Kate Mester

I liked the pluck and sass of Aida's character, and thought the audio narrator gave her a realistic voice, but as Jennifer so perfectly said: it's essentially Good Night, Mr. Tom and that book was much better!

Many of the 6 were disturbing but so well written and complicated that I couldn't stop thinking about each story long after I had finished it. Technical complaint on thr audiobook: The first story had really bad sound quality and the narrator's voice echoed. I've never experienced that in any other audiobook I've listened to. If it was on purpose than that's pretty creepy! The other narrator's were perfect matches to their story. Liked hearing a few familiar voices.

Strong 4.5. Incredibly timely with great entry points into race relations in current and historical contexts for teens. Would make an amazing lit circle read and parts of the text are set as scripts, would be great to read/act as is or use that as a jump off for additional dialogue. The .5 knockoff was for some false notes in the dialogue that didn't feel as current or authentic

New favorite Sheinkin. I learned so much and the pace never let up. He pulls off the magic of a but-then-what-happens thriller despite the reader knowing the historical ending. It's also one of the most thoroughly researched YA books I've seen, even compared to his other works. His researching and publishing pace is clearly superhuman. This book will definitely net him more medals in January!

Will definitely be an attention grabber for students - the action is faced paced and the mystery is still a cliff-hanger by the end. It's genuinely creepy and the art and color story is in good service to the plot and creep-factor. Scott's dialogue was better in the Uglies series. He had some truly bad repeated catchphrases in the Leviathan series and the same is true here here as well, particularly the doll's stilted dialogue - is she cussing or saying fudge, which is it? I'm also all for authentic swears in a teen book, but this just feels like he threw in a few F*'s to try to edge-up the book, they didn't land well and felt unnecessary a few times. Overall, interested to see where this series goes.

Simplistic and logical. Compelling if you're reading about feminism for the first time. Though I know the main argument was pure feminism and not intersectionality, I really wish she hadn't said this: “the loss of virginity is a process that usually involves two people of opposite genders.” I guess usually gives a pass, but it could easily havr been written to show a woman's involvement in sex without a gender binary

So very disappointing. I forced myself to finish in the hopes that maybe, somehow, because it's Rainbow Rowell, it would salvage itself. Nope, the ending was an anticlimactic wreck. Her YA is excellent, filled with complex and believable characters and situations. Yet this “adult” book included a pandering attempt at a love triangle and a magic, time-traveling phone. Say what? This was whiny, poorly written, plot-less dreck. I believe you to be better than this, RR.

4.5 Such a strong debut, worthy of the awards! The character arcs were a bit predictable but that didn't stop them from breaking my heart or filling me with joy. I felt for and with Dill, Lydia, and Travis. Great BOB selection, really looking forward to talking about this book with the kids.

Wow. I learned and I thought deeply and I cried and I was moved to talk about it to anyone who would let me. I've not seen a more reasoned and compassionate argument for change in our “justice” system than this. A must read and re-read.

Took a loooooong time to read, especially now, but was a very satisfying ending. Had more heists and action than Six of Crows because the characters and world were already so well established. Everytime I felt it was too long I also found myself enjoying reading about the characters you know and care for, so I'm not even sure what she would have cut here.

What 11 year old describes an adult male as brooding? Fun and sweet, though, with good messages about tween friendship, science, and learning from your grandparents.

Certainly see why it's Printz worthy. The small town corn setting rang very true (minus the magical realism), and I was delighted when it was revealed to be IL, because I felt like I knew that town! I liked that Roza got to define her ending and it wasn't wrapped up in a marriage plot, though her freedom from men narrative could easily have ended that way with lesser writers. Not sure I loved Finn's diagnosis twist, but it made sense to story.

Started off with promise and pretty spot on descriptions of depression (though with way too much repetition of kinetic/potential energy theme). But the book then took a very misguided turn into teen-love-can-fix-depression territory. That's a scary message to set as an example for kids. I had higher hopes

It started out very slow for me but I eventually loved the historical fantasy of Dodger's adventures and the humorous and clever story. I particularly enjoyed Stephen Briggs' various accents for each character, as he made them all specific and unique.

The stories were compelling enough from the first volume to finish them out here. Satisfying storyline endings for all, even secondary characters, and finally some uplift from the constant misogyny.

I very much enjoyed listening to Sedaris tell me the stories himself, but he lost my interest with the forensics stories at the end. After the first story, the rest felt like filler.

Yes, you're white, with blue eyes and blonde hair. Thanks for never giving me a chance to forget that. Despite that, it was interesting to see what writing for the show was actually based on her story, especially because her character is one of the worst (except for Larry, who is TRULY the worst)

This book would have been an enjoyable 3 stars for me, but Kathleen Wilhoite's narration really elevated it. I was audibly laughing to myself on the metro (like a crazy person)

First non-YA mystery I've read in a loooong while, and I'm happy I'm still able to predict the ending. It was a fun adult-snack read, though

Incredibly formulaic and poorly written with some jarringly bad word choices in the dialogue (In a Russianesque historical fantasy world characters are said to be acting “bitchy” or “bratty”? No, definitely no.) Very disappointing, especially considering that it was a JLG selection and that the sequel will be a part of my upcoming level shipment.

Actually currently listening to it whenever I'm in the car. I really like the narrator, but being that the narrative is so disjointed, I'm not sure only listening to it sporadically is the best method. We'll see at the end.

It was ok, but I really didn't like her writing style and thought it was a bit boring and simplistic.

I was really surprised how corny and badly written the dialogue was and how dated the book seemed, overall. Yet the kids read this in 7th LA and BOB and seem to like it, confoundingly.

I understand why the kids love it and her undoing of the romance triangle at the end made it a little less formulaic. And at least it wasn't as badly written as some of the other more popular book/movies my kids love (Divergent, I'm looking directly at you here), but I'd rather hype John Green and Rainbow Rowell and Benjamin Alire Saenz and the innumerable other great YA authors than this.

Am listening to this in the car now. Really loving the voice actors. Now that I'm done, the only part I really enjoyed were the actors. I would certainly have stopped reading the book if I weren't listening to it.