There was a ton of hype surrounding this novel and lots of people raving about a surprise twist, and I went into this eagerly. But to be honest...I ju There was a ton of hype surrounding this novel and lots of people raving about a surprise twist, and I went into this eagerly. But to be honest...I just don't see what all the hype is about. I've only read maybe a couple dozen thrillers in my entire life but even having read so few I didn't find this book all that original.
The writing flowed nicely and it was a quick read, I never found myself bored but I was rather let down by the “huge twist”. For me, this is a middle of the road domestic thriller, good for a rainy day but not the most memorable.
I was so excited to read this, after all the rave reviews I have seen for this author, but for me I just couldn't get into it. I tried multiple times,I was so excited to read this, after all the rave reviews I have seen for this author, but for me I just couldn't get into it. I tried multiple times, but I found the writing to be a little to cheesy for my tastes. Not much was explained adequately, and while some aspects were original, much of the novel quickly delved into the mundane. Don't think I will read this author again.
Sonya is an Auraseer, which means she can sense peoples emotions and intents. After a devastating loss, she is conscripted into the service of a tyran Sonya is an Auraseer, which means she can sense peoples emotions and intents. After a devastating loss, she is conscripted into the service of a tyrant king. There she must navigate the complex emotions of complicated nobels and servants alike as she tries to control her wild gift that often leaves her overwhelmed.
This book started off really strong, the relationships between Sonya and Pia were always charming and fun, and the complex dance between Sonya and the King was well choreographed. However the pace was very slow, by the 50% mark not much had happened, and there was a lot of repetitiveness regarding a will-they-won't-they romance. Any who hate love triangles, beware.
Despite the slow pace and slightly juvenile love triangle, I was still enjoying this for the unique settings and interesting relationships, but sadly the nail in the coffin ended up being the finale. It felt very rushed after the meandering pace of the first 75% and while I am not against neat endings this felt...disingenuous.
Despite my grumblings, overall this was a decent story and there were large parts of this that I did enjoy. I got this as a kindle daily deal for $2 and for that price I have no regrets with this book. I think that this author has great potential and in time could be an amazing writer.
Terrible. Truly painful read. Feels like a blatant rip-off/ poor man's version of Sarah Scribbles and Allie Brosh's uber popular comics.
Buy, Borrow or Terrible. Truly painful read. Feels like a blatant rip-off/ poor man's version of Sarah Scribbles and Allie Brosh's uber popular comics.
I really wanted to like this, the premise was intriguing, with a group of royal misfits on the run after witnessing a dark secret. It started off okay I really wanted to like this, the premise was intriguing, with a group of royal misfits on the run after witnessing a dark secret. It started off okay and I didn't mind the characters, but this felt more like a draft than a finished product.
More than half of the book is a journey, but you never really get any sense of it. The author tells you what happens but never shows you. It leaves you feeling very disconnected from the story, and then when that leads up to insta-love, it almost comes across as a parody. This wasn't terrible, it just wasn't much of anything. I probably won't continue with this series. 1.5/5
Buy, Borrow or Bin Verdict: Bin
Note: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review....more
Wow, hmmm what to say. This book was somehow simultaneously very boring and also a huge mess. Majority of the plot was contained in a very small spaceWow, hmmm what to say. This book was somehow simultaneously very boring and also a huge mess. Majority of the plot was contained in a very small space with very few side characters.
Then the plot, as is often the issue when you include very powerful heroes in your stories comes across as B.S when they then don't use said powers to basically wipe out all of their enemies in one go. They never utilize their potential, and while the author threw in some lame excuses for some of them, there were still a lot of wtf moments in this book.
For example (view spoiler)[ When Amani is captured by the Sultan and he is threatening her with a knife to the gut, couldn't she just have said “I will not be hurt” and it would be true. In the book the Genie people can make something true by saying it. Of course this risks everything going horribly wrong, but the truth would still be that she would not be hurt. Like what did she have to lose by saying that? (hide spoiler)]
Then when (view spoiler)[Amani's lame-o Genie dad gets captured by the Sultan and she is trying to figure out how to free him (The all powerful immortal being who sat by and let her mother die, and her live in poverty), says that he can be freed by special magic words, but despite being captured and released several times in the past he doesn't know them. I mean wouldn't he have heard his many rescuers chanting these words to free him?
On the other hand a lot of the magic in this book literally just involves writing a name on a piece of paper so *shrug*. PLUS even if she freed him, since she was the one who summoned him,she would just be forced to summon him again since she was literally being controlled by the Sultan. (hide spoiler)]
Also! ALSO the whole plot about(view spoiler)[ one Genie betraying his entire race to save one of his ten thousand little mortal babies, yeah no. From what we have been told of the Genie dudes so far this seems way out of character. You think you are giving a big middle finger to all your fellow immortals that have rubbed you the wrong way but you are just screwing yourself over! I mean...ugh whatever.... (hide spoiler)]
AND THEN this whole issue with (view spoiler)[Tamid (her former best friend who of course was secretly in love with her, who she left behind in their old town bleeding in the dirt, so that she could escape guaranteed death or imprisonment.
I agree that she was stupid to write him off so quickly, I mean who dies from a bullet to the leg? But if he really loved her he would not have condemned her to stay with him and risk being killed or captured. She should of checked on him, yes, but his whole behavior in this book was soooo annoying.
Hate him. “Ugh you won't sleep with me, well screw you then, some friend you are, go crawl into a corner and die you gross genie spawn!” That's basically his whole vibe. (hide spoiler)]
AND THEN on top of this plethora of unlikable characters we also get a surprise from(view spoiler)[ Shira, Amani's cousin/archnemesis. Shira does nothing but make Amani's life a living hell every chance she gets. She would kill her just to get ahead, as she has tried to in the past.
But then the SECOND she dies, she is all romanticized like “oh yeah she is this awful cruel girl who made everyone around her miserable and cared for no one but herself but she's dead now, and she was family so I'm going to mourn her death as if she was my best friend” (hide spoiler)]
*Pats head to see if still has any hair left to pull out*
And at last, the cherry on the top of this whole plodding mess. (view spoiler)[The fearless and brave shapeshifter that takes the rebel prince's place on the chopping block disguised as him. Sounds good, very heroic, okay I can get behind that. EXCEPT THAT THIS MASTER OF DISGUISE HAS BRIGHT GOLDEN EYES !SO HOW IS HE FOOLING ALL OF THESE PEOPLE!?
Seriously this master spy has bright golden eyes which he cannot change, but he someone manages to fool everyone into believing he is whoever he is impersonating. AND wouldn't he have shapeshifted back to his original form once he was killed anyways, hence making the entire scheme pointless. (hide spoiler)]*Sigh* /drops mic.
I know that my own long plodding ranty review will be met with some hate, as is expected with a book that will probably be well received by most. It just didn't really work for me, and seeing as how I had so many issues with it, I probably won't feel the need or want to debate my ranty fuming, just fyi.
Rather disappointing sequel to the much loved A Promise of Fire. I was shocked by how much of a slog I found this to get through.
It felt as though th Rather disappointing sequel to the much loved A Promise of Fire. I was shocked by how much of a slog I found this to get through.
It felt as though the novel simply flitted from one boring and repetitive sex scene to the next. There was no tension or passion. It was as if the sex was a filler for the lack of plot.
I believe it was around 65% before I felt that anything truly worthwhile happened in the story, and then only in the last 15-20% where I was actually enjoying myself.
The ending was very action packed and interesting, and the only thing about this sequel that reminded me of what I loved about the first book. Unfortunately by the time the action started it was just too little too late for me.
Unsure if I will continue with this series. What a colossal letdown. 1.5/5
Crazy Emo Girl moves to Japan to....be more emo. Whilst contemplating her existence she happens upon a literal link to the past and finds herself in t Crazy Emo Girl moves to Japan to....be more emo. Whilst contemplating her existence she happens upon a literal link to the past and finds herself in the body of a fellow emo girl from centuries past.
The story itself felt like it would have been better served as a short story as not much happened in this. It had potential but the ending felt rushed, almost lazy to me.
For a character to have a huge change of heart, in my opinion they should experience something worthy of said change. Sudden and random epiphanies don't ring true for me.
Perhaps time traveling romances are risky after the huge success of “The Time Travelers Wife”. It is hard not to compare every subsequent book followi Perhaps time traveling romances are risky after the huge success of “The Time Travelers Wife”. It is hard not to compare every subsequent book following the same gimmick to the original. I did like this story, it was interesting to have the old timey love interest be a famous character from the past. It was a nice quirk.
However I found this novel to be chock full of purple prose and while I have no problem with it in moderation, the amount that was in this story was a little too much for me,which had the side effect of the love story feeling very cheesey.
The main character was alright, and I don't mind love triangles at all. However I am not used to love triangles where the girl treats one of the pining men like garbage the whole time. And the whole “ having her cake and eating it too” ending left me closing the book with an eyeroll.
Nevertheless this was a quick read and admittedly there was a good twist mixed in near the end. Overall this was a fine book and I have no problem with time travel romances or paranormal romances or anything interesting or different in the genre.
The one thing I do need though is for the dialogue to feel realistic, and while I can even concede that a character from 300 years ago may have talked more “romantically” than current modern men, the flowery language was coming from all sides and hence the believability was nowhere to be found.
I think that this novel may have worked better as a short story. I would only really recommend this if you haven't read The Time Travelers Wife because it is hard (for me at least) not to draw unfortunate comparisons... and only if you have a high tolerance for “whimsical speech”.
No! Say it ain't so! The reviews for this book were correct in that this is so far beneath the Divergent trilogy, so as to seem written by a completel No! Say it ain't so! The reviews for this book were correct in that this is so far beneath the Divergent trilogy, so as to seem written by a completely different author. Right from the get go, this book was slow as molasses, filled with yawn inducing characters and a lackluster, if non-existent plot. Well I mean sure there is a plot...kinda....in the last 15%.
I wanted so bad for everyone to be wrong about this book but nope, they were right. This book is an uninspired snooze-fest. Wake me up at the next attempt at an interesting story by this author, and let's all hope she's not a one hit wonder.
Unfortunately this story was not a hit for me. The description pulled me in, and I thought that the idea of a teenaged Siren was very interesting and Unfortunately this story was not a hit for me. The description pulled me in, and I thought that the idea of a teenaged Siren was very interesting and unique. However this book turned out to not be anything like I expected and not in a good way.
Overall this story is not bad, it's decent, some people might even say good. But for me I just wanted more. The plot just ended up being so much smaller than I had hoped. I thought it would be about a teenaged girl coming to grips with a newly discovered Siren ability. I thought it would follow her adventures as she used her power for good, bad and all the grey in between.
Instead what I got was essentially her using her power on a boring dud of a boy that she had become obsessed with...although obsessed is probably too strong of a word. It wasn't nearly as intriguing enough to warrant obsession...it was more....a young girl moaning about her first lust with the usual teenaged relationship drama except that she just so happens to be a Siren.
The moral quandaries in the book never managed to interest me because I just found myself not caring about any of the characters, so what did it matter if they all treated each other like shit?
This sequel was action packed, but nowhere near as entertaining as the first book. Maybe it's just me, but I was Very, very unpopular opinion.
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This sequel was action packed, but nowhere near as entertaining as the first book. Maybe it's just me, but I was confused during parts of it, I didn't understand what was going on or specific motivations people had. There was a ton of technical mumbo jumbo... I don't know if the writing was lazy or if it was just my mind. Either way I found this book so hard to get into, the action scenes, while numerous felt like I was reading a court transcript of the event. “And then she did this,” “ And then he did this...like a ninja”. And the dialogue was on the lower end of YA.
Overall not a terrible read by any means, but a disappointment after the amazing first book in the series. Doubt I will read the next book, but that is mainly because I read almost exclusively on my kindle and holy crap the formatting for this book on Kindle is GARBAGE!
Essentially you have to hold your kindle sideways the entire time, and even with max font size and double spacing, a quarter of this book is unreadable. I'm guessing because so much of the book is basically pictures with tiny font on them the kindle can't really edit it much.... so you're just S.O.L if you don't have a hard copy of this.
Shocked they would charge full price for such a hot mess, feels very greedy on the publishers part that they wouldn't even make it a priority to put out a readable kindle version. Anyways rant over. Decent book but nothing special.
“Decent hostess,” Saber says with a deep, low laugh. “What you're essentially doing is tricking these women- these people- into a serious addiction. I“Decent hostess,” Saber says with a deep, low laugh. “What you're essentially doing is tricking these women- these people- into a serious addiction. I don't think the word decent has any place in this conversation.”
“The guilt washes over me again as I hand one of those to Lord Aaron's love, but I remind myself that perhaps with a bit of loosening up, Sir Spencer would be willing to...dally with Aaron a bit more.”
DNF @ 52%
The main character in this novel is so despicable that I cannot stand to read another page of this evil woman's “adventures”. Basically she is engaged to an asshole and needs money to run away, so she decides to put drugs in a new makeup line and sell it to her friends and neighbors.
She laces the makeup with drugs to make sure people keep buying more...without them having any knowledge that she is getting them addicted to a serious drug. And god forbid some little girl decides to play with her mother's makeup...I decided to stop reading before it came to that point.
Incoherent Plot Hole Ramblings(view spoiler)[There is also the plot hole of how the main character is rich in her local currency but poor in Euros, which is what she needs to escape her predicament, and yet all the people in the castle that she is drugging are paying with huge amounts of euros which apparently most of them don't have a lot of? (hide spoiler)]
I don't get it, and at this point I don't even care. Initially I was interested in the plot but the characters just ruined everything.
Buy, Borrow or Bin Verdict: Bin 2/5 for strong start
Despite having a strong start, this historical romance didn't work for me. While the Welsh countryside was a nice departure from the usual England tha Despite having a strong start, this historical romance didn't work for me. While the Welsh countryside was a nice departure from the usual England that historical romances like to live in, there is not much else that I liked about this book. I felt that it had potential, but found that there were way too many conveniences.
It was almost ludicrous how many things just ended up “working out” despite no forethought or legitimate planning. And while I am not against “neat” endings this books ending was tied up so perfectly that it was practically factory sealed!
I normally love books by St.Martins Press but unfortunately this one didn't work for me. On the plus side, since I usually enjoy 80% of the books I read by this publisher, statistically speaking that means that the next book I read from them should be a five star....right?*fingers crossed*
The idea of a teenage secret agent is pretty appealing to me, however every book that I have ever read that has a premise anywhere similar to this, al The idea of a teenage secret agent is pretty appealing to me, however every book that I have ever read that has a premise anywhere similar to this, always falls flat for some reason.
I think that it's never realistic enough for me. I can't connect the supposed cold, calculating super spy to the awkward boy crazy, low self esteem quibbling teenager.
Also, not to sound rude but the writing felt very amateur to me. Nothing flowed that great and the dialogue was a bit awkward. In all fairness adding teen slang is always a risk and very few authors manage to pull it off. Overall, A for effort, but I would not recommend this book.
Buy, Borrow or Bin Verdict: Bin
Note: I received this book fro free in exchange for an honest review....more
This was a so-so book with an interesting premise, but I think that this author's pace iCheck out more of my reviews here
Unpopular Opinion Time [image]
This was a so-so book with an interesting premise, but I think that this author's pace is too slow even for me. I had the same issue with her previous book “The Scorpio Races”. I am not often a fan of books where most of the action is in the last few pages/chapters, it always feels rushed to me and too little too late type of situation.
I felt pretty nonchalant about Blue, but I suppose the book is called the raven boys for a reason. Even so I did not find them all that interesting either. Everything felt rather flat in this novel. Overall interesting plot, but the execution didn't really work for me.
Not sure if I will continue the series since it took me sooo long just to read this book, but since I do own them all I might. Annnd this ladies and gentlemen, is why you never buy an entire series all at once! Always try out at least one book first. I entreat you, resist the urge!
This is a hard book to rate, on the one hand I think that it had a positive message and that a lot of teens can relate to the situations that the main This is a hard book to rate, on the one hand I think that it had a positive message and that a lot of teens can relate to the situations that the main characters are in. On the other hand I feel that a couple moments took a turn for the dramatic that ended up taking me out of the moment due to the strained believability.
I didn't really care for Seth, I felt that he was too immature for my liking. I think that if the author had made him younger he would have been able to stay more of a sympathetic character. I did like Brooke, she was a kind and thoughtful character and much easier to relate to. I would have liked more of a conclusion for her story but overall I didn't mind how the book ended. At the very least, this short story will hopefully highlight the importance of being honest with those close to you. 2.5.5
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