This one is silly and fun!

There were so many things about this book that made me angry enough to spit nails! I can barely believe that my beloved Charlotte Bronte would write such stupid things.

The main character, William, analyzes the personality of everyone he comes into contact with, and he rips these people to shreds! Criticizing and never seeing anything good in anyone around him. Even if they have one good quality, he has to mention again and again how ugly they are or physically weak. What a nice guy!

He's also really manipulative! He holds back a student's paper, just to see their disappointed reaction when their paper isn't graded, and they think they have failed his class. What a jerk! He says that he wants a chance to study their personality, and see how they will react, but people are not there to be studied and analyzed! People are there to be loved and cared for, to be shown compassion and understanding. He self-righteously claims to be a sensitive and kindly individual, and then he does horrid things like this!

He lords it over all the women characters, saying that whatever might be good in their personalities, is because his presence has brought it out. Apparently the sunshine of his presence makes them blossom into lovely ladies with good values and better minds. Oh, but if he should remove his glorious presence, they must all be forlorn and depraved without him there! Wha?!?! This guy! He's so disgustingly condescending.

At least twice the author has ridiculed "old maids", saying how they try to fill up their empty lives, but fail and die "weary and disappointed, despised and of no account, like all single women." OMG!!! What the heck is this?!?!?!? ARGH!!!! So angry with this crap.

There is none of the spiritual liberty that I loved in Jane Eyre. There is no independent thought, no strong women, no character development or change. William stays just exactly the same through the entire book, a self-centered chauvinist self-righteous jerk-face pig of a man. And I'm supposed to be glad that he gets a happy ending?!? At least in Jane Eyre, when Mr. Rochester is a jerk, I know that he has character development, and changes his ways at the end.

The plot starts and stops in all the wrong places. In the beginning, William gets a job with his cold and malicious older brother, and then William moves on to other things, and the plot moves forward, but the brother is never revisited. He doesn't come into the story at all after that. So what was the point of him being in the plot at all? The brother's entire story was utterly unnecessary. The plot could have started AFTER the brother with nothing lost.

Then the plot goes on and on after it should have ended, detailing how this happy ending is playing out; how their housing arrangements are set up, and how the school is growing, and what the children are doing and saying, and how this one kid learns to read. OMG, the ending of this story was 40 pages ago, but the author didn't know it. Yep. The plot starts and stops in all the wrong places.

I know it was published posthumously, and I'm sure Charlotte Bronte would have edited and corrected many of these problems, but oh man! This is so very problematic on so many levels.

love love loved it. It seemed to end without really resolving all the loose ends. Does Carmen get back together with Winthrop now that she feels like herself again? Do Lena and Kostos get together after college? Do they write each other until then? Does Bee's brother ever emerge into some semblance of a life? Too many unanswered questions.

And can I just say... don't we all hate Effie? Yes, we do.

Oooh, so fun! A book about a concert pianist and a singing mouse- what more could you ask for?! Wonderful story about musicianship and the relationship between duet performers.
Love love love it!

Not her best, but quite fun.

love it, of course.

Three ordinary schoolgirls are magically whisked away from their class fieldtrip to the troubled land of Cephiro, where they acquire elemental powers. The benevolent ruler of Cephiro has been kidnapped by the evil Zagato, and the girls must brave many trials in order to become the legendary Magic Knights and save the land. With the help of a mysterious guru sent to guide them, they battle monsters, discover their powers, and meet friends and enemies along the way. But through it all, their kindness, loyalty, and courage supports them, and they learn to believe in themselves and each other.

This story is fairly predictable and commonplace - magic powers, legendary destiny, the ancient mage guide, ordinary people learning to battle monsters, etc... Yeah yeah, heard it all before.
But the girls are so CUTE!!! They're really lovely and adorable, and I liked their hilarious dialogue. They are not complex characters, and I wish they had a little more depth to them, but they are definitely sweet!

I'm not a huge fan of the art style. In most of the action panels, I can barely tell what is happening, because there is usually monster blood spewing out, or magical energy rays blinding everyone or something, and the panel is just so busy. Since it's in black and white, it's hard to tell what is what. But the rest of the art is clear, and I like the classic manga style.

The writing is good, but the story is nothing super special. The art is good, but not amazingly great. So overall, I enjoyed reading this! I will continue to read the rest of the series. Sometimes, I really like to have a fluff read that is enjoyable, but not earth-shattering. Definitely worth the read!

In this 2nd volume, the girls are on a quest to acquire weapons so that they can fight against the evil Zagato, and rescue the true ruler of Cephiro, restoring the troubled land to peace and harmony.

I was glad to see that all of the girls go through a little character development in this volume, adding a little more depth to their personalities. But they still aren't exactly complex characters, and the story remains fairly simple as well.
Sometimes I like that though! I like having a fluff read that isn't amazingly life-changing, but is just enjoyable and fun. Definitely worth it to continue reading the series!

In this volume, the three girls are well on their way to becoming Legendary Magic Knights, but in order to reach their full power, they must awaken the three mysterious Mashin to aid them in their fight against evil Zagato. The girls must each prove themselves to be worthy of the Mashin, and show that their hearts are strong.

I wasn't really sure what happened at the end of this volume. The action panels are so busy and confusing, and then it ended so quickly. Well, it was certainly a surprising twist at the end that made up for how predictable the rest of the plot was.

I really loved the artwork of the Mashin, beautifully elegant and regal figures! And I loved how the girls' armor evolves and changes with their character development. But the girls are still very one-sided characters, and I wish they had more depth. The villain is a very boring character; no depth, no development, almost no dialogue. It makes the big battle at the end sort of a let-down.

But I'm glad that I read it! There were many parts of the story that I enjoyed!