thebacklistbook's Reviews (304)

Wow. Very strong for a first novel. At first I was surprised that Jane took a back seat in this book. It made it so much higher value when she starred at the end though. Still waiting to discover how many other show characters are from the books.

Being a first book there were certainly some growing pains present. The pacing and plotting felt off. The animosity between Claudel and Brennan felt super forced. That being said, it held my attention throughout. the action largely exist in the last thirty or so pages. Tempe was seriously frustrating in this one. Going off all half-cocked, rushing headlong into dangerous situations with zero planning. 

hopefully there will actually be some development in the next one

I found Ms Didion's writing style easy to engage with. Though I did not agree with her on most things discussed in this essay collection. Except the Martha Stewart chapter.

Lauren lets us get a glimpse of what life is like throughout an acting career. She illustrates just how much both busting your ass and luck are involved. Or as she calls it Kismet.

She takes us through her early days mispronouncing song lyrics. Her midyears on Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, and the odd movie or show in between. And finally through returning to Gilmore once more. This memoir is short, sweet, and to the point. If you have her jacket, please return it.

I totally agree that the last words are way more cliffhanger than ending. 

I have got to stop reading fiction via audiobook. Very tough to retain details. Here goes nothing. Pizza parlor, bones, murder. Once again Tempe goes off less than half cocked into a dangerous situation. This time she drags a friend into it too. For a person with advanced degrees she sure acts densely.

 Nice to see Mia doing something at least partially to help others. She is usually so self obsessed, self conscious, insecure, and selfish. I have to actively remind myself she is 14. Even so, it was obvious the author couldn't get approval to use brand names other than Dairy Queen. Everything else was off-brand, but not so far off you couldn't tell what she meant by it. 

In this installment Mia is extremely insecure about her new relationship with Michael. She spends christmas break in Genovia. The whole time she angsts over what to get Michael for his birthday, and what to do when he inevitably dumps her. And how to stop grandmere from interfering.

The amount of times Mia thinks she will get dumped in this book are astronomical. They are not even valid reasons someone would dump someone. Usually. On some level she does recognize how unreasonable her attitude is. Then again she is dating someone approximately 3-4 years older than her, which makes for a huge difference at this age. 

Wow! Was this ever an angst fest. Edward "oblivious" Cullen not even knowing what jealousy feels like. This book held my attention quite well and kept me entertained until a certain post-baseball sequence ran on far too long.

I found myself comparing the dialogue and scenes to what I remembered from the first book. I found myself constantly calculating the plausibility of certain aspects coexisting with the original narrative. In most cases it works....there are some however where it glaringly does not. Some of the dialogue sequences are utterly different. This jerked me out of the story every time I caught it. 

Ultimately to enjoy the read I had to treat it like it was a new thing entirely. An alternate version of the story. One thing about this book that is overwhelmingly important: it trounces any notion of Bella and Edward as a healthy couple by any stretch.

Tempe digs into some old wounds in this one. She also learns what happened to an old friend.