Jenn

I certainly have my favorite characters in the series, and when the storyline goes to a character that I'm not enamored of... I tend to drift off.

Bill is one of these characters. First, he's a doormat. Second, he should be awesome, given his talents, so his doormat-ness is even worse.

Surely, ONE of these boys at SVH is man enough to go toe-to-toe with Jessica, right? Right?

My second favorite book in the series.

Spoiler
I love how Elizabeth's personality change gets Jessica back in a way for the awful way in which she normally treats her.

Reading these books again as an adult, I get frustrated with the twins quite a bit: Jessica for being a horribly selfish person, and Elizabeth for enabling Jessica's bad behavior. It did help to read that Francine Pascal envisioned the twins as portraying the good and bad sides of human nature. Given this, the hyperbolic nature of their responses to things is more understandable, and this makes me less frustrated and able to enjoy the series more.

Rumors really are horrible. They can destroy people. And once they are started, it's almost impossible to repair the damage.

What ruined this book for me was the way in which every character thought derogatory things about Robin because she was overweight. Like that was the worst thing in the world.

This is how eating disorders happen. Making kids think that weight is the sole measure of their worth and attractiveness.

Ugh!

This was one of my favorite series growing up. Reading it as an adult is an entirely different experience.

I wanted to throatpunch Jessica every time she spoke in the book. Every time. What a horrible person. And I wanted to slap Elizabeth for enabling her all the time.

The storyline was saccharine and cutesy and predictable, but it can be forgiven because it's the kind of light, fluffy reading that you don't have to take very seriously.

There are some things in the book which date it, but not horribly. Pre-teens and teens will still enjoy it.

Even having been pre-warned about the nature of this book, I found myself ugly crying at the end. While I consider myself to be a pretty positive person, Bright Side shows me how much more there is to forgiveness, empathy, understanding, and positivity. She is a great role model (although I don't think I'll incorporate “Dude” into my speech quite so much) and the love that she shows others is amazing.

This is definitely a book you'll want to buy and re-read.

Hysterically funny! And so many times where her crazy was my normal to make me take pause. We are all a little crazy, I think. Especially those who can think outside the box.

I liked reading Drew's stories much more than I thought I would. They also gave me more respect for her as a person and what she has overcome and achieved in her life.

This was another engrossing read by Colleen Hoover. For whatever reason, the plot twists did not grip me as much as the other CoHo books, but it was an interesting read. I read it in one day, in two sittings (at work, then when I got home).

The use of art in the book was very interesting. And the idea for Owen's shop was pretty awesome.

Perhaps the reason for my ... distancing ... from this book is that with the issues presented to the characters, the resolution was too ... easy. Real life is more messy, and I wish that it would have been a little more raw.

I loved reading about Holder's view of the events of Hopeless and seeing more of his backstory. I absolutely love this series and these characters!

I loved this book! So, so much!

This was a decent follow-up to Oh.My.Gods. It was light and fluffy and a pleasant quick read.

I really enjoyed this book. There was intrigue to keep you interested, likable characters, and enough subplots to make you eager for the sequels.

This book needs to be a part of my collection. I think it needs to be required reading for every teenage girl.

I so identify with Melinda. There is so much that I want to say about this book, but I just can't at the moment. <3

I have mixed feelings about this book. Again, the characters were compelling, BUT the series of events which happened were so fantastical. Either the main character has extremely bad luck, or the author felt that there needed to be a lot of very dramatic events in order to keep us engaged, which was not the case. Either way, I think the plot points actually detracted from the enjoyment of the book, which is sad.

So, while I'm glad to have gotten to know the characters, I can't say that this is a book that I will want to have living on my bookshelf to be re-read many times over.

I liked the development of the characters. Lou, in particular, felt very real. I empathized with her a lot and hated how her family treated her. I didn't like the changes in POV in the book and didn't feel that they added to the story.

SpoilerAs for the ending, I was not a fan of Will's decision. Even if he had struggled with it and made up his mind in the two years prior to the book chronology, this should have been discussed or explained more. What ended up was a very dispassionate feeling to a very intense decision. And I'm sure the author didn't mean to have it sound flip. The whole scene in Switzerland needed to be expanded more, in my opinion.

Overall, I found it an absorbing read, especially in the second half. It's not necessarily a book that I would read over and over, but I'm glad that I have read it and am working my way through the sequel.

It took me a while to finish this book. In the end, it was just okay. It wasn't horrible, but I'm not going to be clamoring to re-read it. I had grabbed all of the sequels and related books from the library at the same time, but I am just not finding the desire to read them now. It's a pity, since I thought I would enjoy it a lot more.

I loved this book and read it as soon as I got home from the library! While the struggle and the outcome of Lily's romantic life were very predictable, it was the emotional truth which carried the story through. You became emotionally invested in the characters and kept turning the pages and cheering them on.

I wasn't aware when I started reading this that it was the beginning of a series. I'm excited to read the rest of the books! (I might even have to go back to the library tomorrow!)

Once I sat down to read this book, I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to. Rilke has great insight and wisdom, and says some really profound things about inner solitudes, love, and relationships.

It is a sad, depressing story, about this poor, abused, neglected girl who died while everyone around her paid no attention. But beautifully told.

I love the Freaky Friday stories, but have only seen them in their movie incarnations. Reading the book itself was a little disappointing – just in that there was a lot of period details (it was clearly set sometime in the 70s) which became distracting, and that there was no explanation for how or why the mother switched places with the daughter.

This was a lovely book. It spoke truth in a poetic way that really lead me to want to contemplate what he was saying. This is a great book to pray with and to savor. I'm a little sad that it appears to be out of print. I read a library copy, and hope to get my own soon, so that I can read it again. There is so much good in here! I highly recommend it!

This was a very endearing and real portrayal of a very self-indulged and bratty little girl. I, in parts, loved it and then, wanted to discipline her and tell her mother to come home and pay attention to her daughter. :)

The depth of the characters and the way in which Amy Tan brings you into their world is extraordinary. I loved all the wisdom which was scattered about the pages, among the story itself, for you to find and ponder and hold onto.

I suppose I have a lot of the same issues with this book as other readers who tended to give it lower reviews. While I didn't hate the book, it was not a favorite for several reasons.

First, it just wasn't realistic. Not in the way that “werewolves aren't real,” because I can suspend my disbelief for the sake of a good story. It was more like, “a guy wouldn't say things like that, no matter how ‘sensitive' he is,” or “there's no way Grace's parents could be this neglectful and self-absorbed without Grace being much less self-adjusted and/or Child Protective Services being involved.”

I was also a little put off by Grace's lack of compassion for her friends and classmates. The author tries to paint her as a good, caring girl who takes care of her parents, even when they are horrible parents, but at the same time, she is completely self-absorbed and neglectful herself when it comes to the other (non-Sam) relationships in her life. The only other people she gives even a little consideration to are Beck (probably because he raised Sam and reminds her of him) and Isabel (which is odd, because Isabel isn't very nice to Grace).

I found the pace at the middle of the book to be very slow, and the ending to be a little contrived and ill-explained. I'm not, in general, a fan of poetry, so the song lyrics were a little trite and annoying.

There were some parts that I liked. I did enjoy reading the interactions between Sam and Beck. I think Beck may have been my favorite character, actually. He did really care about Sam and about the other members of the pack. He was a fairly decent parental figure, although the part where he made some other werewolves was a bit odd and should have been dealt with a bit more.

Grace's initial romantic attraction to a wolf is rather odd and I'm not sure what to make of that.

Overall, I'm not sorry that I read the book, but I'm not sure that I would read it again. I may or may not read the sequels. I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt, though.