Harisa
This was a great book, don't get me wrong. But the ending was slow to unravel (but still VERY well done substance-wise) and the end when it came to Samantha's own personal/professional life left me wanting more...a lot more. Plot wise and character development-wise. So, that is why I left it with only 3 stars. I also did not get the end with the weird dream. I just think Samantha herself has a lot more to say and I'm disappointed she was not fully explored as a character.
I will be reading more of this author's books though...so lets see!
Well, then. I finished this in one day. There were some plot holes, it was incredibly difficult to keep up with all the guys (and it got annoying at points), and I'm a little mad that there is still so many guys left but I get why she did it so its fine BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY:
WHAT IS UR ISSUE REVIEWERS???
1) Eadlyn's voice as a MC is WAY different that America's and
2) I love love love how bitchy she is. DO YOU NOT SEE WHAT KIERA CASS IS DOING HERE YOU FOOLS? MC is trying to convey strength and power and is worried that her feminine side will negate that. THIS IS THE STRUGGLE GUYS. Too girly? No one will make you seriously? Too harsh? You're a bitch with no emotions. She is learning to straddle that line and struggling with the realities of her gender and her position. I LOVE her character and I LOVE how well done this struggle is.
The “love story” is fun too, although part of me hopes the winner is not Kile just because it would be so obvious. (rooting for Erik just because it would be different)...but honestly? no one is sticking out and no connection is sticking out besides the others. But i think thats the point. this installment is not about one connection equaling true love, it is about Eadlyn discovering she CAN make connections.
I look forward to the next one! :)
I listened to the interview with the author and I feel like Darynda Jones is a cool chick. Props for the Buffy shoutout (cause she's the best), but I will not be continuing this series.
The humor thing that everyone complains about finally got me to be angry at it when during a SHOOT OUT SCENE that was dramatic, the MC spent more time making wisecracks than being in the moment. It really took me away from the gravity of the situation and made me not care as much. This type of thing happened a lot throughout the novel and just made everything a lot less emotionally pulling.
Further, I find the relationship with her and Reyes super creepy and the sexual stuff almost rapey. So, I definitely didn't dig it. Also, she is a whiner. So, it was a decently fun ride but I'm done. Peace.
Ok, so I have thought about this for a couple days now. I could not review it as soon as I finished it. I have decided to give the book 3 stars. First, let me mention a few things about this book that I think should be known since I feel like some people misunderstand what this book is actually about.
1) This book is not a thriller. It does have suspense and that's kind of the point but the real story behind it I think is an inside look into poverty and the human condition. The author juxtaposed poverty with extreme wealth and influence and tried to mention how each can be restrictive. I think she tried to do this at least, I couldn't quite tell. Anyway.
What I liked:
-The back and forth between time periods worked well, because there were some discoveries in the future that made me curious as to what would happen in the past so that was cool.
-It was a fast book and kept me entertained.
-The end was unexpected.
What I didn't like.
-The ending. I have thought about this a lot and I really didn't like the ending. The MC is really unlikable and honestly...? I didn't get it. Thinking back on everything else that happened in the novel I just cannot see how that ending could be justified and I think it is rather stupid. It kind of ruined the entire ride for me.
-Character development + Plot development. She had a lot of themes that could make for a very interesting story but it wasn't told very well. The dialogue wasn't really dialogue it was the POV explaining what happened. I don't know, I just felt very detached from everyone.
I just feel like she created a lot of interesting things and then just kind of let them fall for shock factor. I will be giving the other novel a try though. Let's see.
This was really good!! I liked the inside view on everyone's POV, I liked the main characters and it definitely kept me guessing. It would've been 5 stars but the end was kind of...messy.
The changing POVs were distracting and actually took away from the exciting ride up which was disappointing because it was so exciting otherwise. But it was still enjoyable and I will be looking into more of her books soon :)
Yess, finally finished this.
Full disclosure: I skimmed the last like 10%. This was horrible. Horribly written, horribly undeveloped characters, horrible plot. How can a lawyer not read her own will? And she never did, mind you. This was soo dumb. So many plot holes, so many things said way out of character. So many random Shakespeare quotes thrown out there where it doesn't even make sense. AHH SO GLAD TO FINALLY FINISH THIS.
This is what I get for wanting a quick 200 page read to get my book count up for the year.
Loved this!!! I honestly want more, which is a great way to end a series. I loved Heather Wells and this entire series and Meg Cabot and the supporting characters. Part of why I want to know more is because I love the supporting characters so much and I want to know more about their lives.
Great series :)
I actually really liked this book! I liked that the main character was so understanding of her family and we got an inside look into more families than just her. I love Anne Tyler type books like this, but this one was more than that–adding in a social commentary on pharmaceutical companies. Very well done.
I'm conflicted about this novel, so I want to give it a 3 but upon further reflection, I feel like it really fell short of its potential so I'll give it a: (2.5).
This author is has a lot of raw talent, she definitely pulls you into the characters and the setting and all of that is really enjoyable. However, I think she needs a bit more practice, and this novel needed a lot of extra work. The supporting characters are WAY under developed, as is the main character's emotional arc. We never really see her break through her issues. Anna wasn't super likable in my opinion. The love interest, too, we never really fully understand what his “dark past” is or see him overcome that either. And his sisters appearance at the end??? What exactly was the point of that? This book is very much all about these two being together, which is fine, I guess, but the author set this novel up to have more depth and it really fell through which was really disappointing.
It WAS free on Amazon for kindle, though, and the entire story was enjoyable and cute and fun throughout (it did cross the line to gag-worthy cheesy at some points though.) So, because it was free and entertaining I feel guilty giving it a something super low. Also, the romance scenes were really well done. Tasteful, believable, and cute.
I liked this! Jeff admits up front that he is not a theologian and will not be going into the Greek/Hebrew meanings of words. So, this written pretty simply with some Bible concepts/verses explained + personal stories. BUT you can definitely tell he has spent a lot of his time reading the Bible and memorizing it, acting on it etc so he may not be a theologian but he knows what he is talking about. He backs up his claims.
The concepts he went over are ones that seem pretty simple, but as he argues are too often misinterpreted or just acted on enough. He had MULTIPLE good quotes here, and used Bible verses I thought were appropriate and different enough to slam in the point he was trying to make. A lot of this stuff definitely hit home for me, and I appreciated it.
The only thing is sometimes he would use the same Bible story but to explain another lesson learned from it and when doing so he would go back and write exactly what he wrote in previous chapters about that Bible story before explaining it. Didn't really understand why he did that, but it's a small thing.
Also, the discussion questions were pretty underwhelming and lacking. I didn't use them, though, so not a big deal but when compared to the content in the chapters the discussion questions seemed a bit too superficial.
I would read more from him.
Honestly, the end kind of made everything else better. This is HIGHLY predictable. Like, there are no surprises in this except that the author is not afraid to kill off characters (which is great), but everything else is very easily called. Anyway, I like where it's going so I gave it 3 stars because as a stand alone book and for the majority of it, it is not perfect, however it is entertaining and it definitely makes me want to keep reading so I will keep reading hoping that the rest are better :)
I seem to be very much in the minority with absolutely LOVING this. But, I do.
The author did a very good job of laying everything out, all the issues and then working on tying up all the issues as realistically as possible by then end, while staying true to the characters.
A lot of people are complaining about not really liking the characters, but that's the point. Everyone is flawed. Just like we are. This book is very real, and I very much enjoyed it. Had an Anne Tyler esque theme to it, but with a more hopeful ending, and more likable characters, haha.
I love Anne Tyler's novels though, so I think that's why I liked this too. I thought the character's journey's were all EXTREMELY well done. I'd recommend this book, you just have to know what you're getting in for. Not exactly a steamy beach read, but definitely a good introspective look into a family.
This was so good!!!! The pacing was wonderful, the dialogue was so...convicting haha. Get it? Pun?
But really, for a book written in the 50's this is SO RELEVANT TODAY. Some of the same arguments are made against all minorities today not just African-Americans (looking at the Hispanic and Arabic population here) and maybe this book should make its way into contemporary time all over again and get republished bc it needs to be read.
I liked the ending too, very nicely tied together and I like how compassion was felt for both the oppressor and the one being oppressed. That's the true definition of a “bleeding heart”...which is definitely a positive attribute :)
Ok. Let's begin.
Things I liked about this book (AKA why I didn't give it 1 star):
Unlike the summary suggests, it wasn't straight up porn, and there was some legal stuff (I would've liked to see the ending of her case!), and the main character held her own pretty well with the love interest. She wasn't annoying and when she told him she would move on from him...SHE DID. She didn't whine about not seeing him, or why he didn't want her etc. NO WHINING LIKE THIS AT ALL. Miracle in Romance novels for real, so that was very pleasant. Instead she worked and worried about that. That's definitely a plus....
However.
I read this book because I had a historical romance novel kick, specifically Scottish ones with Highlanders since I have never read any as of yet and wanted to see what all the fuss was about so I really wanted to read a contemporary straight up romance novel. Not a rom com, and I thought this was it especially since I am in my first year of law school so it's relevant to my life. Anyway, I should explain that the Highlander Romance novels left me with a very bad taste in my mouth and this book made me feel the same way. Here are some of the issues:
1) The male love interest: Asshole, “emotionally unstable”/bad childhood/commitment issues/all of the above, super tall, super big, super domineering, super everything. This is SO OLD. Like ugh stop it. I don't care that he “towers over you” like is that really a quality that girls care about? NO. I just am over this male character and the whole “ohhh let me save him with my love and by love i mean sex because obviously sex fixes everything because we are soulmates.” Gross. Stop. Over it.
2) She was an idiot. Props for this character getting into Columbia and I tried to let that fact stop me from being a snob and hating her when she told me she graduated toward the bottom of her class but her actions/thoughts made me hate her anyway. She COMPLAINS bc as a SECOND YEAR ASSOCIATE she is basically her supervisors bitch. Um, duh. You don't know how to practice law yet, girl. You're still learning. She complains about her 80 hour work week and how she has to work on Saturdays when she is a litigator, sure, but for a CORPORATE FINANCE FIRM. Girl, shut up and be happy you have job. For real. Plus corporate stuff is the most taxing when it comes to work hours anyway. Even non-law students/ non lawyers know that. Ridiculous, annoying, and as someone who is attending law school I honestly think it is straight up unrealistic for a recent law grad to actually think that way.
That is all, and I will not be reading the rest of the series. At lease this was free.
I guess I must have missed something? The beginning started out very strong! Humorous and very good set up but then lots of random events and characters got introduced with no build up, I had a hard time caring about anyone or anything that happened.
The bit with the mice and the dolphins was very funny and the reason why I didn't give the book just one star.
I wonder if the badly designed and random nature of the book was a metaphor for how the author views the universe? Either way, didn't cut it for me.
This is by far the worst book I have ever read. It was atrocious. HOW does it have this high of a rating and HOW did people ENJOY Callie And Tally??? Horrifying. I will write more details onto why I hated this book but for now....just know that the “charming” couple everyone liked? Nope. Not charming.
Ok, UPDATE.
Callie and Tally were creepy, her dependence on him was not romantic or charming it was actually full out disturbing.
Also, the ahole husband and the sexism and the townspeople being totally okay with everything and accepting all the weirdness just felt like I stepped into a very messed up universe I had no intention of wanting to be in. And it felt all too much like the author had no problem with it.
The past lives stuff was just weird, and badly done, honestly. It's scared me off from past lives novels forever probably.
This really wasn't a horrible book. The only issue is that it was a bit cheesy at the end, the sex scenes were super awkward and unrealistic, I was glad when she just skipped over them because there were a lot of questions I had about it that made no sense lol. Weird virginal obsessions again with the male lead, freaking creepy, and the end was annoying bc the main heroine got all the credit when another woman was instrumental in the success of their mission as well.
Besides all that, lol, it was cute and the back and forth between the love interests really was funny and I thought Sara's character was actually really relatable.
Wait...what happens to the dress shop???? Lol was that just forgotten. Sigh...oh, I also didnt like how when Mike was busy being a productive member of society Sara like sat at home and waited for him -_-. At these points she couldve brought in the dress shop and done something cool with it. Dumb. Did she even want the dress shop?? Ill never know.
Well then.
I am really, really unsure what to say about this book. On one end I am happy to see the redemption of the “evil character” and I am glad for the commentary it made on sexism and double standards and all that. However.....the actual love story sucked. Both characters were pretty horrible especially the guy. Just....ew. I did not get it. At all. I didn't get a lot of the characters, actually, not only the main two and didn't really like any of them. Her mother also sucked at being a mother. It was a quick book to get through though, as the words were big and lots of spaces.
