Kari
This was the first time I felt like we knew the victim. It made it seem so much sadder as we followed along trying to find out who killed him.
Just as good as the first. You can read my full review here: http://knowitnotsomuch.blogspot.com/2013/01/locke-key-head-games.html
This was just meh for me. I didn't feel like Cecily or Jeffrey were totally fleshed out and the whole thing was just a little boring to me.
I was drawn in by the title, but about halfway through the book I got bored and then the wrap up at the end felt like a cop out.
This was everything I was hoping Sleep Tight was going to be. Extra creepy, gory, high body count and sad. Great spoopy season read!
I was all over the place with this book. I liked it, hated it, then liked it and so on. Isabelle drove me nuts sometimes, but in the end I really liked this one. Just when I figured out what was going on, it shifted. It didn't do a complete 180, but it would be enough for me to question if I really knew what I thought I knew! Good stuff!
I generally read a lot of dark, depressing stuff. I can't help it, I like it. Nora Roberts was usually my go-to-gal for lighthearted romance without too much smuttiness. She's done a lot of shifting in the last 10 years so most of her books are romantic suspense and those are great, but sometimes I just need a happy story.
Well, this quartet of books is it. First of all the main characters are all part of a wedding planning company and have been best friends since childhood. How can it get any more sweet than that? Oh, it can. I love books that continue characters. So, you're not reading specifically about 1 character throughout the whole series, but you get to know them all so by the time the last book comes around you feel like these are old friends.
This was a quick read for sure, but sweet & charming with some setting up for the next couple of pairings. I just wanted to race through it and get to the next books, but then they'd be all over and I'd be sad. :(
I did not expect some of the things that happened to happen. There was so much going on, I would get caught up on one theory and drop the ball on what else was happening. Obviously, this was all a little unbelievable, but it was still a good read!
This was a quick and fun read. It doesn't have much to it, though I feel like it's one of those books that gets better as you go through the series. It was bittersweet reading it as an adult because you can really feel Enola's loneliness and her longing for her brothers while also hurting due to the disappearance of her mother on her birthday. I'm not sure if I'll read the others, but it was fun.
This reminded me of the thrillers I always enjoyed, like the early days of Kathy Reichs books but a little less clinical. Definitely picking up the next book.
I had a hard time with this book. I didn't like it until nearly the end.
The story has been told time and time again. Two little girls become best friends until one grows into a beautiful, thin cheerleader and the other doesn't. But this one starts out a little differently when the popular beauty Val comes to Addie after getting her revenge at their high school reunion.
It had lots of promise, but it was just so out there. Valerie was just this side of delusional. She's constantly bowling right over Addie and just as when they were kids Addie finds herself just going along with whatever Val wants. I didn't like Val, not really ever. She never changes, never grows. Never sincerely apologizes to Addie for the way she treated her, how she betrayed her, abandoned her.
There were interesting characters throughout. I ached for Addie's family. Her broken parents who despite the trials they've endured loved each other and their children deeply. Jon, the golden son who loses himself. The born again, the reverend, the cop & the jock. Everyone had a story, but we were meant to care more about Val & Addie and I just couldn't do it.
I maybe would have rated this higher if I didn't dislike Lily so much. Maybe it was the way Christian treated her with kid gloves, talking about how frail and perfect she was. The twist was not at all surprising because at some point in the book Kubica began laying it on too thick. By the time the twist was revealed I'd already figured it out.
The biggest thing I got out of this was that I really want to go on a pirate themed tourist cruise!
I wanted to like this more than I did. Usually, the time skipping style of storytelling doesn't bother me, but in order to keep the tension and mystery it felt like the author was jumbling the order of events too much in the past. Does that make sense? The story relies heavily on “women are powerful magic” with a reveal at the end that wasn't really a reveal.
I will read anything Liu and Takeda do, especially if it's horror. Art is fantastic and the story is gripping.
You can read my full review here: http://knowitnotsomuch.blogspot.com/2012/01/lost-books.html
This was weirdly fascinating. I both knew what was happening and had no idea what was happening. Does that make sense? Exactly.
Didn't see that coming. This was all over the place, but in a good way. I don't know what else I can say without spoiling the best parts of the book, so I'll just say that just when you think you're settled, everything gets all shaken up again.
I was so torn throughout the whole book! Patricia and Margo were superb characters. I didn't know what to expect when I started reading and it was exactly what I was hoping for. It also made me feel like visiting the library!
I spent the better part of the book wondering why Maggie agreed to work in a bookshop when she hates books, but also why her friend thought this was a good idea. And while Maggie has some great ideas, she does EVERYTHING behind the back of the person she should be discussing things with. Maggie is a snob who has no reason to be snobbish and somewhat clueless in that she never thought about event planning as a career. “I like throwing parties and organizing events, but I couldn't possibly think of a job that would fit me!” insert eye roll here.
I think I'm going to start making a note of my guesses of who the killer could be and the page number when I read books from now on. I knew who it had to be, but I don't know if I figured it all out. There were many pieces to this and nothing was obvious until it was. I had a hard time with Ffion for quite awhile until all of sudden I realized she'd grown on me.
I really wanted to like this, but it was hard. Lily was not someone I wanted to root for, but when she kept giving into Sara despite not wanting Sara to win, it made it even worse. And Sara was so terrible it was almost comical.
You know how you're working on a big project and you're almost at the finish line and you start to get that feeling where you just want to scream because you're almost done, but there's still stuff to do?
That's how this book felt.
It was good, no doubt. The story was full of adventure and tension and love, but it just went on for so long. I'm glad to be done with it.