it was alright and I'm a functional human being

This book was dumb. Poorly written. The characters were all one dimensional. Their motivations were flimsy at best. Nothing any of them did or said made logical sense. I quite enjoy mindless entertainment, but it's got to the be entertaining for that to work and this book was not. I don't give one star ratings lightly, but there was nothing I enjoyed in this book. It was obvious to the point it was kind of painful, and then as though the author realized that, made the ending as convoluted as possible. Wouldn't recommend and won't reread.

The protagonist, Michael Beard, is a thoroughly unlikable human being and the book follows his meandering, largely plot-less life for 300 pages. I don't mind reading about an awful character, but when I can't get invested in the lead, I need to get invested in the plot and there wasn't much there. I found the summary on the back misleading. It was an annoying struggle to read and I'm glad to be done. If I were the kind of reader who DNF'ed books, I would have given up on this a hundred pages in when I realized the plot I was waiting for was never coming.

I would not recommend. Just a disappointment all around since I've heard such good things about Ian McEwan, but I'm going to assume I just picked up the wrong book and I will give him a second chance.

This was so cute! I didn't have very high standards for this book (yet another contemporary Cinderella retelling?), but I was pleasantly surprised! I had so much fun reading this! It was cute and quirky and a great love letter to geeks without being too fan service-y. There was a fair amount of fangirl flailing going on at various points throughout the book and I may have even teared up just a little bit.

Starfield isn't a real fandom and I was losing it over ah'blena like I've been watching the show for years. Definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys contemporary YA romance. This one hundred percent lived up to the hype for me.

It was intended to be funny, but the humor didn't do much for me. So without that it was just kind of a middle of the road read with nothing super interesting. I found the characters mildly annoying, but not enough that it ruined the book. So all in all, pretty fine. I probably won't remember this in a month, but it wasn't a bad read. Probably more suited to someone with a different kind of humor than me who doesn't mind reading 250 pages about a lovesick sixteen year old boy.

I found it enjoyably bad. Not that it was truly terrible, but riddled with cliches and a kind of generic romance plot. It is definitely a romance novel with thriller as a subgenre. I had a fun time reading it, but I won't ever pick it up again. In some bits the story got confusing and there were some sections I actively disliked, but overall, I read it in a day and regret nothing.

This book earned its second star solely because I found it to be a pleasant read in terms of writing. I wouldn't call the writing good by any means, especially not in comparison to Lucy Grealy's own memoir which I thought was beautifully written, but this book had an ease to it that made it a smooth read. That is pretty much the only positive thing I have to say about this book.

Assuming that everything in this book is true, adding the adjective 'toxic' to the cover would be more accurate. Patchett portrays Grealy in an astoundingly negative light considering the two were supposed best friends and she wrote this book in the year after Grealy's death. She rarely says anything positive about her except for her writing. Everything else is backhanded compliments and straight insults. I got the overwhelming feeling she was just as codependent as she was portraying Grealy, in addition to being bitter and jealous of Grealy's writing.

I wouldn't recommend reading this. Honestly, after this I will probably make it a point to avoid Patchett's other work if I ever come across it. Grealy's memoir Autobiography of a Face is by far the better choice if you're interested in learning more about her life.

I really loved the first third of this story. But the last two thirds, while still quite good, didn't strike the same chord. I couldn't get into the fantasy story or Rose Anna's perspective the same way I did Victor's introspective voice. But that being said, I still quite enjoyed this book. It was pretentious, but still sweet and innocent. I adored the descriptions and the writing style. It was almost reminiscent of Written on the Body, which I also loved.

This is a book that I can see a lot of people being annoyed by, but I'd still recommend anyone at least give it a chance. I feel like this is a book that deserves to be read. I found it quite wonderful, despite its flaws.

I couldn't really get into this. I've read at least one of her other books, and I remember enjoying that, but this one didn't do it for me. I found the characters to be unlikable and annoying, even the ones you were supposed to like. And the plot didn't hold enough suspense to pull me in. I spent most of the book just waiting for them to be arrested. The whole bit with the ring seemed unnecessary and teasing that Mr. Griffin was David's father when they could have just said the ring reminded him of one his father had. I didn't understand what that added to the story.

Not worth a reread and I'd recommend checking out some of her other books instead.

It was honestly really dry. I had to force myself to read it, no matter what part of the book I was reading. It seemed to drag on and on. There were a lot of good insights, but I felt like he was trying really hard to stick to his journalism roots and be impartial on a subject he had no shot at being impartial about.

Not a book I particularly enjoyed, although there was a fair amount of good information in here. I'd recommend if people were looking to read a book on the subject that they try to find another book because this one fell short for me.