Disappointing from her "To Kill a Mocking Bird", not ...
922996
Disappointing from her "To Kill a Mocking Bird", not nearly as well written and a different perspective of racial prejudice.
3464405
Normally I am really engaged in Mary Lu's adventures on the high seas, but this one just didn't feel like one of her usual stories for a few reasons: 1) I couldn't get into the story about Southern rebels escaping to Brazil from the "reconstruction" of the South. The story just seemed to drag on an on. I had to force myself to finish the book. 2) the hero seems inconsistent. (Spoiler) He's constantly flipping between forgiving her and holding a grudge against her. I could understand his need to sort things out within himself, but in the mean time, don't kiss her and say you love her and then say you never want to see her again. 3) Despite other reviews, this is almost NOTHING like Gone with the Wind. Yes, it is about southerners after the civil war, but that's about it. The heroine isn't like Scarlette O'Hara. She's too caring and compassionate to people who obviously don't like her. She actually has somewhat of a relationship with God. She's not conniving enough either. A good thing I would say about the book is that it does show both sides of the South. Not all Southerners were these horrible people who abused their slaves. There were people in the south who opposed slavery and there were some people who owned slaves that actually treated them well. And then on the other hand it does show people who did treat their slaves with less than respect. So many books today like to show ALL Southerners as people who were cruel and merciless to slaves without allowing that there were people who had compassion on them and tried to help them. That was one good thing about the book, but I was still disappointed.
If you liked her previous series (Charles Belle trilogy and Surrender to Destiny trilogy), I wouldn't recommend this one. It just didn't have the same "feel" as her previous books.
2710611
This book does not measure up to the writing of "to kill a Mockingbird". There is a reason that this book was never published until Harper Lee was in a nursing home and her sister/protector was dead. This book was not meant to be published or it would have been published long ago.
3525724
As an avid Jodi Picoult fan, I must admit that I was very disappointed in this book. Having read several others by her (my favorites being "My Sister's Keeper," "Nineteen Minutes," "Change of Heart" and "Plain Truth"), I kept waiting for this one to get better. It never did. In addition, this almost 500-page novel was both repetitive and melodramatic.

Picoult seemingly tried to follow the recipe that made "My Sister's Keeper" such a success. This was evident in the rocky relationships between the two girls, Willow and Amelia- a relationship that (in my opinion) should have been highlighted more. The dynamic between these two mirrors the relationship between Anna and Kate in "Keeper" without nearly as much realism or flair. In addition, Picoult (again!) dances over the fine line between protecting and hurting children in the name of unconditional love. The problem with this, however, came in the fact that Charlotte, the mother in the novel, was not at all likable or relate-able (which sharply contrasts to "Keeper's" mom, Sara) . All in all, this book never came close to measuring up to "Keeper," so to anyone who is looking for another fantastic read from Picoult, this book is not it.
2066558
This book should never have been published without Harper Lee's approval.  It destroys her magnificent classic, "To Kill a Mockingbird."
The book is poorly written, probably because it was a rough draft that was never meant to be published in this unfinished, unedited state.
Even though many book clubs are reading it, I would not recommend this book.
3754841
The Atticus that I came to know in to TKAMB has totally vanished. I simply could not marry the two Atticus'. Please reflect back to the closing arguments in Tom Robinson's trial, and even when the sheriff wanted to say that Mr. Ewell slipped on his own knife, but Atticus would not hear of a thing like this---in his righteousness in fairness, he wanted to bring his own son before the courts. No, this character turned into something that I was not prepared for. GSAW was almost a total contradiction of the character construct of Atticus in TKAMB,

My applauds are with Scout, she took what her dad taught her, and rejected the views of the men gathered together at the courthouse, and righteously so. Yes, she may have hero worshiped Atticus, as they so lovingly called their dad, but it was he who taught them in every inch of TKAMB-not to be racist (again, go back to his closing arguments during Tom Robinson's trial). So, her uncle calling her the bigot was surprising and wrong to me, although I do understand the meaning of bigot used in this sense.

The book was good, but quite blistering---ijs!
4654535
I was looking forward to losing myself in this book and was very disappointed in it!  Expected better work from Harper Lee!  Confusing!  Poorly written! The only character I cared for in the entire story line was Uncle Jack! The remaining persons were caricatures of themselves in To Kill A Mockingbird. I didn't like Atticus or Jean Louise.  Go Set a Watchman is a waste of both time and money!
1759984
Maybe my expectations were too high. I loved "To Kill a Mockingbird "when I read it years ago and was hoping  Harper Lee was going to enthrall me again. No comparison between the two.
4713040
Over the years I have used teacher created resources for teaching different books.  I have to admit this one is not one of the better ones on the market.  What was this author thinking?  I have taught `Mockingbird" to numerous students over the last 20 years and even used it as one of the books for my masters in reading.  In all the years I have never found the connection of "Bloody Mary" as well as other terms on pg. 26 in the book.  Also pg. 13 is still having me shake my head.  There are much better books out there for teaching this WONDERFUL book.
1819076
There are few things that pain me more than giving a book a negative review!  I, honestly, would never want to stop someone from reading a particular book, unless it was filled with filth, in which case I would recommend burning it, instead of reading it.

But, unfortunately, the nature of reviewing, sometimes calls for giving opinion based on personal preference, and that can carry heavy weight in reading.

So, here is my not-so-positive-but-read-it-anyway review of When Mockingbirds Sing by Billy Coffey (sorry Mr. Coffey!):

When Mockingbirds Sing has a small town feel, which I enjoyed.  The story centers around several main characters who become mingled together by the strange, new family that moves to town.

Leah is a young girl who is extremely shy and stutters.  Her father is a Psychiatrist and has no use for faith.  Her mother believes, but seems numb and bitter.

The town is predictable until the most unlikely character, Leah, starts to share prophetic messages with some key people.  Some believe in her ramblings and are even mesmerized  by her paintings, but others, such as the town preacher, believe she's spreading lies and causing trouble.  The fact that she keeps referring to The Rainbow Man as her unseen "friend", has people thinking she's crazy.

Little by little, Leah's predictions start to materialize and the town's people are not sure if she's for good or evil.

In the end, people's lives, as well as their beliefs, are changed.

Personally, the book moved a little slow for me, due to the difficulty of reading dialog that contained a stutter.  For me, it broke the flow of the conversations and left me wishing it were just written in normal fashion.  I think you run a risk when writing with specific dialects or speech challenges, because those don't translate well, on paper.

Due to the difficulty of reading through the dialog, I'm only giving this book a 2.5 stars out of 5.
3493195
Not well written, in my opinion. It incorrectly referenced the case in To Kill A Mockingbird. Characters were not well developed.
If it was written by Harper Lee she became a better writer with To Kill  A Mockingbird.
173502
I usually love Julia Donaldson's books. Most of them have really great underlying messages, but I didn't really like this one. What I expected to happen (and would have made a great story and a great message) was that the T-Rex's hated the Duckbills until a Duckbill egg landed in their nest and then the T-Rex's learned to love him. What really happened was that the T-Rex's hated the Duckbills and when a Duckbill egg landed in their nest, they were really very nasty to their child who was "different".  I mean really awful. And this issue wasn't really addressed at all.

I suppose not everyone will see this in the book, but for me, it just didn't feel right when I read it. I recommend "A Squash and a Squeeze" or "The Smartest Giant in Town" (we usually buy Donaldson's books in the UK, I think it's called the niftiest giant in the US)
804960
Poorly written, offensive racial content and POV. Casts To Kill a Mockingbird in a poor light, too, probably a good thing since TCM is one of the most highly lauded and widely taught American novels. Time to re-evaluate TCM and contrast it to the masterful treatment through limited POV of similar issues in Huckleberry Finn. Substituting Twain for Harper Lee would go a long way to elevate the curriculum.
3283441
Disappointed in the book. I think she's worn these characters out.
4453560
This third book in the Hunger Games series was disappointing.  I wanted to read it to find out what happened to Peeta and looked forward to an interesting story line, much like the first two books.  Sadly, the story line was very slow and did not hold my interest.  Some of the detail that Collins included was not needed and created a very dull book.  Although there were some high points in the book worth noting, like when Prim died. The final chapters in the book were also interesting, but it was a slow jouney to get there.  I Loved Hunger Games and Catching Fire and wanted to love Mockingjay too, but this book only hit "like" on my "love it" to "hate it" scale.
3342617
She (the author) beats a point to death and basis so much of her novel on speculation. I was disappointed and felt it was an unfair indictment on Jefferson's character without a full accounting of the man's contribution to the United States and it's early government.
4775482
Disclaimer...I haven't finished yet and may not!  I love to read, but this is so slow...I keep falling asleep.  I haven't got to a plot yet....just ramblings.  I loved to kill a mockingbird....this is not the same.  I just don't think I can justify wasting any more of my time on his book.  Very disappointing!