Kathrine

That took forever to get through. I've never read Zola before and I can't say as I'll be in any kind of hurry to read anything by him again.

As a classic, it was ok. I guess. There wasn't a single likable character. Usually that's not a problem for me - I can hate everyone in a story and still like the story. It's all about the execution. That's where this one falls apart for me. Everything - from the characters themselves, to their actions, to the overall narrative felt very passive. Like I was watching the story take place from a distance while squinting to see through a dirt smeared, yellowed glass window pane. There was nothing to draw me in. Adding to that, there huge chunks of narrative that just dragged. I got that the main characters were emotionally stunted, insane, and guilt ridden. Got that after 2-3 pages. I didn't need 40 plus pages rehashing it again and again. In a book that's only around 200 pages, where paper real estate is a premium, you'd think there would be other, better things to include in that space. Either that or this story would have been better served as a novella or short story.

Here's the thing. I'm not a John Green fan. I'm just not. I know I'm not his target audience - 13-15 year old girls - but if it's well written that shouldn't matter. Not that the author is absolutely terrible, he's not. He just...there's a tendency...he has a habit of letting his voice take over the characters. I feel like I'm reading JOHN, not Chip or Miles or Alaska or Hazel or Gus (ugh how I hated Gus in tFiOS. I'm probably one of like 10 people in the world who hated Gus. But anyway...). I often get this little voice in the back of my head screaming about how no one talks like that.

With Looking for Alaska, the preachy-ness (for lack of a better term at the moment) was still there, but it felt less/better. I saw it come through more with the adults - the religion teacher, the dean/principal - and the kids were more normal teens. Sure they had issues, but they weren't waxing poetic all the time. Well, except for Alaska, but she made sense in an odd way. I liked the interactions between the circle of friends and between them and the adults.

I figured out pretty much what was going to happen pretty early on, though I wasn't sure of the how. It all felt a little too Bridge to Terabithia after that.

Wow that took me way too long to get through. Normally I kind of like this author's version of chick lit - especially when I need something light and fluffy to read. This one was too easy to put down and not feel the need to pick back up. I figured out the end game in the first chapter. That doesn't usually bother me too much as often a book is more about the journey than anything else. The problem was the journey this time was also entirely too predictable. No major twists. No sly wit or angst. Just one word - Burke - that kept being repeated waaaayyyy to much. I wanted to hit Quinn upside the head with a frying pan every time she mentioned Burke, talked about Burke, talked to Burke, remembered something about Burke. If I'd turned it into a drinking game, I could have been more than drunk before the middle of the book.

I did like Glenn and his and Quinn's talks. If the book had only been those chats and more like them, I would have liked it more.

Definitely my least favorite Baldacci story. I was ok with it until the twist to the train trip and then I knew exactly where the story was going. I usually don't mind prediction type stories, but this fell flat for me. Too much detail at the beginning and not enough story at the end.

Short and cute. Liked that it just dropped the reader straight into the story, without tons of exposition or set up. Made for a slight bit of confusion, but not in a bad way. More of a where is this going way. There are links to the author's other series, but it's not necessary to read any of that to understand this one. This is the second story I've read by Elizabeth Reeves in the last week and now I'm going to have to pick up some of her full length books.

Really short, but good intro to the world of the full length followup book. It succeeded in its objective - making me want to read Hidden Order.

Another short, enjoyable read from Sarah Pekkanen. I did enjoy All is Bright more - both story wise and character wise. More feels in the latter. And at least for me I felt more connected to Elise. Ilsa is a bit of a drag at times, but more it was her sister that I wanted to skip over, which isn't a good thing in a story this short. Going to have to pick up another book by this author and see how she does with a full length story (all while wishing she'd continue Elise's story).

For only being approximately 135 pages or so, there were parts that seemed to drag on forever. The over all mystery wasn't terrible, but the author had a really bad habit of telling the reader everything instead of showing what was going on.

At only 12 pages, I honestly wasn't expecting much from this one. It was a typical holiday read - lots of cheese and sap. But that's perfectly ok for a Christmas themed story. Nothing earth shattering, but I liked it.

Short, fun, and entertaining. Didn't really learn all that much new - at least that you couldn't figure out from the books that are set after this. (and I may have to glance through Pros and Cons again because I don't remember Nick and Kate actually knowing each other at the beginning of that one.)

That was...that was way too short. I wanted more. More Elise. More Griffin. More Janice. Especially more of Elise's grandmother and her group of widow friends. Delightful story with lots of character development which is impressive for so few pages. I'll have to check out the companion piece - Love, Accidentally - to this one and possibly other other books by Sarah Pekkanen (though the preview excerpt from The Best of Us that was included didn't impress me nearly as much. A bit too soapy chick lit.)

Short and sweet. I have a couple of Jennifer Weiner's books but haven't gotten around to reading them. Have to finda way to squeeze at least one of them in sometime soon. These few pages made me want to read more about Ruth and her crazy wonderful grandmother, so it lived up to its purpose. Now I have to go track down a copy of The Next Best Thing.

I lost count of the number of times while wandering through Barnes and Noble, I stopped and looked at this book. The cover was intriguing. The title was curious. The blurb on the back sounded decent enough. But every time, for one reason or another, I put it back. Maybe it was a subconscious warning me away. A slight fear of all those things listed above ending up not living up to expectations. After having the chance to sit down and read this, it appears my subconscious was correct.

Take away the odd photographs that are said to have inspired the story and what's left? A mediocre at best story that can't quite seem to find its focus. Is the focus supposed to be on Jacob and be a coming of age type story? Is it supposed to be time travel? Is this focus supposed to be the children in the time loop who are alive but don't really live? Is it supposed to be an adventure that focuses on the “scary” (not a word I would use to describe this book ever) kidnapping, evil beings out to take over/destroy the world? Actually I'm not sure what the scary, evil, vague enemy group really wants to do. Maybe they want to take over the universe. Or just Antartica and form their own Shangri-La. And yes, I know a book can be all of those things at once, but it can't do that when the narrative is disjointed and all over the place like it is here.

Jacob, our narrator, is supposedly sixteen. Great. A pretty normal age for a main character in a ya novel. Except that I had to keep reminding myself that he WAS 16 every couple of pages. Most of the time he read like he was 10 or 11. Maybe 12 at the oldest. On top of that, he wasn't likable. He had no charm. He was a rich kid, with rich parents, who went out of his way to whine about everything and anything. There wasn't anything to make him complex. There wasn't anything that made me thing, ok I don't like him but I can kind of see why he's acting this way. Nope. He was just a brat. The entire length of the story was just Jacob on a teeter-tottering between giving a damn or not (most of the time, the answer was not).

There was no rhyme or reason to the peculiars or why they were there, what they were doing. It was like the author had the stack of photographs on his desk and as he went through them, made up a story about each one and added it to the book. Didn't matter that it didn't flow narratively, that the photo didn't match the character age-wise or that the story itself was weak. It was more about look how creative I am, wink, wink.

I wish the there had been more and better explanations about the loops. are they all 24 hour cycles? If a loop stops working or is sealed, how does that affect real time? Does anything change? If a loop is sealed, how does another group inhabit in the future?

All of that doens't make for a good story. All it makes is a big mess.

Meh. Not my favorite Child/Reacher story. It was typical Reacher, all morally strong and crazy abilities to see what everyone else missed (though no shoot outs this time around), but the story itself was mostly boring. Glad I borrowed it from my local library rather than buying it.

2 Stars, I guess? I dunno. It was all kinda meh for me. Rushed plots, sloppy execution, repetitious dialogue. My biggst problem by far though was that I had problems differentiating between the two narrators. Except when Annie talks about being blind, they sound exactly alike. I kept having to remind myself who was speaking - that is when I actually cared. Most of the time I figured a switch in POV had to be coming up and I'd figure it then. Honestly this would have been better from James's view or even Adam's.

The last 15 pages or so were pretty decent and I wish the whole book had been on that level. I just don't know that that plus the cliff hanger is enough to get me interested in book 2.

Enjoyable fluffy fun with a dash of mystery. Definitely reminded me of Janet Evanovich's books (mostly the early Plum books). Though I'd say Maddie, our slightly ditzy heroine, is more like Sophie Kinsella's Becky Bloomwood than Stephanie Plum. Probably because her car never explodes.

Finally. Finally. Finally. I was starting to think this book was never, ever going to end. I came really close to only giving it 1 star. It was only those few supporting characters in the kitchen and restaurant (well, all but Karen) that brought about that second star. And it was still close - mostly due to that out of nowhere, wtf ending. Those people were great, especially Mario, Antonio and Duncan. The rest? Just no. I pretty much hated them all. And not the kind of hate that makes me love them all the same. No redeeming qualities. Selfish, self absorbed, whiny, childish, stupid, and over the top. All of them.

Oh and that ending. Where did it come from? And what editor thought it was a good idea? Sudden flashbacks coupled with badly transitioned, swerves to the left and back to the present. If the author wanted to give the reader more background on Thatcher and Fiona, why not sprinkle it through out? Or at least at the beginning. I just didn't care by the time it rolled around. Oh and look our whiny, needy protagonist is now an alcoholic. Just like the rude jerk she claimed she loved (the author kept saying it, but I never believed it). Yay. Only not. oh and he loves her. Supposedly. Sure. Whatever. I'm just glad it's over.

huh. I kind of get all the hype surrounding this book and then again I kind of don't. And I kind of get the comparison to Gone Girl and I kind of don't.

It's a great mystery - well written, with well examined characters. Granted the characters are all horrible. Not really a single redeeming quality in the whole group. That in a way makes them fascinating. Like watching a train wreck fascinating. Every time we switched to Rachel's POV, all I could wonder was how she could be more self absorbed and how she could possible screw everything up even more. With Anna, I kept waiting for someone to knock her off the pedestal she'd put herself on. And Meagan? Wow. Talk about a hot mess. All of them took their turns in telling the truth and telling themselves lies. All that was very Gone Girl.

Where things started to fall apart for me, was the whodunit portion. I knew the shrink was a giant, flashing neon red herring. And the husband was awfully obvious. Too obvious. So that left Tom. With maybe a slight possibility of some unknown until 5 seconds before the reveal, nobody character. But that was a very slim possibility. So all that was left was the perpetually cheating, slimey, never met a lie I didn't like husband (I'd figured out early on about him and Megan). Between that and the jumping around in time, I just wasn't overly thrilled with this one.

Or more like 3.5 stars, maybe even 3.75. When I first clicked “I'm finished”, I had no idea how many stars I was going to give this book. As I stared at those empty shapes I kept thinking that in general I liked it. I didn't have anything bad to say about the story or the writing. It was an interesting concept and vivid beginning. There were some issues in the middle. Places where I was like c'mon get on with it (and for the love of paperbacks, stop the waterworks over Eo). Darrow, our protagonist isn't always the most interesting, or heck even complex character. And the end, while a logical conclusion for the first part of a trilogy, it felt a bit like author knew he had to find a decent spot to make the break and so he closed his eyes and picked a page number out of a hat. There were world building problems, well if you want to consider a lack of world building a problem. We're thrown into this Martian world where humans have not only conquered but also figured out how to live on all the other planets in the solar system. Don't know a thing about how or why or even when. There are vague references to something happening on Earth, but they seem to contradict themselves - maybe an environmental disaster or was it a big war with coups and overthrown governments? A combination of the two with nukes involved? I honestly have no clue. Why do they use a color caste system? (seriously YA authors enough already with the color codes). Why do all these morons have the names of ancient greek and roman politicians and intellectuals and yet not think highly of the originals? Lots of questions, but no answers and that was a bit frustrating. (I'm hoping some of this is cleared up in the other books.) On the other hand, the action scenes were riveting. Watching Darrow figure out things out and use his advantages to spur others was fun. And most definitely can't forget Sevro. He was crazy scary fantastic fun.

I can definitely see the Hunger Games comparisons, but if that's all you're going to compare it with, you should really pick up a few other YA novels to add to your bedside to-be-read pile. The Divergent series. Harry Potter (where else would grav boots and ghost cloaks come from?). Lord of the Flies. Even a tiny bit of The Chocolate War. As I commented at one point this book is like a big ole melting pot of YA novels. Honestly, that's not a bad thing.

So it looks like I'll have to add Golden Son to my TBR list. And Morning Star (because I can't very well read only 2 out of 3 in the series).

Meh. Intriguing basis, but not well executed. That seems to be the way with so many James Patterson outlined/written by insert ghost writer name here books anymore. This one suffers from the usual too-many-subplots-itis that has practically become the status quo for his books (especially the Women's Murder Club books, which Paetro used to have a big hand in). That results in all the mysteries being shallow, with little to no detail and an empty who cares feeling when they get wrapped up. The school girl killings was (I think) the big A plot and fantastic A plot it would have been. If it had been actually delved into and paced out. Sadly it kept getting pushed aside for lying, cheating spouses and other soap opera antics. Don't get me started on the Evil!Twin story arc. Could have done without out that one from the start.

Oh and the epilogue? Ridiculous They should be short and wrap things up. Not be multiple chapters (even if Patterson chapters usually aren't more than 3-4 pages.)

I'm sure I'll keep reading Patterson books, because occasionally a gem appears but I don't know if I'll continue with this particular series.

Very light and fluffy, like a single wispy cloud on a warm summer day. Some amusing moments but also rather formulaic (though honestly I've come to expect that with this author). The story rolls on at a pretty decent pace until the end. And then suddenly, that ending falls from the sky and land on your foot. Which would be okay, if there was any weight to it. Sadly, there's not. You reach down, brush the dust off your shoe and carry on. There's nothing subtle about the fact that this is simply installment number two in a longer story.

I think, maybe, my expectations were too high. I was expecting too much. I'd read a number of reviews when this book first came out, all singing Hallelujah Chorus type praises. I should know better than to believe them.

There were a number of things this book did well like Tom's PTSD after returning from the war. That's something that usually gets glossed over in stories set in and after World War I. Instead the author used it, almost made it a character in its own right. You saw it in the decisions Tom made. You felt him struggle with it. I kinda wished the book had delved more into it. But then we probably wouldn't have had time for the soap opera that is Isabel. Her need to be the one to take care of everything and everyone, to have everything, was well sketched. It was like she needed to prove something to everyone. Problem was I was never sure what that something was. I could never quite connect with her as a character because of that. And then there was Hannah. Overly wrought, continuously on the verge of sobbing. Just too much drama. I didn't connect with her any more than I did Isabel. And there was that one section is part 2 that was all Hannah and wow, did I think I was never going to get through it. The story practically came to a stand still.

There were beautiful descriptions of the light, of the processes that were involved with being a keeper. If only the placement of these descriptions hadn't been so clunky. They often took me right out of the story. Better transitions were needed instead of just plopping these things into the narrative where ever.

The ending is what saved the story overall for me. Heartfelt without being too manipulative (though it teetered on the edge of that precipice for a moment or two). The tentative, but still there relationship between Tom and Lucy. was beautiful. It made me wish that the story had just been about them. No Isabel. No Hannah. It's that light that made the pages turn.

ok, maybe 1.5 stars, but that's pushing it. And only because the last few pages had a little bit of heart. Mostly because Sukie stopped being one of the biggest drama queens to ever live on the written page.

I originally picked this one up because the title was quirky; the description sounded fun and humorous.as I started to read, I started to question both those ideas. So then I thought maybe the author was going for tongue in cheek. hmmm. No. Maybe over-the-top fairy tale-ness mixed up with a coming of age story? Nope, not really. Mostly it was just painful. Sukie is one of the most selfish, self-obsessed, emotionally absent, characters I've suffered through. The rest of the characters, save maybe Frannie and Jenna, are almost as bad. Even the family dog, had me wanting to scream while throwing my ipod across the room (because at least the audio version has Sara Rue doing a fantastic job of reading this dreck).

The basic story was predictable and dull. The characters were as deep as a torn piece of cellophane. Sukie had a sudden, predictable epiphany in the last couple of chapters and it appears her heart grew two sizes that day, but by then it was too little too late. The story couldn't be saved.

I had high hopes for this one. Hope that maybe the prose would be less purple this time (there were still lots of pretty words, but less than in Shiver). Hope that the plot wouldn't descend into some contrived, maudlin, typical YA romance (typical maybe, maudlin no). Hope that there'd be plenty of action and thrills - this book features mythical, blood thirsty Capaill Uisce and a race involving them after all (kind of, but only momentarily). Those hopes were mostly met. The YA “romance” wasn't all swoon-y. The race at the end was fast paced, without a lot of extra wordiness. The problem - it took way too long to get there. 350+ pages of set up to get there. I thought we were never going to get through the last 2 days before the race. When we did finally get there, everything got wrapped up in 30 pages or so. Just a few sentences in the over all big picture. Those 30 or so pages were effective (the final scene with Sean and Corr was nicely done) but I wanted more. Or at least I wanted all of that emotion to start sooner.

This book. Really. This awesome, fun, charming, sweet, amusing book. It should come with a giant neon colored warning sticker on the cover stating readers should have their copy of the dvd nearby as they turn the pages. Because by the time you're done? You'll need to watch the movie. Again. For the 915th time.

Is it the greatest book ever written? Well no. But then it doesn't have to be. What it is, is a giant love letter to everyone and everything associated with the wonderful movie - the cast, the crew, the places, the original source material, and the fans. It's full of colorful anecdotes and humorous asides. Lots of little facts sprinkled through out - from the fact that the Man in Black's pants were suede to the amount of sword fighting practice to create the greatest sword fight ever to how they found the perfect cast. And all the stories about Andre. Those were probably the sweetest moments.

I think I smiled with every page turn. A book that can do that, is a rare book indeed. I'd recommend this one to anyone who loves the movie, even if you're just a mild fan.

And now I need to go watch the movie for the 916th time.