Stephanie

I think that this author was asked to write a book that kids would have to analyze in high school. Also please make sure that it's just pretentious enough to be called a modern classic, and moody enough to become popular on TikTok.

I didn't hate this book. I just thought it was kind of boring. There are some great stories written about seemingly mundane lives that are incredible. The problem I have with this book is that they did not have mundane lives at all. In fact, they were quite unbelievable and yet it was still somehow incredibly boring.

I know that the whole point is that you're not supposed to like the main characters, but I truly did not like a single person in this entire book. Even the professors and parents were unlikable. It would be more depressing, except that it feels so removed from real life that none of the story actually feels that real.

I think one of the main reasons is popular is because of the dark academia aesthetic, and because it happened to hit the right market on social media. Obviously this author is incredibly skilled and has written other amazing works. This one just isn't my cup of tea.

Right book at the right time. The ending gets repetitive but there are really good nuggets in here.

It's not as deep as the reviews would make it out to be. It's not life-altering or the best book I've ever read, but I would compare it to a good rom-com. Don't expect incredible to truths or great twist at the end, and you'll be satisfied. You will like the character and the story feels comfortable. Overall, I enjoyed this book and I would recommend it as a quick read, even if it was a bit predictable.

I have to question whether or not this author actually knows anyone who is neurodivergent. Molly is written like a cute idea of what someone on the spectrum looks like rather than a fully formed character. That aside, the story itself is predictable, cliche and tells you rather than shows you all the personalities. With grief, abuse and bullying thrown in, it feels like it should've been a better story but it was really a let down.

The formatting of this book is very strange. I would have preferred a 10-15 page workbook with these prompts, room to jot notes and then maybe some links to blog posts to reference if I needed ideas for answering those prompts. The whole thing feels like it is a bit out of order and disorganized. I love the basic idea of the intentional year, but I think this book does a poor job of explaining the method. The personal stories being woven between the prompts don't usually fit the prompt very well. If this is going to be a book, I'd prefer to read all the stories, then have all the prompts at the end.

Really 99% of the issue is the formatting. I feel bad leaving such a low review for this, because there are helpful ideas - but I bought this book at the recommendation of “The Pour Over” newsletter and frankly, I'm disappointed.

I couldn't get through more than 15%. Just because it's young adult doesn't mean it has to assume the audience is stupid. This is partially my fault, I just finished reading the secret history, and then had to DNF Babel. I didn't realize how similar all these books would be, and I hated them all for pretty much the same reason, they are pretentious because they think they're intelligent, but in reality, the writing is boring and the characters all have the same personality.

I also hate when authors try to do more than two POVs in a novel. Rarely is it done well and rarely do you actually care about all of the characters equally. They should've been written from one perspective only and it would've been better. Also, why did it start out like a enemy to lover romance?

I think I need to avoid dark academia books. I have really hated these last three

I really like Pat Flynn, I've followed him for years - but reading this in 2023 is really unnecessary. Most of the concepts are now outdated and the writing is pretty fluffy. It really falls under the “should have been a blog post” category.

We had to DNF at 30% - it's so bad. The fact that this story about people who “cut” themselves to feel “icy” (aka clear-minded) got past publishers is shocking. Even for 2006 - this book does not hold up well in culture today and I really doubt this was as good as I thought it was even in middle school.

I stand by my theory that Scott Westerfeld had the idea for a story about hover boards and wrote a crappy plot around it for 4 books just because he had a contact in the industry. This is one of the worst book series I've tried to read.

I can't. You guys. I CAN NOT. I remember liking these books so much as a kid. How is it so damn bad? I wanted to rate this higher for the sake of nostalgia but I can't. If you didn't read this as a kid, skip it now. If you did read it and think “it can't be that bad”, read it again. It can and is that bad.

The pretties have phrases they use and it's so annoying. “Tally-wa”, dizzy making, fashion missing, bogus, “Shay-la”, bubbly, “Zane-la”

It's not bad - Hannah is just boring. Luckily TJR has improved her writing over time so I still will recommend her newer books but these older ones are a little flat. None of the characters feel real and the dialog is pretty rough.

Take a hallmark Christmas movie, add some sex scenes and you've got an incredibly boring book full of goofy characters and an unbelievable romance. It's pretty bad tbh

I enjoyed this book mostly because the author did an incredible job of capturing what truly would happen under these circumstances. No crazy wars, or far-fetched tales. Just the story of survival and family. I really enjoyed this book. The rest of the series wasn't as good but this first novel is worth the read.

I loved this - hear me out.
I love to read a good thriller when I'm in a reading slump, even if it's crap, I still enjoy it. However, this was not crap and it ended up being a really refreshing thriller mystery that was more of a slow burn.

This felt so true to how real life plays out. At the end of the day, you don't get the guilty convicted, you're not always right when you try to trust your gut, and the main character is not a great person or even really a hero. All of these characters feel so real with their petty hatred and love for each other and being hung up on their high school experiences because of this trauma bond that happens between all of them.

There's so many times when a crime is committed and there's not overwhelming evidence for just one person, so much of the details are speculative and circumstantial, and that's how every single one of these theories played out. I love that you never quite understand what happened. As someone who gets really frustrated with all the true crime podcast sensationalizing murder, I really appreciate what this novel was trying to do.

All that being said, I do think the book was a bit longer than I needed to be, and while the main character was meant to be flawed, at times she was straight up annoying. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this, and it was a really refreshing thriller to add to the library.

If you are struggling with mental health and trying to figure out how to do the dishes and brush your teeth regularly - this is for you.

I enjoy Jennie Allen's books, but the issue I have, is that most of her books are written from personal experiences and so, they feel a bit repetitive at times if you know her story.

I don't know if I loved this one. I think, like most people, I crave deep community and connection. However, this books seems to overly simplify how to build a solid group of people. It assumes you already have a good church and maybe already have friends that you could improve a relationship with. Yes, there are some good tips scattered throughout, but an Instagram post could have shared those points much quicker than it takes to finish this book.

It felt like a 30-minute talk on the topic would be a better fit than a whole book. I finished it off feeling like it missed the mark a bit. Maybe I'm not in the right headspace to read it right now or maybe I'm burnt out on Christian living topics but I just don't think this one is her best.

I received an early copy of this book from Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own, and I am writing a voluntary review.

Just a good domestic thriller where you dislike every character and still root for them. A perfect summer read

Welp I read this in less than 3 hours so any book that makes me do that is an automatic 5-star, but after thinking on it a bit more, I changed it to 4 - let's call it 4.5. My only advice: Go into this blind.

If you liked the show Fringe, the book Hail Mary or just like science thrillers in general, you'll enjoy this one.


Ok, spoilers ahead...


I do think this book would have benefited from being a little longer. The characters weren't fleshed out as much as they could've been, but this is 100% a plot-driven book so it is successful without it.

I like the overarching question of what makes us, us. And I liked the simplicity of the science so that it doesn't get too garbled by the story itself.

I want to know what happened to the other characters a bit more and I wish we had a bit more of a finalized look at the family's situation. It felt a little odd to have them leave the “home” that Jason had been hunting for the whole time but also I have no idea how you would go about ending it otherwise so I can't fault the author too much on that. I wanted more Amanda and I think the multiple Jason's things was a bit... rushed? Idk, some of it felt a bit off at the end.

I feel that the son and Amanda were both only used as plot devices. Even the main character felt a bit flat. The only one you really cared about was the wife and only because she was innocent and kept getting hurt.

I found out the author is a screenwriter which makes a lot of sense considering how the book is written and even the scenes fit into a movie idea. I would compare this to Ready Player One, Project Hail Mary, or The Martian. I wouldn't be surprised if this one becomes a movie down the line.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and it kept me wanting to read more until the very last page. It's a fun, thrilling, and quick read so you might as well give it a chance.

It's not bad, I did actually enjoy the story overall. However, the characters are so underdeveloped. It's kind of hard to get through. The only character that you really gets insight into is Nora who is in desperate need of therapy. I hate when authors will just use trauma for character building. Let's try to actually give them a personality, instead of just dumping all their childhood trauma and calling it a day.

I think a lot of people skip this book once they read what it's about, but I would definitely give it a chance if you're on the fence. I love how realistic the relationships are in this story. You can understand why the characters do the things they do, and the backdrop of their lives is so well written. The ending felt like a bit of a let down, only because it felt like it shouldn't have ended as well as it did. Overall I had a hard time putting this one down, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'll be upfront in my review here: I am not a democrat. I was not old enough to vote in the first election that Obama won, and for his second one, I did not vote for him. That being said, I have always found it insanely important to read books for both sides of the aisle, if only to humanize the people that we see in the media every single day. It's so easy to forget that the people in our White House, and leading our nation, are just regular human beings.

I really loved this book and Michelle has lived a full life filled with amazing people and community around her. She speaks often on how we are all very much the same. We have the same homes, hopes for our kids, dreams for our careers. The main reason I can't give this 5 stars is because of her divisive language, mostly at the end of the book, that paints republicans as the bad guys.

I understand that a lot of the stress about her children, safety, hatred pointed towards her family, and specifically her husband, came from the Republican side of the aisle. I commend her on the grace that she maintains throughout the book when talking about these issues. But it is harmful to see her point Republicans at the whole, rather than a few people who are responsible for those actions.

As a conservative, I rarely agreed with the politics of Obamas, but I deeply respect their love for people and their decisions made as parents to protect their girls. I am not a fan of trump at all, but I think most politicians, like most people, are just trying to help people in the way they think will yield the best results - how we get there is the main divide.

I wish this book had ended with the same grace and love as the first 90% but it just felt too politically charged toward one party rather than the few bullies with the loudest voices.

I can't hold this against Brianna, if someone came to me and said “Hey, I can take your collection of Medium articles and publish a book with them and you'll make good money from it”, I'd hop on board too.

That being said, these should have remained blog posts. These aren't even full essays, most of them are listicles and many are repetitive. This is a bed side table book that's meant to be read in bursts when you're feeling overwhelmed or need a little bit of a pep talk. If you try to read this like a novel, you're going to want to die a little.

Overall, I think the marketing for this book is the main issue.