sometimes_samantha_reads's Reviews (283)

It was cute. Some funny moments. I wasn't the biggest fan of the main character which isn't great. I mostly liked the text and email chains. Made the book go faster. I felt like the ending dragged a little bit, but overall was still an enjoyable book.

Re-read this book as a read aloud to my 5th grade class. My students really enjoyed it and many have seen the movie and had a fun time comparing and contrasting. We'll be watching the movie again anyway!

My one qualm, the beginning of the book has a lot of flash back and flash forward moments which can make it easy for a listener to loose track of information. I had to do a lot of clarifying for my kids in those parts and I feared I had lost their attention. But we got it back and had a great time! 

I'm pleased that this book answered all of my questions as I read. I'm satisfied with the ending and I'm eager to read the next book in the duology!

I'm not normally a fan of love triangles, but this one was SO good. The romance and action kept me on the edge of my seat!

I was so intrigued by this book but after about 200 pages, I can't muster any more energy on another 800+ pages of it. 

Reason 1: the book is written to have widely varying time frames in each of the chapters. I understand the author was trying to maintain historically accurate language for his characters but the use of racial slurs for Black and non-white characters was a major ick.

Reason 2: almost EVERY sentence was an outrageously long internal monologue of setting description and it was just fatiguing to try and follow. Some sentences would go on without end for 4 or 5 lines! And the book already had small margins and font. I even bought the audiobook as a companion to try and alleviate this fatigue and it wasn't better listening to it. Trying to follow along was so difficult both visually and audibly. Oftentimes the sentences would become tangents or develop into streams of coniousness. I'm sure the 1k page book could be cut to 600 pgs if the sentences would just FOCUS.

I think that the concept that each chapter is a new character in a new time period but all in the same location and all interconnected (unknowingly) with one another is really neat! But often as the reader, you're dropped into the middle of the action and it can feel like whiplash with either not enough background or way too much detail and not enough plot. I think it could've done much better.

It's been a long time that I had a book that had me talking out loud, kicking my feet, pacing around - in all the best ways. I need book two ASAP! It'll be a long wait til October!

It was cute. I wish the feud was explained earlier (it literally wasn't once explained until after 300 pages...). 

Bao and Linh are cute, but I would have much rather read about Cam, Huyen, and Di Vang.

This book was a beast. It took a long time to finish but it was worth it! The fight scenes were wel-written, judt a bit overdone bu tue end I think. Otherwise, this is the best sci-fi I've read in years and I'm happy to know that a second book is in the works. 

Cute! I liked how the stories were all interconnected. The first one by Maureen Johnson was my favorite. The characterization of the girl characters was dated since it was published in 2008, which was a bit of an annoyance to me personally but overall I liked it!

This out of the trilogy was the best, but it still wasn't my cup of tea. The main character just never had many redeeming qualities. All characters were either flat and lacking personality or they were too saccharine or too cartoonishly motivated toward the crime. The romance was forced and the main characters relationship with her dog was odd. Not because people can't love their dogs but because her dog was really her only friend?  I like the concept of cozy mysteries overall but this trilogy was just not the series for me.