ellemnope's Reviews (2.4k)

The author of this book is clearly very intelligent. He frequently uses complex words and his descriptions are heavily laden. I felt that I would have gotten a lot more out of the book if I had a better background in Russian history. However, it did spark something of an interest in that for me, so I guess that's something. The narrative is clever, but slow and steady. There is no real high excitement in the book until you near the end. Unfortunately, I felt that this wasn't exploited to its fullest potential and the ending was weak. There was a great setup to the events that occurred, but a relatively poor execution that made it seem as if the author simply tired of writing the tale. I was left mildly disappointed.

The only thing truly helpful in this for me was the list of milestones. Otherwise, the writing felt a little overly judgmental. Parents have it hard enough with hearing conflicting recommendations on how to raise their child. The advice in this book is a bit over the top in terms of its ability to be realistic for the average parent. Instead, it seems to just add stress by insinuating that those who don't make efforts to follow all of the "guidelines" in the book are doing their little ones a disservice. I honestly expected better from the person who wrote "What to Expect While You're Expecting". I expected to read a bit more of an open-minded and comforting dialogue.

I drug this one out a bit too long I think. I sat the book aside a few months ago and then finally made my way back to it. I guess it just wasn't as exciting for me as I had hoped. But...I will say this...Jenny Han did come through with a decent ending. She didn't just let it drift off into a soft, easy end. She kept writing until the close. The trilogy holds pretty well. I'd say the ending was predictable, but she does it in a way where it really is and isn't at the same time. I kind of liked that.

I really enjoyed this one. The story is something of a modern day retelling of Romeo and Juliet with a fantasy background. It honestly surprised me how much I got involved in this book. It read very quickly and easily. The characters were well fabricated and felt real and honest. The holdback from a 5-star review for me on this one was for a very common reason. The ending. Dang it. It wasn't a bad ending, don't get me wrong. It just didn't leave me with that "want to hug this book" feeling. This one is well worth your time.

** Disclosure: I won a free copy of this novel via Goodreads Giveaways. **

This one started off feeling like a Harry Potter rip off. It took me a bit to get into the book because of that. However, once it got going, things rolled pretty well. I did find myself often distracted by questions I kept formulating about the world Holmberg has created, but hopefully some of these will be answered for me throughout the remaining 2 books of the trilogy. I enjoyed the general premise and the ending, while not fantastic, was strong. I'm looking forward to continuing on to book #2.

Technically, this one is a 3.5. Come on Goodreads...give me the option of half stars! While I enjoyed the series and I did like the story, the more "romantic" bits of this one felt far too contrived and awkward. I found myself mildly irritated by that since I liked the storyline between Ceony and Emery. I suppose it just felt a bit overly childish. The movement of the remainder of the story was good though. Holmberg does well with action sequences and she does tend to have a very vivid imagination. Things are not always as predictable as they would seem. I appreciate that. I enjoyed the series enough that I will be looking into a couple of her other novels.

3.5 star rating. Worth the read. This book provides another narrative with good writing from Taylor, just as expected. Taylor is a phenomenal author and has a mastery over words her ability to provide picturesque description is beyond the average and she creates a narrative that just sucks the reader in. Her stories always feel real. Devastatingly real. However, I ultimately had two primary issues with the book that prevented a 5-star rating.

Issue #1: The storyline was almost too full. I know, that's an odd thing to say. A good, robust story is a nice thing to have. But...pieces that seemed to have such large stories were meted out to just a few pages and I really found myself wanting so much more. It was as if Taylor had so much to say and yet it was edited out to keep things streamlined or provide the opportunity for connected works at a later date. (Let it be known that I would not be opposed to reading such works should they develop. Taylor's writing is really great.)

Issue #2:

Spoiler

Though I think it was a good attempt to address a very modern situation, the focus on Alex's gender queer nature is both too much and too little. Again, it's as if the subject wants to be told and kept secret at the same time. This is frustrating and almost works against the book by becoming more of a distraction than a way to understand Alex.

A full review of this novel will be available in November 2017 on my blog: http://erraticprojectjunkie.blogspot.com

**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher as part of the Blogging for Books program. All opinions are my own.

I started this book knowing very little about its premise. This was a good choice and works well to make the story even better. I highly suggest reading this one WITHOUT reading the synopsis first.

I very much liked the way the book jumped right on in. There is little backstory and reader arrives on the scene in the middle of the action. It's an interesting approach, but it works oh so well.

Mitchell's writing and character development are fantastic. He does great using multiple narrators throughout the story, though I definitely enjoyed some narrators more than others. The choice of the last narrator fell a little flat for me. Though I understand why Mitchell chose to tell this piece in this particular perspective, for me it made the story fizzle some.

And, as usual for me, the sticky spot was the ending. I've been mulling it over for a few days to decide whether I like it or not. In the end, I found it a bit disappointing. I can't explain why without totally destroying the book, but I just wanted more...pizzazz.