love_booksforlife's Reviews (511)

There are more things I disliked about this book than liked, unfortunately. What I liked: The premise was unique and interesting. Trolls wasn't something that many people have covered, especially not in this way. The different abilities were cool, although not very unique. The character that I really liked was Tove. His social awkwardness was interesting as it was related to his various abilities. I wanted him to be developed more because he was so interesting.
What I didn't like: everything else, lol. I really disliked Wendy. She was angry and kind of bitchy most of the time. And then she just falls in love with Finn for no apparent reason. Finn is mean as well as is Elora. The thing that really bothered me was the novel told you NOTHING! This poor girl is pulled into this life and no one will tell her anything, but then expect her to know things. The pacing of the novel was very off as well. Things happened too fast without much character development. This is probably why I didn't like any of the characters, because I didn't know them well enough. There was a lot of mystery but no investigating. If I had been put into Wendy's situation I would have done much more investigating than she did. No one was telling her anything. Her natural instinct should have been to find it out for herself. Lastly, I didn't like how things were explained to me as a reader. I understood some things from the dialogue and didn't need Wendy's narrative to explain it to me.
All in all, I'm not sure I will be reading the other books in the series. If they are like this one, I would be more of a chore than enjoyable.

This was an amazing book. Not only were the characters just so real but the writing itself was a dream to read. The wording was so clever that I envied many of the sentences, especially those dealing the Death, the narrator. Be prepared to become emotionally attached to characters and then have them ripped away. By far, one of my favorite WWII novels. The only criticism would be that it is a bit long and I wanted it to end a hundred or so pages before it actually did.

This book was a mishmash for me. I liked the storyline of seeing an old flame (interesting that it was an affair) again after so many years and being in a good pace in her life. I also like the storyline of choosing between the age appropriate guy and the young guy. I did not like them together. This novel was bogged down with too much going on and not enough development to make me care about any of the characters. They were all just cardboard cut outs with stereotypes like crazy. I also pretty much hate Dana. She was supposed to be around 42 but acted as if she was in her 20s. And it wasn't just a single girl the city thing. She acted and talked like a cliche. The back and forth between the phone calls and flashbacks worked for like a chapter but then got very annoying. Not my favorite novel or even chick lit.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I loved the concept. I wanted to know, just like most of the people in the book, if Watney was going to survive and get rescued. I also liked the structure of the book with the different modes of narration and settings. Now onto what I didn't like. Most of Watney's logs sounded way more like scientific journals than an actual fiction novel. I know that must be done to fully explain what was happening but I am more of a fan of lighter sic-fi where I don't need to really understand the science behind everything. I have a feeling that I will like the movie, however, since so much can be shown visually and make sense. I also wasn't so much of a fan of the characters. They all seemed so similar to each other and were more like cardboard people filled with stereotypes than characters I wanted to read about. And don't get me started on Watney's sense of humor. It was pretty bad. All in all, I liked the concept and but the actual execution of it I wasn't a fan of.

I loved the way these woman's stories are presented. They each have unique and honest stories that drew me in. I would have put it as five stars but I couldn't help but draw comparisons between the book and the movie. While I am usually a fan of the book over the movie, I liked the way the movie had an ongoing storyline with Finn that helps connect the circle's stories. All in all, it was a good quick read that I would recommend to anyone.

I really wanted to love this book but it ended up just being okay for me. I liked the concept, a young trained assassin being tapped to enter a "champion" contest. At first, I liked Celaena. She was hard on the surface and interesting. I also liked Dorian and Chaol. By the end of the novel, I ONLY liked Chaol. Celaena felt so young to me. She was naive and had some comments that I felt were more align with a young teenage, like 15/16, then an 18 year old who had been through hell. Dorian also, who was supposed to be pretty world, came across as younger than 19. The end result with the romance between the characters was resolved very oddly. I wanted more....something. Aside from the characters, the plot dragged on a little too much. Murders and tests were just thrown in there without any explanation. Some went into detail but others did not. I did hear that the subsequent books in the series so I have hope to see some more development on the characters.

I really liked this book. I am a huge Walking Dead fan and this felt like a good combination of the show and the comic. The governor of the book is hands down from the comics and not the show. I liked the slow burn of some of the scenes, which reminds me of the show. Something doesn't happen every second in the zombie apocalypse. It was interesting to watch the characters fall into being different people and coming to terms with who they are and what the world is like now. All in all, it was a great, albeit disturbing book.

While this book was a REALLY quick read for me it was not what I was looking for. I wanted more Once Upon a Time but this was more Into the Woods. I guess I am just not a straight fairy tale person.

The thing I like most about this book is the narrative voice. It is so comfortable and has a natural humor to it. It almost sounds as if Sunny is a friend telling you this crazy vampire story. The actual narrative runs a little fast but it is a short and quick read, so it works for the most part. And although there is some things that are way too silly, it is a worth while read.

I very much enjoyed this novel. It is a grad sweeping epic of New York told through several different families down generations. This IS a historical novel first and foremost. Meaning it is less about the people and more about the city itself. The characters are just a mode to tell New York's history in a more entertaining way than a history textbook. That being said, there was always at least one character in each generation that I adored. The best parts of the novel takes place during the Revolutionary War. John and James Masters, father and son with different political views, are extraordinary characters that are driven by their morals along with their view of high class manners.
While I really liked this novel the length killed me. Somewhere in the 600s I wanted to be not reading it, not because I didn't enjoy it but because 800 pages is a long time to be in one novel world.
All in all, a really enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone who is interested in New York and its history.