem here. All the characters feel completely lifelike. Overall I'll say 4 stars because I had a good time with the book.

I don't really know how to explain what I love about this book without spoiling it. So I'll just say that I think it doesn't follow the typical pattern for this kind of sci-fi book. I understand why there might be some people who don't like it because of its style, but I loved it.

This series is fun, but be aware that despite the series name, there's not any actual romance in them; the main characters in every single book just kinda decide to get together, without it feeling like there's any emotion or falling in love involved. Plenty of comedy, it's light and witty and fun; the world building is interesting and it's worth the read. Just don't pick these up if you're really looking for romance.

I had a little trouble getting into it, but it was still a good book. I'm interested to hear more about the Teek and happens to the main characters, so I'll pick up the next one.

It was a really original premise, but for me the book was just ok. I realize that this requires a healthy suspension of disbelief, and usually that doesn't pose a problem for me with sci-fi and fantasy, but my brain just required too much explanation that wasn't there. (It doesn't help that my degree is marine biology, so I just kept trying to nitpick things, which just pulled me out of the story too much.) There are tons of people who will probably enjoy this a lot, but it just wasn't there for me.

An enjoyable twist on the ‘magical kids go to magic school' idea. It did seem a bit odd to me that we never really see or interact with any kind of teacher - i mean, they talk about going to classes and stuff, but.... is there ANY adult supervision at all? You'd think we'd see something about that?? - but overall I really liked the idea.

Well, this just hit the ground running and never stopped, didn't it. Jesus Christ, Jim Butcher. You're breaking my heart here.

Everyone else I know loved this book, and I really wanted to love it. But at best, I felt like it was “ok”. Maybe it's because I'm reading it much later, in a very different political climate? I don't know. But I found myself not really enjoying it.

Fun and sassy and magical. All the best things. I love the world she's building here.

It was really quite beautiful. I am less a fan of the story telling convention where we get it through a series of letters, memos, media, etc; I prefer direct story telling. If it'd been a different format, I likely would have given it 4 stars. Despite this, it's a beautiful story.

This book feels like the first third of a thriller/post apocalyptic book. The prose feels kludgy to me, but the worst part is that it just kinda... ends. Suddenly. With absolutely zero conclusion. The characters don't grow. They don't change. There are no discoveries. Several characters start out to do something (the daughter goes off outside and everyone is looking for her, several characters are driving to town because the brother is sick and they need help) and it just STOPS. No resolution. No idea what happened. What?! Definitely did not care for this at all.

This was a new sort of direction for Kelley Armstrong to take, and she hit it out of the park. I can always depend on her for a good read. I would love to see more of these specific characters, but I suspect that each book in the series will be about a different couple. I'm still going to read it!

Not quite as exciting or gripping as the past Lady Emily books for some reason, but still fun and a solid read.

Very enjoyable, I wish this were a series instead of a one-off.

It was a decent read, if a little predictable. There's no surprises here, nothing complicated or deep, but it's entertaining. An airplane read, you know?

An oldie but a goodie. Read these back in high school, and decided to pick it back up. It starts a little slow, and it's fairly simplistic (no crazy twists, very straight forward), but there's something very satisfying about the story as it unfolds.

Didn't finish.

Didn't finish.

I love books that have the linguist/alien contact trope. There's not a bunch, but I snatch up every one I can find. This book is fantastic and fun.

Just an all around fun book. I enjoy the witch/detective urban fantasy stories, and the author did a good job building what seems like an interesting world/situation. I look forward to seeing how it plays out.