Not the greatest time wasted but It was worth 3 stars
938395
K so this was an interesting movie. Not the greatest time wasted but It was worth 3 stars.
4964904
I gave this book a 3 star, it was okay nothing overly exciting about it.
2403687
I really enjoyed the plot, but I wasn't crazy about how it was written. There were far too many chapters for such a short book. One minute your in the present, the next the past, then back to the present, then on to another character. I just think the story could have unfolded differently. There were also characters that were under developed, such as the neighbor, Cindy. The storyline is somewhat difficult to follow early on, but once Paula is introduced things start to pick up, and the story becomes more interesting. All in all, not a terrible read.
2953463
It's a pleasant way to kill some time, not bad but not worth a second viewing.
2270759
For me this was more like 3.5 stars but closer to three than four, so that's why I gave it three. Interestingly enough, I read through chapter 7 of The Stones Cry Out and never had the desire to pick it up again, so I didn't. But then I'd read some positive things about this author's work and saw some nominations for awards and thought maybe I missed something. So I agreed to do a blog tour for this book.

I did finish The Clouds Roll Away because I agreed to post a review for the tour, or I probably wouldn't have finished this book. The writing style seemed kind of choppy to me and sometimes spiritual reflection seemed to come out of the sky. It was nice that I read it around Christmas since that was the time period for the majority of the story, but at the same time the continual references to phrases in well-known Christmas songs and hymns annoyed me. Why not just say mom was listening to Silent Night? Or O Holy Night? Most people know the lyrics anyway, so quoting partial phrases didn't make sense to me. Even non-Christians know those songs.

Anyway, I did find some aspects of the FBI theme compelling and it was kinda cool how various seemingly unrelated elements pulled together toward the end. At the same time, I found some of the details a bit gruesome (like people's faces being blown off and then described further than that) and so I got some unpleasant visuals of bloated dead bodies and such. I was scared for her when she kept dealing with the crack house. But other than that, I would have to say if I never read another book by Sibella I wouldn't be sad about it. She just doesn't write the type of stories I enjoy reading. If she had gotten a little deeper into her relationship with her mother or with Demott, then I would have enjoyed the story more. It just seemed too superficial to me and other than worrying about Raleigh on occasion, I didn't connect much with the characters in the story.

On the positive end, I did feel like I knew Raleigh better by book's end, so that was good, but if I hadn't been doing the tour I probably would've stopped reading it about halfway through when the part about finding the dead guys in the water came up, because it grossed me out so much. At that point I still felt like I barely knew Raleigh. It could be one of those situations where reading prior novels in the series would have given me an entirely different perspective.

I did find it interesting that a white author had written so many negative things into this storyline that were racial stereotypes for both white and black folks, and the author hasn't been criticized. Then again, this story was set in the old south, so racial tension has pretty much been a deep thread in Virginia history for centuries, so it fit the storyline. Did this book inspire me? Not really. But it might inspire someone else. The author definitely knows how to weave a compelling, if not a bit gruesome and complex suspense/crime mystery. That was well done.
1849346
Not the best either. I liked some aspects of it, but the absurdity of the time space felt uncomfortable. I don't feel like I wasted my time reading it as it had some interesting parts and I liked the character exploration somewhat but awkwardly fighting fate and the dirty feel of it didn't absorb my attention. For a quick read it was a-ight
2311542
It was okay but not super exciting. There was a lot of lag time and over focus on the war aspects.
1424796
Shallow, a little tedious at times but overall a fun guilty pleasure.
3561974
A lot of funny elements, but I wiuld not waste your time
2423742
I wanted to give it 3 1/2, but I'm iffy with having it rounded up, so 3 it is. It's not a bad story, but it's not great either.  This story, while mostly enjoyable, is somewhat repetative in terms of action/events. It takes a while to get going, which may result in readers losing interest (I finally finished it on my third attempt). The main characters, Leven, Winter, Clover, and eventually, Geth, experience a series of similiar events that make up a good deal of their initial quest together.  For instance, they're chased multiple times by the same type of monster and attempt the same escape tactic each time, so there are many elements of the story feel reused. You can tell this was Obert Skye's first book as they writing style isn't always polished and consistent.

That being said, it has potential and I urge you to stick it out.  Leven's adventures getting to the gateway to Foo are all setup.  The remaining books in this series, from what I have read so far, are far more engaging and enjoyable.
3933199
It's only been 3 years in the book world but its been about 10 years since we last read about the Lion.  This is the book I was waiting for and maybe I built the hype up too much in my head. I would say the book was 3.5 stars. Definity on the high end of my rating.

The book started out great and a lot was going on.  The middle slowed down (a bit too much) before the last part of the book picked up again.

The book was worth the read, especially if you are a Corey fan.  The dialogue is still great between the characters so even when there isn't a lot going on it's still enjoyable.  My biggest complaint is that it wasn't as great of a cat and mouse game as I would have liked but again, maybe I was expecting too much from it.  I was more suspicious than Corey was at an important part and I felt his character should have been too.

If you enjoy John Corey then this is a must read.
2549355
So, I hesitated between a 3 and a 4. There are parts of this book I really enjoyed, and other parts that I just didn't. There were parts that felt right, and parts that felt like filler to make the book longer. There were parts that were fun, and parts that were just, not. I'm not sure if the author meant to bounce around so much, but it felt sometimes like the characters were caught up in a whirlwind with no place to go. I think the characters needed more substance, and the plot needed a better direction. In my opinion, there is too much meaningless sex - by that I mean raw lust with no passion. In my opinion, life-mates need more substance than just sexual, brain dead lust. I ended up giving the book a 4 because the characters are endearing, and I would probably recommend it to a friend who wanted something easy to read.
1959908
They could have done a lot better, added a lot more substance to the relationships between the characters and in themselves. However, it's a decent movie to watch when you want to feel good.

And it's family appropriate.

Perhaps the greatest flaw is its brevity - if they'd have added an hour or even just 30 minutes, they could have expanded the plot to be a lot deeper.
3225048
This one kind of fell flat for me. It was good, but not great. I think a lot of it came down to Joe Hill overusing things like "they closed the door, and then it never opened again" at the end of many chapters. It's an interesting device, but it was so overused it got to be annoying.

The world of the story was interesting, and the plot was solid as well. The Dragonscale was a really creative idea, and it's clear he had a lot of fun playing around with it. The main thing that drops it down to 3 stars for me is that the characters are feel relatively flat. You can guess what they're going to do well ahead of time, and there are only a couple of major surprises.

Don't let me dissuade you though, this is a good book, and totally worth your time. I think 3-stars is buyable.
958716
This book was decent, but it doesn't really live up to the hype that everyone else is building. I was invested enough to finish it, and the characters were likable. There is a sense of open-endedness and poetic nature to the writing, which is fun if you like literature that offers symbolism and room for interpreting characters. The introduction of darker themes like prostitution, anorexia, homelessness, and mental issues were what saved the book from its mediocrity. The romance in general though feels flimsy and without real substance though. Maybe it's due to the shorter nature of the book. I like them together and its still sweet, but its not mind-blowing and I didn't get a real connection to any of the characters in the book. It's lukewarm but not awful.

Idk I was redirected to this book after finishing the All For The Game series and the characters just weren't as good and so if you are like me in that regard, you won't be satisfied.
4263021
A Man Called Ove didn't live up to my expectations.  It had some really good moments but I wasn't sad when it ended.  I felt pretty much the same about The Hundred Year Old Man It was good but not exceptional for me.
4461909
This book was ok. It was written well enough that I kept reading, but often hopped it would end soon. I didn't not completely buy into the plot of the story, nor did I believe the characters were as motivated as written about. I'm not exactly sure why I didn't get hooked, but it wasn't as exciting as some readers here have raved about. That said, it is a decent story and it's worth your time as you may have a different experience with it.