Stephen King just really isn't for me. I gave him three chances. Misery was really good and scary, and as a first King it was great. But then The Stand nearly put me off reading entirely because it was so fucking disgusting. And then this one is mind numbingly boring.

This is just a long-winded, sexist retelling of Dracula.

I really liked everything about this book except for the 9 year old sister. She was so awful, and everyone was so obsessed with letting her help, despite the fact that every bad thing except the inciting incident of Lugh's kidnapping was her fault . . . so despite really enjoying this audiobook, I can't continue with the series.

The first and possibly only James Patterson I've ever read, I have owned this book since it came out when I was fourteen or fifteen, so a lot of this four stars is probably nostalgia. I really did enjoy re-reading this and reuniting with the characters. It's fun and fast paced.

However, I did spend a half hour this morning reading full plot summaries of the rest of the series so I don't have to re-read all of them, so.

I was hooked in the beginning; I assumed (and well played on Freeman's part) that Violet was the dead body in the first scene, so the twist that it was Sam's body really got me. That was the only good thing about this book.

Problem one: It is casually racist. I thought it was a rude stereotype that Australians are racist, but this author, at least, is. The mentions of "Chinese lamps" and "gypsy cards" and "real gypsy costume" were so unnecessary.

Problem two: The obsession with virginity. Our modern protagonist is a 30 year old virgin, our historical protagonist is a 20 year old virgin and our historical supporting actress is a 26 year old virgin, and all of them are obsessed with their virginity and finding the right man and both wanting him to be skilled but also wanting him to not have been with anyone else. It's awful.

Problem three: It's three times as long as it needs to be. Every scene is dragged out because Freeman likes the sound of her own keyboard keys or something.

Problem four: Everything ends with a marriage and a baby, because apparently that's the only thing women are allowed to want in life.

This book is worth reading for the historical aspect alone. I had no idea that in the not too distant past, hijackings were so prevalent in American air space that comedians regularly made routines about it. This was absolutely wild shit.

Unfortunately, Koerner is not a good storyteller. He bobs and weaves, grabbing at the probably hundreds of notecards he meticulously researched and wedging them into this book without turning them into an interesting narrative.

This was a good first draft.

I made it through seven hours of audio (WHICH IS ONLY 48% AND THIS BOOK IS MUCH TOO LONG) before the two love interests finally meet, and it's not even a good meetcute. It's no longer worth boring myself with this.

This was a cute book, but it was definitely for early teens with little crossover appeal. I love Carriger, but it didn't keep my interest enough to continue on with the series.

Literally made it 6% and I'm pretty sure this book gave me an anxiety disorder. Eleanor is so incomprehensibly stupid that I cannot stomach any more of this.