A Bookish Girl

3.5 stars

Just as good as the first book!

2.5 stars

This was... fine. Not bad or anything, but nothing really to recommend it either.

3.5 stars.

Eva Ibbotson's books are always good, but I didn't feel the magic and romance as deeply in this book as I have in a few of her others.

I liked it, though it was a little slow getting started.

Occasionally I reread a favourite Blyton, and today I decided on this one, which I don't think I've read for over twenty years. It's a lot shorter and a quicker read than I remembered, but I suppose it would be.

I didn't enjoy this one. It's hard to enjoy a book where the main character is just constantly unhappy about every situation she's in. And I get why she's unhappy and confused about everything that's going on (who wouldn't be?), but it doesn't make for an enjoyable or likeable read.

I enjoyed this, though not as much as I did Cinder. Intrigued to see what's next!

So lovely and heartwarming.

I was about to say “I don't even need to know what this book is about; I'll read anything Casey writes!”, but ... gay time-travel romcom??? Holy crap that sounds amazing! Bring it on; I am ready.

It started out great, but I kind of lost interest along the way.

3.5 stars

My history with Sally Thorne's books has been wildly varied.

I LOVED The Hating Game. I thought it was completely unputdownable, funny, sexy, and probably one of the best romantic comedies I'd read.

Then came 99% Mine. I really, really disliked this book. A really unlikeable main character, coupled with very little plot stretched out over hundreds of pages of repetition, plus conversations that went round and round in circles... it was just bad. And the writing style felt so different to The Hating Game, it was almost like a different person wrote it. If I'd read this book first, I would never have picked up another book by Sally Thorne.

So then comes Second First Impressions. Would it be more THG or more 99%M? And the answer is... it's right in the middle. The plot and characters are so much better than 99% Mine, which is a definite win. But the writing style is still more like 99%M than THG. It lacks the “must keep reading” factor, the fun, and the joy of THG.

To be honest, the writing style Sally Thorne has now isn't my thing at all, and so this will probably be the last book I read by her. But I'll still reread The Hating Game when I want a fab romance that I can't put down!

This wasn't bad by any means, but it had a lot more plot about mental health issues than I was prepared for. I just wanted a cute romcom with warring families and secret relationships. This wasn't that.

There was something really heartfelt and warm about this book. Simple and lovely.

Contented sigh

As usual, I am super irritated that this has a completely different title for the UK and USA markets. Why do publishers still do this? I just want one title so I can easily find it and chat to my friends all over the world about it. I don't care whether it's called “Oona out of Order” or “The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart” - I just want it to be CONSISTENT.

On the up side, it sounds lovely and I'll read it either way!

3.5 stars.

Absolutely loved this.

Cute but not as compelling as the first books in the series. Also, it really needed an editor/proofreader to pick up on all the little errors scattered throughout. For that reason it gets two stars instead of three.

I loved this! One of the best Chalet School fill-ins I've read. I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears when they found out the war was finally over.

Meh. Barely anything happens for most of the book, and the ending is sudden and really unsatisfying.

I will definitely read anything and everything else by this author. That's two fantastic books in a row (Jack of Hearts being the first one). YES TO MORE OF THIS.

Almost as brilliant as the first two books in the series. The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is because I wasn't that keen on the main plot (the Hollowpox disease). But it's still fantastic, clever, beautifully written, and wonderful, and thoroughly worth the read.

Started off a bit bland, but it picked up about halfway through and got much more interesting.