I bought this book when this type of historical fiction was super popular, but ended up reading it 15ish years later. Surprised how much I liked it. Is it long? Yes. Is it full of history and probably unnecessary facts? Yes. Are characters a little one dimensional? Also yes. But has that stopped my from enjoying myself along the way? Absolutely not! Knowing nothing about Borgias, story wasn't what I expected. Few scenes were pretty shocking and nauseating. Still, had a blast!

It was a fine old school murder mystery. Reminded me a little bit of Sherlock and old detective stories. I listened to it while cooking and it was a quick listen, not really exciting, but totally ok if you go into it with low expectations.

I walk into this with low expectations and I was pretty right. The premise was not bad and plot twist in the end was executed well, I liked the ending in general. But the middle was unnecessarily dragged, most od the scenes in the police station led to nowhere. Boring dialogue. The narrator for FMC read her lines too fast, I guess to show how frantic she was, but it ended up being annoying. It was ok story to listen while doing chores, nothing to write home about.

It was an ok romance, but I had to fight to get through it. Characters aren't believable, their motivation makes no sense, FMC is so insecure that it hurts, many times plain stupid. Glad she got her happy ending, but boy, not sure she deserved it. Writing is lacking, often repeating same sentences.The narrator had a little too mature voice for this character. 

Simple, naive and superficial, of course it's not a magic wand how it presents itself, but it focuses on one important tool for happier life and that's nice. Some people have ti naturally, some have to go through this process to find it in themselves and change perspective a little bit. I liked how it's focused on practices, I went through them with a group of people and that made all the difference.

What a great experience! Reminded me how much I liked (Russian) realism in high school and now I want to read more! It definitely took some focus and strategic planning, but it was was worth it, especially the ending.

While this may not be King's top quality work, it was so fun to witness his development as a writer and enjoy little tidbits of his creativity. I loved to sneak these short stories between my other longer reads and had a blast.

Even though I may not give 5 stars to the story itself, it's such a memory lane for me personally and start of an epic journey for King as a writer. I love the background story and how close it was that we never get to read it. Combination of Carrie's POV with objective newspaper articles, interviews, books etc was great. The ending was eerie - what if...

I had a very low expectations starting this book, but ended up having a nice time. It's a little outdated, had to check when it was published because I don't think women are still this obssesed with their weight and catching a male partner. It gives strong '90-'00s vibes. I liked how we heard her story in retrospective while she's panicking on her wedding day. The ending was predictable, but desired. However, I feel like the narrator was poor casting choice, I had to keep reminding myself MC was young 20 something, not 45+ divorcee. Her performance was fine, but too serious and voice just didn't match. All in all, it was relaxing and nice romance.

A chaotic blend of genres with moments of brilliance.

This book certainly aimed high, but in
the process, it tried to be too many things at once, ultimately resulting in a fragmented and messy narrative. At its core, there’s a grand sci-fi plot, but it’s somewhat clumsily explained. Alongside it, there’s a romance that seemingly materializes out of nowhere, sprinkled with moments of smut. Then, a direct critique of imperialism, racism, and other social issues is inserted—an interesting but awkward fit within the humor and scattered comedic dialogue.

As the story progresses, it unexpectedly shifts into a spy thriller, only to conclude in a way that feels sudden. The most interesting characters received the least attention, while the author inserts a version of themselves as the protagonist—who, unfortunately, turns out to be the least engaging character in the entire book.

That being said, the beginning held promise, and the final reveal was genuinely surprising. However, the middle section felt completely unstructured. Additionally, the inclusion of Graham’s past POV, seemingly just to clarify his character for a confused friend of the author, felt unnecessary and even laughable.

One of the book’s strengths is its unique and sophisticated writing style. It’s rare to see sci-fi written in a manner resembling high literature, which was a refreshing experience and even helped expand my vocabulary. However, after a while, the sheer number of metaphors and adverbs became overwhelming, slowing down the story and making it more confusing.

The author had a fun idea, but by attempting to merge too many styles and genres, it became evident that this is a debut work and it didn't deliver. Despite its flaws, I would love to see a translation into my native language—perhaps a second read with added clarity would allow me to appreciate it more.