Bronwyn
I don't feel that it would be appropriate for me to rate this as much of it isn't applicable to my situation so I can't speak to its efficacy. I don't think I have an explosive child, but I do have an almost four year old, so we have moments. The book did give me some ideas for handling situations we do have (many bedtime related), so I do think this book would be helpful for any sort of problem you may have with your child. (And if we do wind up having problems with our child down the line I'll have a small heads up on what to do and will know better where to turn for more help.)
I'm not quite sure what the point of this was. It's such a retread of the first book, but with bonus AI stuff added in. I liked the stuff that was like RP1 - the treasure hunt - but didn't really care for the weird AI stuff. It was just a bit much. Overall though I did enjoy it so I'll give it four stars.
(This book seriously needed an editor though. There was a lot inconsistencies throughout - names, timelines, even references to the first book. :/ )
Also, I listened to 372 Pages for this one too and, again, they have some decent points. But damn do they not pay attention to the book sometimes. You had one job, dudes, c'mon.
This is hard to rate/review since it's the first part of a full story and definitely ends that way. I'll read the second part at some point, but not right away.
Parts of this were really interesting and read easily. Other parts didn't. That's sort of my fault - I knew when it was set so should have expected the war to come in in a big way, but... I don't enjoy war books. And then one whole section was letters, which I don't care for either.
But it was really just the one part that got long for me (and it was the shortest part!). The first two parts had ups and downs but were ultimately interesting and kept me reading. The fourth part as well.
I don't really feel like this is a YA book either, and except for Octavian's age I don't think it should be. But I expected a more YA story and I think that was part of my issue as well - it just wasn't what I wanted at the time.
Overall it was very good and Anderson's language is gorgeous, but it wasn't the right book for me at the moment. I will read part two when I'm in the mood for this sort of book.
I wanted a dumb, fluffy book that I could read quick, and I definitely got it.
I didn't quite get this though. The plot gave me whiplash with the back and forth true love over such short periods of time. So much was too modern for a Regency set story. No one was really likeable.
But it read quick which was what I needed.
Man, I wanted to like this more than I did. Three stars maybe isn't fair, but four stars would be too much. And I liked it quite a bit in places. There are a lot of good anecdotes told and interesting people featured. But.
I don't understand what this book was trying to do. The first few and last chapters are about The Barbizon, which is what the book is supposed to be about. But the whole middle of the book is really about Mademoiselle magazine. And that was super interesting! But it didn't really fit the book as presented, even though Mademoiselle was closely linked with the hotel for much of its existence. If the title/subtitle had just been changed to The Barbizon and Mademoiselle, I wouldn't have such issues and would rate this higher. (Maybe that's bad of me since it was still an interesting book. I don't know.)
I wanted to like this more than I did, despite all the interesting information. I just didn't understand what the point of the book was. It's like Bren found all these interesting stories that vaguely connected to the same place and decided to make a book out of it. I'm still glad I read it, but it wasn't what I wanted. (Though now I do want to read more about Sylvia Plath, so sort of good job, book.)
(Also, I don't know who edited/proofread this, because they didn't get Gypsy Rose Lee's name right.)
I'm not really a big Roman history person overall, but every so often something gets me. I loved the I, Claudius miniseries (have yet to read the books), I love the Totalus Rankium podcast, and I really enjoyed Emma Southon's episode on Agrippina on Rex Factor and now listen to her podcast.
This was such a fun and fascinating book! Parts made me laugh out loud, parts made me groan in horror (and made my husband ask what was wrong). The concept of what makes a murder in Ancient Rome and all the different avenues explored were really interesting.
I have Emma Southon's book on Agrippina to read, and I want to bump it up my pile. She's such a fun historian and makes it all so enjoyable to read about.
This was fine. Parts were interesting, but most of it just seemed... voyeuristic. The author tried at making the people seem sympathetic, but it just felt weird and unnecessary overall. The main takeaway is that libertarian policies can't actually run anything.
Just read this article instead. It's why I was interested in the first place, but it works better as an article than as a 250 page book.
https://newrepublic.com/article/159662/libertarian-walks-into-bear-book-review-free-town-project
I didn't like this as much as the other. There were still interesting ideas in it about access to information and social media, but it was just... too big? I think for me. I liked the more human story of the first book, and while this had a lot to say about humanity, it was just way more of a sci-fi book that I didn't care for.
I wasn't sure I liked this at first. I wanted to know what happened, but did I like it? Ultimately I did. There's a lot of interesting stuff about fame and social media and extraterrestrial life. April's awful, but knows it and it was a ride watching her navigate everything and grow. The sequel should be interesting!
