It's hard for me to discuss this book because it's difficult to describe what exactly I liked about it. I did really enjoy it, but so many of the things I have to say sound negative.

First of all, nothing happened, basically. A lot of things happened, but I thought the book was going to be about the relationship between Arthur Opp and Kel Keller, based on the synopsis. They never meet. The book is about their relationship in a way, but it's more of a preamble to their relationship. In any other book, this would have been the first fifty pages of introduction before the real story started.

But I liked that. I love a slow character driven book. Honestly, I'm not even sure I could call this character driven because that implies there's something other than characters going on, which there really wasn't. It was just about the characters, how they were growing, how they were coping, how they were failing. I liked them for their flaws and their crappy behavior and their insecurities, as well as for their strength.

I found myself growing attached to the characters, even when I didn't like them. I was not a fan of Arthur as a person, but his sections were my favorite to read. He was compelling and interesting and I found myself rooting for him despite myself. Kel I liked as well, although his half of the book was a little lesser to me. I just found Arthur's situation a little more interesting, despite the fact that Kel had most of the drama.

There's often a sense of melodrama in books, things that unfold quite too neatly and people who get into the perfect arguments to push the story along. As much as I enjoy reading that, there's always the knowledge that it would never happen that way in real life. But this book felt like real life. The decisions people made in this book actually made sense, and sometimes they led away from the drama. They'd sit down and have a casual conversation about their options instead of continuing to hide their feelings and have communication problems for the rest of the book. It was refreshing, but at times it also seemed like the book wasn't building to anything. But I kind of liked that too.

One thing that did really irritate me in this book was Moore's use of an ampersand instead of writing out 'and' for Arthur's chapters. I don't know why. It wasn't consistent, it wasn't used in letters, it just felt random and pointless and really irritated me. I understand making formatting changes like that sometimes, but it didn't seem to do anything here.

There were also times where it felt like Arthur and Kel had the same speaking style, which was strange since one was a 60 year old former professor with British parents and one was a teenager who grew up in Yonkers. They shouldn't have sounded as similar as they did and sometimes that did make me like this book a little less.

I also wasn't always fond of the writing style itself. First person present tense is rarely my favorite and seemed to alternate a bit between past and present. At times it did feel stilted and like the sentences were too choppy, but I'm just not a fan of that style in general.

Overall though, I did really enjoy this book. I wasn't sure I would, but the longer I read it, the more invested I got. I ended the book really caring about the characters and the resolution. I'm not sure this is one I'd recommend to everyone, but I do think it's worth a read if it sounds like your thing. I'm very excited to read more from Liz Moore.

I had previously read one Mindy McGinnis book (The Female of the Species) and wasn't overly fond of that one, but decided to give this a go anyway because the story sounded interesting. I had similar feelings on this one and think she's just not the author for me. I probably won't be picking up anymore of her books in the future.

It's not that I disliked this book, it just felt very mediocre to me. More than anything else, this read like an after school special. Don't do drugs, kids- drugs are bad. It reminded me very much of a modernized version of Go Ask Alice. Which is fine, if you want to write your books as a lesson go right ahead. Some people really enjoy that. I'm not one of those people. I read fiction to get attached to the story and care about the characters, not learn a moral story. I never felt attached to Mickey or any of the other characters in this book because they all felt like actors for an anti-drug PSA. They were playing their roles to teach a lesson, not acting naturally as fully fledged people.

But like I said, that's not inherently a bad thing. I quite liked Go Ask Alice when I was a teenager so I probably would have liked this at fifteen as well. For where I am now, it just felt so preachy and I don't want to be preached to.

I was also not a fan of starting with her friends dying. Oftentimes, I feel like starting with the dramatic ending is a cheap way to grab a reader's attention early on. It can be done well, but it wasn't here. There was no reason to start with the death of her friends apart from hooking the reader's interest. It accomplished nothing storytelling-wise. I spent most of the book waiting for that to happen so we could get to something new. And it doesn't happen until very near to the end.

There was a lot within the story that felt skipped over. For starters, the car accident. Mickey and Carolina got into a car accident. Mickey was driving. That's literally all I could tell you about the car accident. I don't even know if it was a single car accident or a head on collision. The only time it's ever mentioned is when Carolina's new boyfriend implies he might blame Mickey for the accident, but Mickey and Carolina never talk about it and Mickey never even thinks about it. It's not information that's crucial the story, but as a reader it's something I want to know. It's odd that it's not included. And that wasn't the only example, just the first and most obvious. It continuously happened. We got to see very little of her rehab. Mickey was in pain and could barely stand, then she was in pain and running two miles at conditioning. The focus was so heavily on the drug use from the beginning that all the other important issues got pushed to the side. (This might have worked if that's what it became as she fell further into addiction, but it was the same for the whole book.)

I had trouble telling the passage of time in this book. I'd think a few days had passed and then she'd reference how it was a month later. It made the book frustrating to follow.

I'm also not a fan of McGinnis's writing style. It feels so overwrought. On page 41- "But lately I've noticed a deeper thought, one that slumbers below the warmth, so buried that it took me a while to find it, unwrap it, and realize what it was telling me." It was a fast read in terms of writing style and only took me a day, but she took so long to say simple things. It felt very overwritten, which is how I felt about The Female of the Species as well.

But despite having nothing really positive to say in this review, it garnered a three star rating. I didn't hate it. I had a lot of problems, but it was compelling enough that I had no problem sitting down and reading it for hours at a time, and didn't want to stop. I did like it, even at the most bare minimum. But I don't think this is one I'd recommend. Maybe to fans of Go Ask Alice, but it seemed like so much in this story was lacking. I don't think I'll be trying McGinnis again.

This is probably the third time I've reread Terrier (I've never reread any of the other books in the series) and I still think it holds up.

The main negative for this is always going to be the diary aspect. I don't know why Pierce suddenly decided to write an entire book in diary format after years of third person, but it's so fake. It definitely requires a suspension of disbelief. No one writes thousands and thousands of words describing their day in perfect detail down to full conversations of dialogue.

But at the same time, I wouldn't want to read a whole book that actually sounds like someone's diary. Apart from the introductions in each entry and a few days where she's too tired to write, it doesn't sound at all natural. It's a little annoying and I mostly prefer to pretend it's just regular first person narration. But I can see how this might be a deal breaker for some people.

I really like the day in the life aspect of this book. There are of course two major cases that Beka is investigating, but a lot of this book is just covering everything she did each day. I really enjoy books like that because they give interesting insights into what the normal world looks like, not just when there's a lot of heightened drama.

I also thought it was fun on reread to see all the foreshadowing. I didn't figure out the twist much before Beka did when I read the book initially, so it was cool to catch all the little tidbits from the beginning.

Overall, I still think this is a pretty great book. I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to the Tortall universe, but I think once you've read a couple of others, it's worth a read. It's fun to read a police procedural set in a fantasy world. I'm very interested to see how my reread of the rest of the trilogy goes because I distinctly remember not like Bloodhound or Mastiff much at all.

This book was definitely an experience. I think very little of it was actually to my taste, but it was a fun read and I'm glad I read it. The best description I have for this book is that it reads like a B horror movie.

One of the weird (and cool) things about this book was that it was written like a movie. It is a literal novel and not a screenplay, but at points it would become dialogue only like one. Other times it included description like "the shot pans left over the town" or lines that sounded like stage directions. I don't think that's something I'd care to read a lot, but for this book it was fun. It gave the storytelling a different kind of twist and it honestly did help with picturing it.

I also found this book rather funny. I'm not good with funny books usually, but there was something about this one that really made me laugh. The over the top ridiculousness was juxtaposed with the characters at times being hilariously realistic or down to earth. The first time they see a monster, they literally just blew off its head with a shotgun. But most of what made me laugh was the dialogue. The story was clever and witty, but most of the time the characters were just average people who sounded like me and my friends, and I found it quite funny.

Later on, I did struggle with the story a bit. It took me a week to read and the action toward the end especially dragged. I'm just not a fan of action and there was so much of it.

The Scooby Doo retelling/satire aspect was what initially drew me to this book and what I did wind up enjoying the most. I'm not sure if this book would have been three stars without that. It was fun to read about the gang all grown up and all screwed up. It had a weird mix of the childishness of the original without the sincerity, but in an incredibly adult story. I can see why this wouldn't vibe with some people if you looking for a story that's a little more genuine, but I thought it was fun.

Overall, I did quite enjoy this. The story wasn't to my taste (I literally had to create a horror shelf for this book), but it was a fun time and I'm glad I read it. Some three stars are worthwhile reads for me, and this was definitely one of them. I'd recommend if this sounds like your kind of thing, but it's definitely not for everyone.

I struggled with this book a lot more than I wanted to. I enjoy Lisa Gardner's books for the entertainment they bring me and how easily they read. It makes them an overall enjoyable time, even if I'm not always in love with the stories. Her writing style is a pleasure.

But the first 150 (or so) pages dragged. First there was the typical introduction of all the characters. With three returning POV characters from different books (plus a new character makes 4 POVs overall), there was about thirty pages of catch up in case the reader hasn't read the prior books with important information. I understand that. As the title above suggests, this book is number 20 in the overall universe Gardner has created. But after the introduction, there was about a hundred pages of setting up this story. They have to fly down to Atlanta from Boston, they have to set up a search party, they have to have numerous meetings of law enforcement sitting around discussing what's happening. It was so boring that I may have DNFed this book if I was someone who DNFed books.

I don't want to hear about what's happening in any story, especially a thriller. I want to see what's happening. The planning stages are boring. Realistically boring, maybe, but that doesn't make it any more enjoyable to read. A hundred pages of characters talking about what's going on and not doing anything almost made me rate this book two stars.

But it got better. Around 150 pages it stopped dragging so much and fell into Gardner's typical easy flow. I'd meant to go to bed the night I read this, but instead just stayed up until I finished the book. I didn't love the rest of it, but I love the way she writes and tells a story. I can fly through 50 pages without realizing any time has passed. That's why I keep coming back to her books when so many of them are three stars for me.

This book was incredibly unrealistic. I usually give thrillers a fair amount of leniency when it comes to that because fun is more important than realism for me in this genre, but by the end it was grating just how unrealistic it was. A lot of the factors I don't want to discuss in detail because spoilers, but just the fact that Flora Dane was brought in on this case was a little painful. Not only is she a civilian, but they're investigating the murder thinking it was committed by the same man who kidnapped her, the same man she killed. There's no way she'd be officially involved. I can kind of accept her inserting herself on the case as unrealistic but fun, but it was a little painful that she was literally there in an official capacity. And there were a dozen other complaints in this vein, but they were mostly spoilers and I don't want to ruin anyone else's fun.

I also found this very predictable. The big plot twists at the end I guessed as soon as they were foreshadowed. I felt it was kind of an obvious story. Which isn't the worst thing in the world. I was still down, but it just felt so obvious that it sucked out some enjoyment.

One thing that did bug me a lot is I think thrillers are best when they have a smaller scope. They hit me a lot harder that way, when they're searching for one person, maybe two. When the crimes are a bit more limited (though no less horrific). This book had a very wide scope with a lot of moving parts (this is about as specific as I can be without spoilers), and I think it was to the book's detriment. It also made it less believable for me.

My final negative is just that I think the character of Flora Dane is overused by this point. I think she's running out of things for this character to do and has to keep expanding the background of Flora's kidnapping. In the first book he was a lone kidnapper who had occasional friends, and that background keeps growing to make him part of various conspiracies and crime groups. Every time we learn more, I start to care a little less. It doesn't make sense. It feels like she's just adding more to have more things for the cops to uncover. Also, just in general it feels like Flora Dane isn't fitting in as part of the team as naturally as she has in prior books. It feels like she's just there because she's a popular character rather than because Gardner has a plan for her future.

Definitely don't start with this book if you're new to Gardner, though. It's not fun to have your first experience with an author be 150 pages of boredom, and she's better than that. Also, this is the fourth book that follows Flora Dane and I think it's much more enjoyable to go in knowing her past in more detail, which was discussed in Find Her. You could just pick this one up and the introduction will summarize everything, but I think you'll miss out on a fair bit.

Overall, glad I read it. Not the best, not the worst, but I'll definitely continue reading Gardner's new releases each year. She writes fun thrillers, even with their flaws. If you enjoy cop thrillers, I definitely recommend picking up some of her books.

This is probably the third time I've decided to reread through the Circle of Magic quartet in the hopes that I'll enjoy it more, but I don't think I ever will. I quite enjoy the overall premise of the story, the kids with strange magical abilities become magically bonded and have to figure things out with their teachers, and I enjoy the characters themselves (both the four main characters and their teachers), but I always struggle through.

Particularly with this first book, it feels like there's so much set up without much happening. The kids don't actually figure out they have magic until about 200 pages into this 250 page book. It's mostly how they came to find themselves at the temple community (Niko brought them all) and introducing the characters to each other. There's a little bit of plot revolving around the earthquake, but not a whole lot. It just bores me.

Which isn't to say it's bad. It's three stars, it's fine. I probably would have liked it better had I read it as a child, but it always feels lacking to me. I want more character development and more development of their magic. It feels like there's a lot that could be explored and just isn't.

I've also always been a bit irritated that Sandry got cheated out of her own book in this initial quartet. This book feels almost equal in terms of POV and importance to the story, while the rest of the books focus on each individual character much more. I like Sandry quite a bit and wish she'd gotten more than a shared book.

I don't dislike this book. I think there are a lot of positives in this series overall, but I can't really bring myself to care about this one, or even much of the first quartet. It bores me a bit and it took me a couple days to read despite being so quick and short.

I like this book a little more than the first, but not by a whole lot. Most of my thoughts remain the same.

It feels like the overall plot of pirates takes over anything else that happens in the story. So often the teachers will say "oh I wish I had time to teach you/explore something with your magic, but I don't so we'll deal with it later." So many times. And as a reader, that was what I was thinking as well. I wanted so many things explored that just got pushed to the side to be dealt with later.

Because of that, it was hard to get into a lot of the rest of the story. A 250 page fantasy middle grade that I've read twice before shouldn't take me more than one sitting to read, and yet it took me three days. It's not that I didn't want to pick it up, it's just that suddenly I'd remember all the other things I could or should be doing, while usually I tend to put everything off in favor of a book I'm enjoying.

The things I liked more about this book had to do with Tris's past and her learning control. I really liked that she started to see real consequences with her magic and real consequences if she didn't start dealing with it in an appropriate way. I loved her dealing with her family history, being abandoned by them as such a young child and now meeting up with the only cousin who had been kind to her. All of that was really enjoyable, but their wasn't much of it compared to the rest of this book.

I do still quite enjoy the premise and the characters, I just need to wait a little longer to get into the books I remember really enjoying. I remember the story improving with each book, so I hope to see at least one four star by the time I finish this first quartet.

I listened to the audiobook of this which heavily influenced my experience with this book. I don't normally like to use audiobooks for first time reads because of that, but I'll try to write a review anyway.

First, I quite enjoyed the narrator's voice. His name was Vikas Adam and apparently he's rather well known (I know very little about audiobooks and their narrators so I'd never heard of him). He just had an incredibly pleasing voice and delivery, and it made the whole experience so pleasant. A lot of my feelings about this book come from my enjoyment of listening to his voice rather than the book itself. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this audiobook if you're interested in reading this one.

But getting into the book itself, I expected more of it to focus on Brierley's search for his hometown and his family. The first half the book was about his childhood in India, and then a decent chunk about his Australian parents and his childhood in Australia, and it ended with about another large section about him reflecting on his trips to India as an adult and what it all means for him. Which means there wasn't a whole lot of time to focus on the search itself.

I didn't dislike that, it just wasn't what I expected going in. It does make sense, though. Pretty much all he did was look at train stations all over India on Google Earth until he found one he recognized. His overall story might be fascinating, but the search itself not so much.

But if you're interested in the story of someone's life, just what they experience and how it's affected them, particularly an adopted child who came from a different country, I would recommend this book. I personally enjoy reading about people's lives, so I quite enjoyed this one. So much of it just seemed like he was a normal guy who coped with things in a very normal way. It wasn't melodramatic in any sense, he was just trying to see where he came from and find his Indian mother again.

I can't really comment on the writing style itself because I only listened to the audiobook and that does remove my ability to notice style in the same way, but as a general whole, I enjoyed it. Brierley got a ghostwriter and I'm always appreciative of when ghostwriters are credited, so extra kudos for that.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. How much of that enjoyment came from the book or the audiobook narrator, I can't say, but either way it was a great experience. I was always excited to get back into it, and there aren't a whole lot of audiobooks I can say that about.

I finally feel like one of the books in this quartet hit what I wanted. This book also has a big disaster the four kids must fight (forest fires), but unlike in the other books, it doesn't take over the whole story. Their teachers aren't saying we don't have time to teach you because of xyz thing. The forest fires are constantly going on, but also don't affect them directly for a lot of the book.

Because we're not focused on that, it actually gives them time to develop their relationships and their magic a bit. It feels like for so much of this book you actually get to see Daja's feelings about her own life, instead of just feelings on forest fires or pirates. There's a lot of dealing with her being exiled by her people, Traders, and missing the old life she used to have.

The kids are also starting to get a few parameters for their magic, which is something that I didn't realize was lacking until this book. There's still kind of a sense that they can do anything with magic, which limits believability and consequences to a degree, but they're starting to learn their limits and starting to learn control.

So far, this is my favorite of the series. I'm glad to read one that better than okay, that I was actually excited to pick up and get through.

I think this is an important book telling an important story. Henrietta Lacks is someone people should know. Her contributions to science, willing or not, have been immeasurable in the nearly 70 years since her death and she should be known for that. It's wonderful that this book has turned her into a household name, as famous as her Hela cells.

I loved hearing the story of her life and what was done to her, the story of her family, the story of medicine because of her. That was my favorite part of this book. I was incredibly interested in the narrative and the person Henrietta Lacks was.

I loved the ethical discussions in this book, both at the time of Henrietta's life and today (or at least the early 2000s when this book was written). I can't really weigh in much, but just talking about the right to your own body, and what constitutes informed consent is interesting and important. There aren't any easy answers, but it seems like capitalism isn't doing medicine many favors.

I'm not a scientifically inclined person so I did struggle a lot with the science in this book. I liked the story and narrative aspects, but sometimes it delved into almost straight science. I don't think that was a flaw by any means. For a book like this, including some of the science is absolutely necessary. But I didn't understand much of it and it slowed my reading quite a bit.

I didn't love the author, though. It felt like she inserted herself into this book quite a bit, and a good section of the book was about her journey in telling the story, rather than the story itself. It didn't feel like she contributed anything. It also felt to me like she treated the extended Lacks family with a bit of condescension and shared quite a few personal details about their lives. I wonder how much they consented to being shared, especially considering some died before the publication of this book and others never seemed overly fond of Skloot.

There's also the question of money in terms of this book. It felt to me like Skloot was yet another white person profiting off this family, without them seeing any of the financial gain. Not everything is always about money, but it seems like everyone has made money from this situation except for the Lackses. At the end she said a portion of the proceeds from the book will be donated to a scholarship in Henrietta Lacks's name, but there's no mention of money beyond that. For all the ethical questions raised in this book, that was another for me.

But even with those issues, I think this topic is so important that it kind of overshadowed my feelings toward the author. I thought about giving it three stars, but I couldn't. I think the Henrietta Lacks story is one that should have been told earlier. These conversations about medical ethics should have happened earlier. I would highly recommend this book. It won't make my favorites list, but I feel like I've gained something very important from reading it.