Take a photo of a barcode or cover
kailey_luminouslibro's Reviews (3.79k)
I really wanted to like this book, but it is just not my cup of tea. I liked the imaginative story idea of magical clocks and the steampunk setting, but the writing is not as great as it could be. I think if this book had a professional editor, some of the awkward sentence construction could be easily corrected.
I feel like other readers might really enjoy this book, but somehow it just wasn't for me.
The POV keeps changing, and that is one of my pet peeves. Also I didn't like the ending, but some people might enjoy the way it ended. It is certainly dramatic!
The characters are sometimes unlikeable, but that is part of their charm.
I kept reading because I really do like the main idea, and I wanted to find out more about those fascinating clocks! With a little revision and a good editor, this could be a great book.
Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher or author for review. The opinions stated here are my own, and are not influenced by the publisher or anyone else.
I feel like other readers might really enjoy this book, but somehow it just wasn't for me.
The POV keeps changing, and that is one of my pet peeves. Also I didn't like the ending, but some people might enjoy the way it ended. It is certainly dramatic!
The characters are sometimes unlikeable, but that is part of their charm.
I kept reading because I really do like the main idea, and I wanted to find out more about those fascinating clocks! With a little revision and a good editor, this could be a great book.
Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher or author for review. The opinions stated here are my own, and are not influenced by the publisher or anyone else.
I liked this book fairly well. The characters are well-rounded, memorable, and interesting, and since I am a character-driven reader that is important to me. Each character has their own voice in the story. There's also a depth of background to each character that is like a wonderful discovery, finding out about their past as the story progresses!
The plot was pretty predictable, but I liked each scene and bit of dialogue. There's an importance attached to every little conversation, and the tension between characters keeps the plot from being too slow. I also liked the depth of the plot, there are plenty of layers of interaction between people and their various relations with one another, like an intricate social web.
I fell in love with particular little scenes- Cecily teaching younger girls to embroider, a special necklace playing a part in bringing two people closer, Cecily reading to Mrs. Trent, Nathaniel's affectionate but annoyed dialogue with his sisters, etc...
All beautifully written! So many parts of this book engaged my attention and my heart.
I especially liked Mrs. Trent's unique voice; she is a complex woman with lots of misunderstanding surrounding her. The author does a perfect job of balancing what other characters SAY about Mrs. Trent, and what we actually experience of her. There's also a perfect balance between the good and evil of her character. She's a flawed but good woman, who makes mistakes but regrets them, basically kind but eaten up with bitterness. Delightfully complex! I loved getting to know her better just as Cecily did.
I liked the romance between Cecily and Nathaniel. Their characters are well-suited to each other, and I loved seeing them fall in love slowly. A bit predictable, of course, but still sweet.
The writing style is quite good, with concise descriptions and vibrant dialogue. The author does a wonderful job of placing great importance on small actions and facial expressions, giving us an inside look at the character's state of mind with just the description of a gesture or a smile.
But at times the writing does feel a bit condescending, like the reader is being led around by the hand because we are too stupid to figure things out.
Sometimes things that are obvious are stated too many times; not enough to make me hate it, but it did get a little annoying. (Yes, we know she has a secret, and he guesses that she has a secret, even though he also has a secret, which is very secretive. You don't have to tell me 5 times that he suspects she is hiding a secret! I got pretty sick of the word "secret".)
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book! In fact, I spent hours at a time immersed in it. The story really captured my attention!
Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher or author for review. The opinions stated here are my own, and are not influenced by the publisher or anyone else.
The plot was pretty predictable, but I liked each scene and bit of dialogue. There's an importance attached to every little conversation, and the tension between characters keeps the plot from being too slow. I also liked the depth of the plot, there are plenty of layers of interaction between people and their various relations with one another, like an intricate social web.
I fell in love with particular little scenes- Cecily teaching younger girls to embroider, a special necklace playing a part in bringing two people closer, Cecily reading to Mrs. Trent, Nathaniel's affectionate but annoyed dialogue with his sisters, etc...
All beautifully written! So many parts of this book engaged my attention and my heart.
I especially liked Mrs. Trent's unique voice; she is a complex woman with lots of misunderstanding surrounding her. The author does a perfect job of balancing what other characters SAY about Mrs. Trent, and what we actually experience of her. There's also a perfect balance between the good and evil of her character. She's a flawed but good woman, who makes mistakes but regrets them, basically kind but eaten up with bitterness. Delightfully complex! I loved getting to know her better just as Cecily did.
I liked the romance between Cecily and Nathaniel. Their characters are well-suited to each other, and I loved seeing them fall in love slowly. A bit predictable, of course, but still sweet.
The writing style is quite good, with concise descriptions and vibrant dialogue. The author does a wonderful job of placing great importance on small actions and facial expressions, giving us an inside look at the character's state of mind with just the description of a gesture or a smile.
But at times the writing does feel a bit condescending, like the reader is being led around by the hand because we are too stupid to figure things out.
Sometimes things that are obvious are stated too many times; not enough to make me hate it, but it did get a little annoying. (Yes, we know she has a secret, and he guesses that she has a secret, even though he also has a secret, which is very secretive. You don't have to tell me 5 times that he suspects she is hiding a secret! I got pretty sick of the word "secret".)
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book! In fact, I spent hours at a time immersed in it. The story really captured my attention!
Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher or author for review. The opinions stated here are my own, and are not influenced by the publisher or anyone else.
You can order a FREE copy of this book at http://www.gfa.org/book/
I cried through the entire book, and not always sad tears; there were some happy tears in there too. What an amazing story of so many individuals rescued and helped by the GFA organization! Truly heart-wrenching and inspirational to see the work that God is doing in Asia! I immediately went to their website and signed up to sponsor a child in India.
I especially loved the quotes from famous missionaries and apologists at the beginning of each chapter. Excellently written and well-organized book that reads easily and quickly!
Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher or author for review. The opinions stated here are my own, and are not influenced by the publisher or anyone else.
I cried through the entire book, and not always sad tears; there were some happy tears in there too. What an amazing story of so many individuals rescued and helped by the GFA organization! Truly heart-wrenching and inspirational to see the work that God is doing in Asia! I immediately went to their website and signed up to sponsor a child in India.
I especially loved the quotes from famous missionaries and apologists at the beginning of each chapter. Excellently written and well-organized book that reads easily and quickly!
Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher or author for review. The opinions stated here are my own, and are not influenced by the publisher or anyone else.
Sarah, a highschool student, is hit by a car on her way to poetry class. In her pocket is a poem to Mr. Haddings, her poetry teacher, whom she is crushing on. When Mr. Haddings accidentally hits his student while driving to work, he has to decide if he will acknowledge his growing attraction to her or continue to act professionally as he has been doing all year.
What first drew me to this book is the lovely cover, so beautiful and hinting about the romantic tragedy within.
This book was okay, not amazing though. It's told from two different perspectives, those of Sarah and Mr. Haddings, which right away gave me a headache, because it takes a very special author with a very good story to pull off dual POVs. It's badly done really; shifting POVs multiple times within one conversation is a no-no in my book.
The random flashbacks don't help either.
The pacing is far too slow, and the plot is one-dimesional. The story takes place over three days, and goes into great detail about the hospitalization of Sarah after the accident. I mean, really exceptional detail- the feeling like you're peeing during CAT scans, the surgery, the waiting room, the catheter, the stitches oozing, the bedpan awkwardness, the vomiting. So many different people threw up in this book that I lost count! Ew. If you like E.R. and Grey's Anatomy, you might like this book!
I did not like that Haddings character was used to basically eavesdrop on Sarah's family. If you needed to write about Sarah's family, then why not use a POV from the family? It made me dislike Haddings character in the beginning.
The characters are deep and complicated, all with different reactions to a crisis. Very realistic and interesting to see how they develop. As they interact and react to the situation, we learn more about them. (For instance, at first I thought Sarah's father must be lazy and unreliable, based on the mother's responses to him; but later on I realized that that is not his character at all. It's the mother who is too overbearing and critical.)
I got very confused about the level of spirituality in Sarah's family. They mention God and prayer, but don't seem to really rely on God during the crisis. They get angry, are hateful, and out of control, and don't seem to care that their actions and attitudes are sinful. They don't even attempt to comfort or evangelize a frightened young man who needs their forgiveness. So are they Christians? or what? Is this a Christian book, or just a regular book with five references to God thrown in by the editor?
Personally, I found myself bored and impatient with the plot, but interested and invested in the characters themselves. It's a great character study, but the story itself needs work.
Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher or author for review. The opinions stated here are my own, and are not influenced by the publisher or anyone else.
What first drew me to this book is the lovely cover, so beautiful and hinting about the romantic tragedy within.
This book was okay, not amazing though. It's told from two different perspectives, those of Sarah and Mr. Haddings, which right away gave me a headache, because it takes a very special author with a very good story to pull off dual POVs. It's badly done really; shifting POVs multiple times within one conversation is a no-no in my book.
The random flashbacks don't help either.
The pacing is far too slow, and the plot is one-dimesional. The story takes place over three days, and goes into great detail about the hospitalization of Sarah after the accident. I mean, really exceptional detail- the feeling like you're peeing during CAT scans, the surgery, the waiting room, the catheter, the stitches oozing, the bedpan awkwardness, the vomiting. So many different people threw up in this book that I lost count! Ew. If you like E.R. and Grey's Anatomy, you might like this book!
I did not like that Haddings character was used to basically eavesdrop on Sarah's family. If you needed to write about Sarah's family, then why not use a POV from the family? It made me dislike Haddings character in the beginning.
The characters are deep and complicated, all with different reactions to a crisis. Very realistic and interesting to see how they develop. As they interact and react to the situation, we learn more about them. (For instance, at first I thought Sarah's father must be lazy and unreliable, based on the mother's responses to him; but later on I realized that that is not his character at all. It's the mother who is too overbearing and critical.)
I got very confused about the level of spirituality in Sarah's family. They mention God and prayer, but don't seem to really rely on God during the crisis. They get angry, are hateful, and out of control, and don't seem to care that their actions and attitudes are sinful. They don't even attempt to comfort or evangelize a frightened young man who needs their forgiveness. So are they Christians? or what? Is this a Christian book, or just a regular book with five references to God thrown in by the editor?
Personally, I found myself bored and impatient with the plot, but interested and invested in the characters themselves. It's a great character study, but the story itself needs work.
Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher or author for review. The opinions stated here are my own, and are not influenced by the publisher or anyone else.
In order to enjoy this story, I had to force myself to set aside the terribly stupid theology of this book, and pretend that it is a totally separate world setting. Once I did that, I liked it!
I thought the characters were funny and a little gritty. The plot is a bit silly and a bit serious. The writing is snappy and the dialogue full of wit. All the things I've come to love about Colfer's writing in all his books!
This one isn't my fave of his, but I liked it pretty well.
I thought the characters were funny and a little gritty. The plot is a bit silly and a bit serious. The writing is snappy and the dialogue full of wit. All the things I've come to love about Colfer's writing in all his books!
This one isn't my fave of his, but I liked it pretty well.
I'm not quite sure what words to use to describe this book. The writing is fantastically brilliant, just genius. So many of the little observations were ones that made me think "Aha! Yes, I have always felt the same way."
The story itself is just entrancing in its beautifully-told ugliness and feral strangeness. I felt almost hypnotized reading it, disgusted at some parts but weirdly craving more, and I usually like my stories to be neat and clean. Maybe I loved it because it is a neat and clean narrator telling a wild ugly story.
The big reveal at the end had me reeling, and I immediately had to run over the entire story again in my mind, putting everything and everyone back into place with this new information. Masterfully done!
The story itself is just entrancing in its beautifully-told ugliness and feral strangeness. I felt almost hypnotized reading it, disgusted at some parts but weirdly craving more, and I usually like my stories to be neat and clean. Maybe I loved it because it is a neat and clean narrator telling a wild ugly story.
The big reveal at the end had me reeling, and I immediately had to run over the entire story again in my mind, putting everything and everyone back into place with this new information. Masterfully done!