Stephanie

This feels like a book you'd read and analyze in school - and it does require some attention to follow the 6 stories, but it's so freaking rewarding. I know some people really dislike Anthony Doerr and his slow-burn / descriptive style, but I LOVE it. It's so easy to fall into the world and truly love the characters with this style.

This story follows 5 characters in 3 different timelines, while mirroring the 24 folios of Aethon's story of finding Cloud Cuckoo Land in 24 chapters. That might sound complex, but the whole thing points to the importance of persevering stories and knowledge. Personally, I loved this one and the audiobook really helped me to separate the characters and timelines.

If you're not ready to really pay attention, or maybe take a few notes along the way, this book is not for you. If you want a good read for a book group or to discuss in a class - this is absolutely beautiful.

I loved the plot, the characters, and the way the story is told by three primary people. My only complaint is that the reveal of what's happening feels a little weak, however, I think many people underestimate the power that a cult-like environment can have over the way we think. Overall, I really enjoyed this one.

It's just incredibly forgettable. This should have been a powerful story and strengthen your empathy for immigrants but instead I feel disconnected from the characters and annoyed by the political statement. I know going into this that politics would be addressed but when you treat your readers like idiots and have to bash them over the head with your political opinion, it just becomes tiring.

The pacing and plot was boring as well. It felt like the characters were simply reacting to their life and have no personality in the process. Once again, TRAUMA DOES NOT EQUAL PERSONALITY. Why are so many books like this

If you're familiar with the Ramsey methods, this isn't really necessary, it's a lot of the same info from their course.

I liked the ideas in the book and I really enjoyed the prompts at the end to get me started on work - but a lot of this reads like a blog post. I skimmed through a few sections and overall I probably wouldn't read it again but look up the footnotes and go back to the action steps.

5/5 for enjoyment, I'm actually sad to be done with these characters.
4/5 for overall review. I'd recommend it to most people but likely will not read it again.

I have gotten a little burnt out on historical fiction surrounding the world wars in the last year, so I was a bit hesitant to pick this one up, but since it wasn't specifically about World War I and more about the events surrounding it, I gave it a chance, and I'm very glad I did.

It never occurred to me how much work would go into creating the Oxford dictionary and for that account alone I'm really happy to have read this book. I love that the story is told through women's eyes and makes an attempt at guessing what their thoughts would've been on the process, and how their actions would've impacted it. One of my main problems with historical fiction is that authors tend to have a hard time placing themselves in this culture and frame of mind in order to create realistic dialogue. For this reason, I took off one star.

This is a very sad book, but it feels very real because of it, the heartbreak and the hardship that is experienced, I feel is realistic to this time. Overall I enjoyed the read, it was a beautiful book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you're reading this book to magically fix broken relationships in your life, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Turns out love is hard work. This book is a great guide to learning how to love others in their language. It's not a magic science, it's just simple ideas that takes practice. This book has completely changed the way my husband and I communicate with each other (for the better). We plan to reread it in the future too.

I read this first book and at first it was really interesting but as the plot went on it became boring and the characters were poorly developed. I wish the story had continued the way it started but unfortunately I was disappointed with this book.

Listen, I LOVE this methodology but this book contains a lot of text that could've been skipped. If you want to know about Forte's personal system and a bit of his background, this is a good book. Otherwise, I would recommend checking out the authors website or YouTube channel because this book is just too hard to get through if you were expecting to learn how to setup a second brain and nothing more.

Of course they're both hot

It's not bad. It's just super surface level and predictable.

I borrowed this one from the Libby app on audiobook, at the same time I had quite a few other holds come through. When this one came through first, I decided to start it first, but this has been a slog to get through and I find myself reading and finishing other books, trying to come back to this one, and moving on once again. I'm running into an issue here because the book is beautifully written, it's charming, and it's a comfort read for sure. That being said, I'm probably just not in the mindset for this book right now, it's slow, it's boring, and the descriptions are just too much. This would make a beautiful movie or series, but as a book it's just so dense. Normally, I love me a good slow burn, but it's not that nothing is happening, exactly, but that the things that are happening, are just told in such a calm way that nothing in this book, excites me, and I find myself not really being invested with the characters.

I understand all of the glowing reviews, and I may come back to try to finish this one day, but for now I'm marking it as DNF 30%

I have read every page of this book at least 10 times, but I have never actually read this story in full. I'm amazed this book has held up against google, reddit threads and social media. It's such a fun puzzle to work on and even if I never fully get it right, the process is so satisfying.

My fault completely. It was on sale, I got it, I instantly regretted it. This is some of the worst disney park, goofy, tumblr style fanfic I've ever read

Bleh, this was so bad. I will not justify it with a full review ✌

Writing: 1/5 stars
Story: 4/5 stars
Ability to surprise the writer with plot twists: 0/5 stars

I get why this is so popular - but the writing is really rough. It's a great idea and the story is fun but there are zero surprises. I guessed the “big” twist in the first few chapters and had a pretty good feeling about most of the other twists. It reminds me of the Divergent series with dragons. It's not that it's not entertaining, it's just that I've read too many books just like this. The fantasy element is a good addition but it feels immature.

TBD on if I'd read the rest of the series. I'm going to be fair with my rating and say this is better than ACOTAR but only because it's got a tiny bit of better world building and I sort of care for the side characters (although they are still painfully underdeveloped).

It feels strange to leave a review. I debated not leaving any stars but I also feel like it DESERVES 5 stars...

Memoirs and LGBTQ issues is not my usual topic pick but I had watched a review of this and it sparked my interest, plus it's a quick read.

Abuse is complex and confusing and “In the Dream House” is a perfect portrait of the weird dreamlike-yet-nightmarish state many survivors often describe the relationship as. The combination of flowery prose and clear cases of abuse make for a weird, poetic and unsettling read. If you are looking for a linear plot or a clear narrative of abuse, this isn't it. But if you want a glimpse of what trauma does to our memories and our hearts, Machado knocks it out of the park.

This book reminds me of the quote “And in that moment, the moment of the crash, it made me realize that monsters don't hide in the woods; they aren't shadows in the trees or invisible things lurking in darkened corners. No, the real monsters move in plain sight.”
― Stacy Willingham, A Flicker in the Dark

Tamlin is bad guy, but wait he's good, oh no he's bad. Oh yay ok finally he's good.

Rhys will literally sacrifice himself, you guys. But don't worry he can come back because no one important ever dies. Instead they all become mated to each other.

Feyre is so much stronger than she realizes but she's also super easily tricked. And even though they're all a family now, everyone constantly keeps things hidden from each other or just straight up lies to each other. It's not a mating gift to hide two secret weapons that could literally alter their battle plan, that's just plain stupid and probably should've been brought up to the generals like right away.

These goobers really should've lost this war, but They are the good guys, so everything turned out OK ☺️

Listen, I get why these books are popular, they are quick reads, fast paced, some might say they're sexy (I prefer the work goofy) and they can be fun but they're just not well written.

The whole first part of the book when she's in the spring court should have been exciting and thrilling. But instead of a spying plot, we get the internal dialogue of how much she hates everyone. Instead of her sisters, being sad about losing the lives they knew and embracing their new lives and learning about their powers, they spend the entire time moping around and being assholes to everyone who's trying to help them.

All the parts of this book that should've been exciting and thrilling just fell flat and then, when you finally get to the exciting war part, it just feels like...

SURPISE THAT ARMY SHOWED UP AT THE PERFECT TIME
AND THAT ARMY SHOWED UP AT THE PERFECT TIME TOO
OH AND THEM
AND OUR SECRET WEAPON
ALSO WE HAVE A SECRET WEAPON THAT CAN WIN THE WAR BUT WE DIDNT BRING IT UP UNTIL A BUNCH OF PEOPLE DIED
OH NO WE WON THE WAR BUT NOW THE WORLD IS OVER
OH NO RHYS SACRIFICED HIMSELF TO LITERALLY SAVE THE WORLD
oh no he's ok. And everyone is safe. It's all good

You cannot convince me this was not ghost written by a fan to give SJM more time to write the next book. It's that's bad.

As it turns out you can excuse sexual assault if someone is your ✨mate✨

I listened to the audiobook in two parts and the library delivered them two weeks apart so I really finished this in two days... so don't get me wrong, it's fun. It's an entertaining book and there are parts I like but there are some goofy parts and the twists are too easy to see coming. I do like this more than the first book, but I wish there had been more of a hint of Tamlin being a cuckoo crazy guy because this felt a little out of the blue. You're telling me that he completely goes to the bad guy side just to get his girlfriend back, after he just spent the second half of the first book, watching that girlfriend be tortured by the bad guys main lady? Make it make sense.

Anyways, I'm feeling generous, because I did enjoy them, and I could see them becoming a good TV show or movie someday.


Excuse any spelling, I'm listening to these on audio so I have no idea how the names are actually spelled.

I guess I didn't realize there would be constant video game references - I bought it on sale and didn't really read the description. It's basic ideas are good but it's really repetitive and doesn't have much substance to it.

I went into this expecting complete trash. I know people adore this series but honestly it's on a similar level to a YA dystopian wrapped in some magic. The main character is boring. There's nothing worse than an entire character's personality being based on not being afraid to die, and that's basically all I got. It's a self-insert character and she's boring as hell. She's giving Bella from twilight vibes

I love Jennie Allen, but the lack of actual action steps in this book is frustrating. If you're an established Christian with a good community around you, this book is great for sparking conversation, otherwise, it lacks actionable steps and examples.

I wanted this to be a book about how to improve gatherings and make the most of time with people but most of the book read like a college professor droning on about her achievements in gathering important people. If I could cut out half the pages of this book, it'd be a short book about being a better host. Unfortunately, you have to dig through the ramblings of someone who often breaks her own rules of name and title dropping to get the good parts out of the story.

I like the underlying idea of the book; don't let fear hold you back from pursuing things that make you happy. However the repetitive theme that an idea is some magical force is ridiculously woo-woo and made me dislike the whole thing. I should have known from the description of the book, which I failed to read before borrowing the audiobook. It's disappointing because I think this could have been a really inspiring book if it wasn't drenched in supernatural language.

I heard a lot of mixed reviews about this book but ended up really enjoying it. The main character is depressing and a mess but the author does a good job of still making you like her and feel for her. The twists are a bit predictable but the ending is satisfying.