Harisa

And this, ladies and gentleman, is how a Christian Fiction novel is written.

Enough said.

Very nice cutesy book.

I really actually liked this book, I liked the characters a lot, and the author did a good job of putting me into the situations. During the climax of it the book I actually almost teared up as well, which is pretty impressive.

However, there were some issues that cannot be overlooked: spelling mistakes were rampant and took away from the story, and the book was far too short and focuses way too much on day-to-day. I honestly was constantly hungry as I was reading this novel because of how much she talks about what she is eating.

Also, I read the summary of the second book and it's annoying how this entire book was really primarily about her relationship with Cole and then it ends like it does and the next book is what it is. I will not be reading anymore of this series.

If I were to describe this book as one thing...it would be weird. But a good weird. I never really knew what was happening, but I certainly enjoyed it.

UPDATE: Going through my old reading challenges and finding some books for my Challenge.

This will be my Sri Lanka book around the world.

I have a lot of thoughts on this book, a ton. But I think I will summarize by saying this:

I think with some maturity, in 5 or so years she would not be telling this story in the way she told it or even view the situations as she viewed them. I was disappointed by some of her reactions and feelings and even confused. I honestly would not recommend this book to others.

Good plot, good characters, but the main character took a while to stop being a brat and appreciate her really awesome family. Also did not like that it took so long for Whitney to stop being labeled as a shallow person because she's pretty and a cheerleader.

Could have been a much better novel if it didn't take so long for the main character to get over herself.

Honestly felt like a waste of time besides the last short story. After the long final novel it felt like going back to their pasts was just...not needed and I wasn't as invested.

I love this series so much and it is great. However, my only issue is I was hoping Suze would be a bit more mature here and I felt like she 100% acted like a teenager while Jesse was the grown up. I was hoping for much more character development in her.

2022 review: I repeat. I just LOVE this world.

First and foremost, a huge thank you to the author who gave me this book for free to read and review!

Full review to come soon. I feel bad I have to give it a low rating but maybe my review can help.

Ok, so part of the issue is that I misunderstood what the book was about. I was hoping for a much more prevalent online format than there actually was, and I was disappointed that the format of the novel did not delve into more of the conversations between her and her online beaus.

What I did like about this book though was that the main character had a friend support system that very much reminded me of Bridget Jones. I loooove Bridget Jones and there was definitely some moments where I felt that way HOWEVER the biggest, most problematic issue was that unlike in Bridget Jones, her friends were super super unlikable. They were vulgar, crude, and had very little character development.

Overall, I felt the love interest and the main character weren't very likable either and the character development to try to get them to likable was lacking.

I very much agree with the one star reviewer, I was worried for a bit that the main character might be an alcoholic and disturbed that no one else in the novel found it disturbing that a 28 year old gets blackout drunk every single time she drinks.

Being Eastern European myself, there were a lot of family situations that I totally understood and could relate to. HOWEVER, again, the character development with her family was lacking as well. I found that basically every character was meant to show how hard the main character had it and reading it as a fellow female...I did not really feel bad for the main character at all. She had a fine life! And it made me upset that she played up her “I'm a victim” emotions so much and tried to paint her family members as the victim. Even when the author was describing situations, I did not find the main characters voice credible because sometimes I just did not agree with her.

In addition, the writing did not pull me in. I honestly felt like I was reading a teenager's diary. It was all over the place, very little transitions, and the voice was written very much like I picture a 14 year old would read her diary.

In the next novel, I think it would be better if there was clearer direction, no random scenes just for “comedies” sake, better character development (maybe have fewer characters to really do them justice?) and more objectivity.

I have defeated this beast! And early enough to add it to my January book count (yay!).

I thought the author wrote the family life very well, it was very sweet and I was definitely in the book for that part.

However, ultimately, there was just way too much going on and not enough time spent really developing the plots. The pacing was slow, and a book that discusses very not boring topics ended up being extremely boring at times. Which is truly a shame.

I enjoyed learning more about diplomat/ambassador politics, and it was fun to be in that world for a while but there were just too many things left open ended or just not developed enough for my liking.

Perfect, as expected. And a great little dive into the world again before we get the full length novel (IN LESS THAN A MONTH!) I like adult Suze, and Doctor to be Jesse.

Also,

THE BUFFY PARALLELS CONTINUE!! Wonderful touch.
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Reread:

I reread this straight after reading the first 6 in the series and it was a bit jarring going from 16 year old Suze to 21. I guess that's where you really see the growth in the characters so that was cool. I just got a little aghast at the more ~adult themes~ but then reminded myself she's not 15-16 lol. I agree with everything I wrote above. Very cute book.

2022 reread AGAIN: just so fun!!! I love this world so much.

Obviously I'm going to go through the entire reread

That ending was wonderful! I loved this book! Cannot wait for the next one.

The romantical stuff between Mara and Messenger felt soooo forced and it was shockingly bad writing for Grant. I feel like his publishers forced him to write that crap to try and advertise this book for what it's not but Grant pulled through and delivers a great novel with only a few really bad lines throughout.

Haters gonna hate, but this was awesome. Love Bridget, will miss her. Her children were great, she was great, her friends were hilarious, there were some wonderful quotes as usual.

I teared up at the end when she talked about Mark liking Scott. The only thing that bothered me was that Scott was basically Mark except Scott was more straightforward and harsh in his personality. He took control. Bridget seemed to appreciate that since she was such a mess and the end was cute but the like 5% that GOT to the tying things up at the end was a bit ehhh. A bit too dramatic for me. Which is why I am giving this 4 stars. Otherwise, it was great fun and I loved it. I think this may also be one I may read again.

An incredible unlikable main characters, and incredibly boring book about things that honestly do not matter. Disappointed the book didn't focus enough on what was really going on with her father.

Book was redeemed a little bit by the character learning her lesson with a bit more of the book left over.

I love sci-fi. I love sci-fi because I think it exposes the truths about humanity. Sci-fi shows that even in extraordinary and different circumstances and settings, the emotions and feelings are still as they are in our reality today. That being said, I love sci-fi and theology mixed together because it shows the truths and reality of Jesus, the Bible, and God in a spectacular setting...yet, they are still truths in our reality.

For that reason, I really liked the premise of this book. I liked the truths about Jesus and the character of God shown through the main character being able to experience Creation. I liked the tempting of the devil personified into a character of the book, and the almost seduction that occurs. I also really liked the Main Characters growth, her history, and people caring about her and loving her helped her overcome some of it. That was cool and I liked her development.

However, parts of the book definitely dragged on, and I found the Lilith and “It's really all Adam's fault in the end” (along with the random addition of Adam's Fall really starting way earlier) to be a little too far from the Creation story in the Bible and too many inferences were made.

I enjoyed the first half of this book, I liked the set-up and the relationships and it was great fun. However, as the resolution was happening it fell apart for me. I found the characters' actions ultimately annoying and a bit too unbelievable considering how they acted through the first 70%.

This was well written, interesting, and I absolutely loved the plot. However, the issue is that is started extremely strong and it was awesome but then it seemed to get less and fast paced and I wasn't as invested in the characters. I found this sad because it started off so good but got worse. I'm left feeling confused and I really want to give it 3 stars but I feel too mean doing that. So.

3.5 stars.

Sad it was disappointing, but it was still good.

Did not get it.

I feel betrayed by all the reviewers who gave this lots of stars.

Wrong form of your used, does not know what “implying” means, main character was a spoiled brat, talks about how Africa is a “forgotten country” then does not accurately displays/explains Africa. Someone did not do their research completely. Shame.

3.5 stars.

Thank God for audiobooks letting me escape during finals week.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one. IDK why it has so many low reviews. This is what I like to call a “lazy thriller” I just made up this genre. You're welcome, world. It is a thriller/suspense novel that you can read on the beach. Not truly that complicated and cutesy, but keeps you interested. Perfect :)

I very much liked it.

Here's why:
-It was fast paced, and kept me entertained throughout the entire 800 page novel. Not an easy feat.
-There were about a gajillion characters, and the POV changed in every single chapter (with over fifty chapters) and I was NEVER confused. That's also incredibly impressive.
-There was character development: Cress annoyed me, but she grew by the end so that was cool.
-Scarlett is my favorite character OF ALL TIME. I do not have a favorite book ever, but now I definitely have a favorite character. She is absolutely flawless.


However, there were some issues, but not enough to give it less than “5 stars.” I have to admit, I tend to rate YA books a bit on a curve. I usually don't expect anything but entertainment and plots that don't annoy me from YA novels. So, I don't need them to be perfect to rate them a five. And I stayed up until 6:30am to read this book, so, I mean, gotta give it some Props.

But still! The negatives:

-I liked the ending being ambiguous, but I have to agree with other reviewers saying that the ending was too rushed. There was too much action and not enough emotional cutesy moments, and the ones that did exist at the end felt very rushed. It made me a bit sad, but hey, that is what my imagination is for, right?
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-There were little things throughout the novel that just seemed “???”.

For one, I was rather disappointment that Thorne getting his sight back was such an anticlimactic scene .

Second, I don't understand how after Scarlett got out of her cage (that's not a spoiler, everyone should have seen that coming) she could run and be so badass after talking about how weak her muscles are and how skinny she has gotten from not eating? It's a little thing big picture wise but it annoyed me.

Third, this is part of the ending being rushed, but I felt like Jacin's character had a lot of depth to him and it was being explored and then somewhere along the way he got very lost in the shuffle and became generic. I am disappointed the author didn't explore this more.

Just as, fourth, I am incredibly disappointed that Winter's craziness was not something cooler and the red candy apples that Winter gave Scarlett were not something more too. BOOOOO. I wish something more interesting could have been done with that than what it was.

To sum up, I feel like this novel was very good and entertaining. I like that is displays strong female characters, with male counterparts who are strong themselves but not afraid to let the women take their lead. They are equals, and that is honestly rare to see in any novel, especially YA romance. However, I feel like the book could have been much more powerful if more emotional or sci-fi elements were explored instead of only relying on action scenes.

OHHHHH WOWWWWW.

Michael Grant is a freaking genius!!! I love him so much. You know how the “Gone” series got more and more disturbing as time went on? Well, he doesn't give you this break here. This was hard to read at times because it was so sad and painful but Grant does it so well. Secondly, I was getting upset because I thought “when is the plot going to MOOOOVE???” but wait until the end. Hold out. IT IS SO WORTH IT.

Honestly?

The Queen was the only one worth reading.

This was ok. It would've been better if it was organized better. She didn't get into her fate at all besides say she was Catholic, I believe and her husband was Baptist. I wish she went more into that instead of talking about football forever, although some parts were funny. Overall, I laughed out loud a couple times and the end picked up considerably. I got bored during her party phase, which I hear a lot of people complaining about haha.