Luci

4 1/2 stars. Even though anyone who has followed this case after the Serial and Undisclosed podcasts knows what is happening, I was still sitting on the edge of my seat at times. This is more Adnan's story as seen through the perspective of Rabia Chaudry, and how she was involved and dealt with it. She is a truly engaging storyteller, and you can tell how much she believes in Adnan's innocence and cares about him.

She also discussed some personal details about her own life, and while a lot of the facts about the case were repeats from Undisclosed, it wasn't so detailed that it became uninteresting. My mind did wander at certain points, especially during some of the dream/prediction tangents.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read, although a really tragic story for two families. I couldn't begin to imagine the agony Hae's parents are going through with this case getting so much attention. Hae, Adnan, and their families were failed over and over again by so many people in the justice system, and that is what is truly heartbreaking.

I really liked the bond between Jack and his mother, and there were times when the suspense would build, and I'd think something was going to happen, but then it just kind of fell flat.

It isn't that I couldn't deduce what happened, or that I want to read about horrible things happening to people. I just felt that since everything was filtered through Jack's perspective, I found it really difficult to connect with anyone else. I felt a lot of sympathy, but little empathy.

I would have liked to also have the mom's perspective, especially Spoilerwhen Old Nick took Jack away, up until she was also rescued by police. I could only imagine the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty.

My kids enjoy listening to this story as much as I enjoy reading it. The illustrations are funny, and the story is a really clever take on Spoilerwhy, exactly dragons breathe fire, and why doing so might make them a little grumpy.

I actually enjoyed this more than I thought. I didn't read any reviews beforehand, but I listen to Rich's podcast, and have heard him as a guest on others. It's much more than just details of his races and how he trains. He really dives into his personal struggles, and his remarkable recovery and transformation.

My attention did wander during some of the longer segments during his tour in Hawaii, although it was interesting when he went into detail about the people he met, his crew, and his physical and emotional state during the journey.

Wow. I went through such a range of emotions while reading this. The author went into the right amount of detail so that the reader understood what was happening without being gratuitous, but I see, hear, smell, and feel when fully immersed in a book, so it was a real challenge to continue at times, although I imagine this book was intense for most people.

Still, it was very well written, researched, and handled with sensitivity towards everyone involved.

This is a tough one. I really enjoy Maggie Stiefvater's writing style, so this wasn't a chore to get through, but the beginning was a bit confusing and slow at times.

The book is told in third person, but from several different points of view, and I think listening to the audiobook made it even more challenging to sort through what was going on at first.

There are a few twists–some I saw coming, some were surprises. It really picked up towards the end, and I liked it enough to read the next book in the series.

SpoilerAdam's abuse by his father, as well as his and his family's reactions and behavior are so real and heartbreaking.

I really need a light read after this one.

Maybe 3.5 stars. I thought the story was good, but the metaphors were overused a bit. Sometimes, the can still be beauty in describing something just as it is. I'm still interested enough in the characters to find out what happens next, though.

More like 2.5 stars. I didn't NOT like it, and I'll read the second book, just to see how things develop. It's an interesting take on the vampire story.

I also listened to this as audiobook, so it may be that some of the things that irritated me were because of the reader, not the story.

I don't know why I kept listening to this, even though the writing is horrible and I really wanted to smack some of the characters around. I suppose I was waiting for something to happen before the last few pages/hour of the audiobook. I'll never get those hours of my life back. At least I got lots of work done while I was listening to it.

I didn't mean to read this book, it just kind of happened, and then I had to finish it.

I couldn't finish this book. The voice of the character, the story–pretty much everything about it was irritating.

This was a really cute variation of Goodnight Moon for little Star Wars fans and their parents.

I got a major spoiler about the ending. I'd still finish if it seemed interesting enough, but have no desire to find out how it ended up there.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I think I need to reread it to give it a fair rating. I started and stopped reading a few times and switched back and forth from the audio to the printed version, so I didn't give it the attention I normally would. I do plan on reading the rest if the series, so I'm just going to put this one aside for now and read it again before starting the sequel.