This book was okay. If it weren't for my reading challenge, I would have abandoned it at two or three different places.

Cons:
- several words repeated (such as covertly) that distract from the otherwise decent writing
- Deus Ex Machina ending
- relatively flat characters, even important ones
- only one spot in the book with any real tension
- lack of descriptions where they are needed
- pacing is far too slow
- sudden mythological creatures in an otherwise normal world

Pros:
- I can see how the author grew by the time she wrote Glittering Court
- The premise is interesting
- descriptions of sound and hearing

It was a decent book. I don't have anything terribly negative to say, but nothing overwhelmingly positive either.

Like all books, I have to think of this from the lens of a teacher.

This book IS NOT how we teach our kids about their self-worth and what sacramental love looks like. I'm terrified that I heard students praising how it helped them and that I talked with them without understanding what's really in this book.

This book takes a hard (and necessary) look at what makes relationships toxic. But in doing so, it meshes abuse in with love and forgets to name which is which in a way that I feel the target age (below 21, as the author was) will understand. Perhaps if the book was divided differently, I would feel differently. I really wish the last section was all there was, or that it was published by itself. I'd put that last section on healing, on realizing that we are enough without someone else, in my library. But everything before the last section is a jumble. The speaker confuses a desire to not be lonely with love, confuses fighting and make-up sex as a true way to love.

We need to have a conversation with our children. If they've read this book, then it could be a start. I've seen students carrying it around and praising this book because it's FAMILIAR to them, if not in the abuse then in the pain of broken relationships.

We need to teach our children, girls and boys, that we don't fight and argue and yell and have make-up sex because we love. We need to teach them what love really looks like and that love and sex are not the same thing and should never be confused as the same thing, which is simply a message that I think this book misses for the most part.

I'm amazed at what I learned from this book. If you've ever wondered what makes the successful into successful people, this book is for you. Covering topics from culture, to race, to privilege, to education, to sheer effort, Outliers: The Story of Success can help you get ahead.

Now, to go put 10,000 hours into learning and practicing something...

I don't know if I would call this a "humor" book.

Sure, parts of it were funny. All of it was crass. And all of it was full of toilet images and profanity.

But some of the subject matter was deep and difficult to parse through. I'm not knocking that. I actually went into this book with no idea what it was about or what it was "supposed to be". It was an eye-opener about several things. I enjoyed the author and her style. Sometimes I related to her easily. At other times I had no idea if we are the same species.

Helen Keller, the bitch of a cat, was definitely the star in this piece and its saving grace.

I'm not against reading something else by Samantha Irby, but I'll definitely read the blurb first next time and come into the book knowing it probably won't be all that funny, but it'll be interesting, and really, I prefer interesting anyway.

This was enjoyable. I'm not a big mystery or who-done-it fan, so for me to give this book 4 stars is a big deal. The audiobook was phenomenal. I alternated between the print and audio versions and found myself stopping to go to audio for all of Bach's chapters. I also enjoyed Dennis Quaid as a narrator and found myself visualizing him as the president.
I hear bits of Clinton's voice in this, and I think that lends a credibility to the book that Patterson could not have achieved alone. I know President Clinton enjoyed breakfast with his family in their private quarters and would just make food for themselves when they needed a break to just be a regular family. Little details like that made the characters relatable.
The book lost some of its pacing between about 60% to 80%. However, it picked back up again. The last 20% is the best.

Bob Woodward's reporting is surprisingly compassionate. People on the far ends of either side of political spectrum will be able to read this book and find things that Trump does well and that he does very poorly. This might be the least biased account of a presidential term that I have ever read. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the current president.

I greatly enjoyed this book. It has just the right amount of foreshadowing, mystery, and strong characterization. The characters are what drive this story. I'm interested to see more of the world building in the next two books of this series. I look forward to seeing where the characters will go.
I immediately opened book two. I'm not sure I can give a higher review than that!

This entire series is excellent, rigorous non-fiction that is perfect for the junior high and high school geography classroom. As a teacher I can use the charts, maps, and information in this book to teach not only geography content, but literacy and science skills as well. I could not be more happy with this book. It is written at a 9th grade level, according to the publisher, ABDO. I will be reading the other 31 books in this series as soon as I am able.

I believe that middle books must be incredibly hard to write. I would give this one 4.5 stars out of 5. It was a wonderful book, but I did enjoy Legend better. This one has plenty of twists and action and inner turmoil to keep you hanging. I haven't read the last book yet, obviously, but I think I like this series better than Warcross so far!

Now on to finish Wildcard and start Champion. If you can't tell, I'm reading everything by this author!

Meh.

This was not the book for me. The writing left me nonplussed, the characters felt two-dimensional (even though they all supposedly grew because of this experience), and the author got so many things wrong about XP.

Here are my gripes:
1) XP is so much different than the author writes it. It doesn't come into force because of a "triggering event", and if that was how it worked, then Katie's 6 year old self's sunburn would have triggered the disease then. XP is always present.
2) People with XP don't live like Katie did. Not at all. Go read a blog about it. Thousands of people have XP around the globe. Or if you want another author's perspective on a character with XP, read Seize the Night by Dean Koontz. Chris has XP in that book, and I feel like his condition is more realistically portrayed despite the science fiction nature of the book.
3) The author makes it seem like the only way Katie can escape her disease and do normal things is to die.
4) I'm kind of sick of the "sick girl" trope playing around YA right now anyway. I read this because my students love it.
5) Charlie is boring. He had potential to be interesting, but there's no internal conflict with him about Katie's disease or anything beyond a bit of self pity about swimming.
6) Charlie's parents' conversation at the car door was awkward, not sweet.
7) Pacing is so off in this novel.
8) Zoe's character. Girl can hold a grudge over nothing for a decade.
9) Lack of description of what were supposed to be profound moments; see concert and studio.
10) Everything (else) plays out perfectly in the end and everyone grows because of this experience. the author pushed way too hard to make something meaningful come of the ending, and life is just way more messy than that.

Now, my students will love this, because apparently they love to torture themselves and their teacher with average-at-best writing. I'll booktalk it because all my girls won't be able to get their hands on it fast enough. Junior high, man.