The author wasted no time in hooking my butt to the chair
934942
Not a big fan of spy novels, but McCauley writes so well I figured I'd try a few pages. Oops. The author wasted no time in hooking my butt to the chair, and he will you, too. I read SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL over two days on vacation with my wife barking at me to put it down the whole time. The only requirement is that you like a good story. McCauley keeps the action and suspense on a thick, steady drip throughout this three-hundred page novel, and the characters are as fascinating as the tale. The protagonist -- Mr. Hicks -- makes James Bond look like a scaredy cat, and deals out more violence on America's enemies than a whole team of Navy SEALs. I cannot wait for the next one. Thank you Mr. McCauley for a wonderful time, even if I'm paying for that missed beach time with the wife.
1210171
Never has my opinion of a product dropped so low in under 30 minutes. I received it free for review. Right now it's in the trash can. Seriously.  I have assembled a LOT of office chairs over my 35+ adult years. I can do them blind folded.  Unboxing this chair, piece by padded piece, I was decently impressed. Typical vinyl / pleather, but without any smell.  Heavy duty base.

Then I started to assemble it. Don't even try and use a mallet or pound in the wheels (as suggested.) They'll shoot across the room. You need to press and spin them.  They'll pop right in.  So the base is done - it has the typical drop-in chair piston.  On to assembling the base.  Two screws per arm in the base, two screws per arm in the back. Same as 99% of the chairs out there.

But unlike 99% of the chairs out there, this part was impossible.  On the left, the two threaded portions were inset almost 1/2" - the screws *just* grabbed them. On the right, they actually stuck out of the seat side by 1/4".  Start with the left, press down REALLY hard to catch a thread.  Three turns in, the screw locked and stopped spinning. Tried backing off and trying again.  The threads are messed up in the hole.  OK, use a shorter screw.  Next one.  Went all the way in, no problem.

Right side. One screw head snaps off, the other cross-threads.  Believe me - I was cautious. I work with tools every day. I have not cross threaded anything in years.  So I start backing the screw out.  The entire fitting snaps off.

That was enough for me. Typical Chinese garbage.
4585446
This isn't the worst book I have ever read, but it comes very close. The characters are one-dimensional, the "action" a snooze, and absolutely NOTHING happens until the last 40 pages of the book. I liked some of his other books. "A Dangerous Fortune" was great I thought. But this is just a complete waste of time.
4554521
The author's writing style reminds me of how a child tells a story. It was very blocky feeling, and lacked a decent flow. The plot was very sparse, and what little there was was rudimentary, generic, and lacking any sort of surprise or twists. The characters are incredibly one dimensional, and painfully obvious in their roles. Bad guys are shifty-eyed weasel faced characters that the protagonist instantly dislikes. Good guys are bright and friendly and instantly have the devotion of the main character. I honestly can't believe I finished the book at all. I doggedly kept slogging my way through, hoping there would be some redeeming factor, something that would suddenly make it worth the read, only to be utterly disappointed and annoyed that I wasted a few hours of my life reading this.
4507009
I don't normally submit book reviews but this time I must, if only to save one person from wasting money on this boring, self-indulgent time-waster. Except for a few very brief paragraphs here and there, there's nothing creepy or suspenseful here, no thrilling drama, no mystery, no horror, nothing.

The plot, such as it is, is anorexic, the premise is silly and stupid. I was so frustrated with this book that I actually googled "Stephen King Revival Boring" and there were plenty of results. Once I read the like-minded reviews I stopped listening and deleted it from my Audible library so it wouldn't take up any more space.

What this book really is, frankly, is a series of musings on things that matter to Stephen King (aging, amateur rock musicians and variations on those two themes: how aging men can still have sex with younger women, how aging men can still play in rock bands.) These highly personal musings are held together with a skimpy and rather ridiculous plot. As I listened, I kept thinking that this was one giant cynical flippin' the bird from Stephen King to his readers. I realize he churns out books as effortlessly as other people evacuate their bowels, and is paid handsomely for it. But in the end, crap is crap. Don't waste your money.
3305292
I was entranced with the book description so I downloaded it.  Much to my dismay, it turned out to be nothing more than a pity party for the protagonist.  I alternately rolled my eyes or wanted to grab and forcibly instill some common sense into her.  As a cancer survivor I have no time for people, real or imagined, who are so selfish as to refuse to have treatment.  That is a slap in the face of everyone who cares for that person.  It the end, she did seek medical treatment but it took 98% of the book for her to get there with much handwringing along the way.  Sometimes reading a book is a waste of time.
3261251
My father, an avid golfer, recommended "The legend of Bagger Vance" to me.  As I picked it up and began to read, I expected nothing more than a simple innocent story about the underdog holding steady with  the favorites in the golf match of a lifetime.
 Three and a half  hours later, I set the book down, sweat pouring down my face, hands numbly  releasing the pages.  "The Legend of Bagger Vance" is the most  daring book I have ever read.  In it, the entire face of reality is  questioned, and cataclysmic issues are reopened over what appears to be a  simple game of golf.
The plot is unimportant.  What matters is the tone  of the book.  And believe me, it has tone.
381162
The only reason I gave it 1 star is because there is no place to put zero stars
3754216
While reading this book I began to wish that I was the kind of person that could stop reading a book without finishing it, but no such luck. When I put this down last night, I felt for the first time in a long time that I had completely wasted my time.  I kept waiting for something of substance to occur, for some epiphany to leap out at me to make it all worth my time, and nothing came.

This is a typical story about an annoying teenager who feels like she is nobody and who has the usual (yawn) high school angst. Nothing new, novel or exciting here.  Rather a cliche in my mind.  I had hoped that this very unappealing protagonist would realize something, anything, that would make it seem like her experiences in school had meant something, or that I had not wasted my time reading about them, but no such luck.  Basically, this awkward and unhappy girl, who is completely bored with everything in life and who has no passion for anything or interest in anything, but who has disdain for everything, floats through 4 years and drags us with her. I can't think of any kid who doesn't have SOME passion or interest in life; whether it be reading, video games, shopping, eating, sports, cartoons, TV, ANYTHING!!  But this girl has nothing. She's like a walking zombie.  I wanted to shake her and say "WAKE UP!!!"  At the end of this tedious novel I thought that I might discover that she had actually figured things out at some point. That she had found her "groove" or her niche in college, or through a job, or through a friendship or other life experience. Nope. She hated college, didn't really find a relationship (or at least never alluded to it), didn't really have any meaningful or substantial friendships, and by the looks of it, drifted from job to job. She didn't even travel or try to "find herself" (to carry on the bad cliche).  When I finished reading this, I wanted to slap her, and write a letter to the author (and the publisher) asking "what on earth was this supposed to be about?".  The poorly written scene at the end with her standing on the T platform with a hangover and watching people walk by going about their business was a sad attempt at I'm not sure what.  I think the author was trying to accomplish something with this novel, but she just didn't achieve it.  Don't waste your time. Read Catcher in the Rye again and save this for the dog to chew or to start the fire when winter arrives.
2406001
If you have absolutely nothing to do and would love to waste 10 hours of your life -- then this is the book for you!
1658365
I assume body size has everything to do with my rating - so for anyone researching chairs either for yourself or as a gift - I weigh 250 / 6' 0" and this chair is unacceptably uncomfortable.  I prefer sitting in my 100$ Staples generic office chair.

Butt-cushion: (see picture)
The butt-cushion has an "ergonomic" design where the red-stripe areas stick up on the left and right side of the cushion that dig into my legs when sitting. Sitting in the chair for approx 20 minutes and causes a fatigue sensation because of the poor ergonomic design of the cushion.  I grabbed a pillow to put between the two raised red stripes to bridge them which has helped a lot but it's pathetic that I'm already using a pillow for cushion.

Leg-rest:
This is a cool idea, granted, except it was executed quite poorly.  When resting my legs on the leg-rest i feel like the entire bracket will snap off with much extra weight.  It is only connected with two bolts which makes no sense for supporting weight, let alone supporting weight on a cushion that extends out some distance.

Arm-rests: (see pictures)
The arm-rests are the WORST part of the chair. The design of the arm-wrests make absolutely no sense to me.  The arm-rests are adjustable - the lowest position is approx level with the middle of my thigh. The highest position is approx level with the top of my thigh.  Quite far from providing support for my arms.  If i was 4' 5" tall and 90 lbs this maybe would maybe be a great product.

Back-rest:
Back rest is the only good thing so far about this chair.  I really like being able to pull the adjustment handle and pull the back of the chair into my back so I am sitting properly at my desk with something to lean on behind me.  This would be ideal if not for everything else being horribly uncomfortable.

Overall this chair is just straight up trash. I can maybe see this being a great product for a very tiny person but if you're even the slightest bit hefty and want comfort - keep looking.
2424415
A total waste of time (no pun intended). Story flow could have been better and inconstantcies should have been avoided.
503260
I'll admit it, I never made it to the end of O'Reilly's latest book.  It wound up on the other side of the room, propelled by a barrage of curses and generally bad language.  Why?  It isn't like I expected much more from O'Reilly, who on his program is as smooth, erudite, and courteous as your average howling drunk full of cheap tequila challenging the littlest, mousiest guy in the bar to "take it outside."  He's an insecure, thin-skinned loudmouth, a blithering idiot who does his level best to bully and intimidate his guests on his TV show -- and makes sure not to invite anyone who might actually stand up to him.  His book reads like a string of half-considered comments yapped into a tape recorder while he's in the car or kicked back with a few belts of corn whiskey, killing the last hour of the evening before he stumbles off to bed.  There's no real thought, no real cohesion, nothing of any substance to his book; it was obviously stitched together by some hapless ghostwriter from a spill of tapes and beer-stained notes flung onto the poor guy's desk: "Make this into a book, you underpaid little git, and do it quick, I'm off to the golf course."  There are intelligent and thoughtful conservatives out there who can make a rational case for their side of the political argument.  I might be interested in reading one of their books.  As for O'Reilly's piece of egotistical drivel, his book is a classic waste of paper and glue.  Recommended only for use in replacing a broken leg under your couch, or for starting fires.
1822310
I originally rejected this book due to an unpronounceable name of the heroine.  I let the author talk me into purchasing and reading it.  Sorry, I wasted my time and it is STILL a 1 star review.

I feel asleep in the middle of almost every chapter and it took far too long to finish as I could not stay awake.  The H and h are supposedly, intelligent, strong, independent people, yet they both allowed relationships with bullies take over their lives and doubted their own ability to put the past behind them.  This is totally implausible in my experience with life and I am a senior citizen who has seen a lot of "real" life that was not pleasant.

The writing is good in that it is free of editing errors that are too often found in e-books, but the story just doesn't measure up to good reading material; due to too much angst and too little romance.  I could not get away from the idea that what was supposed to be a "romance" novel read a lot more like a case study of a psychologist's or psychiatrist's clients/patients.  Instead of being the intelligent, strong characters they were supposed to be, the H and h were in serious need of professional help to move forward in their lives.  This unbelievable story has the H and h providing the therapy for each other.  I find it easier to believe that elephants can fly.

I promised the author I would edit my review after reading the book.  Our conversation is in the comments below.  My original review is below inside { }

{No.  I did not purchase this book even though it is free today.  No, I also did not read it.  The purpose of this review is in hopes that the author actually reads reviews of her books.

Your book sounded like something I would enjoy reading.  But, then I saw the heroine's name.  I REFUSE to waste my time being constantly distracted by a name that is unpronounceable.  I even put the name Aelissm into a website that tells how to pronounce difficult names and this is the result I received.
[The pronunciation of Aelissm is not known]}

I have no idea why you thought it a good idea to give a main character an unknown and unpronounceable name.  It would be a huge distraction to the story no matter how good the story might be; jerking the reader out of the story every time it is seen in print.
824192
I've always counted my time as being far more important than the few bucks we spend on ebooks. This book, or what I read of it (the first three stories) were a complete waste of my time. I only got this book because it had such high reviews, which are completely baffling to me. I didn't read all the stories. I read the first one, and was disappointed by the overly simplistic writing style and the way the concepts were handled. Then I read the second one, which was so utterly forgettable that I can't recall anything about it now, and finally I moved on to the prison story with my rapidly dwindling  hopes, but that was the lamest one of all. Maybe it's me, but I found these stories dull and pointless. Absolutely pointless. I'm still mad about how much time I wasted on this book. While I was reading it, I didn't look forward to my breaks at work like I do with most other books. This book was just so incredibly boring and I couldn't feel a connection with any of the characters. I have taken the unprecedented step-- for me, anyway-- of deleting Galactic Energies from my kindle and my kindle library.

My apologies to the author-- I'm sorry for disliking your book so much. I have written and posted this negative review for the benefit of other readers. I wish there had been a review like this to warn me. All those (in my opinion) undeserved five star reviews raised my expectations to the point where I was extremely disappointed with the reality.
197805
I felt ripped off by spending my time reading this.
457447
So far, I have enjoyed the authors other stories featuring his character Detective Jonathan Stride and especially the well-developed and very likable character of Strides girlfriend, Serena Dial. In this book, he has developed an interesting character that doesnt seem to be in the story much at all, although he is central to the plot line. However,  this book completely failed me when the author, who otherwise was moving the narrative along in a logical fashion,  started inventing grossly implausible scenarios and silly narrative inventions in the last part of the book. He flips the obvious bad guy, who has done really despicable acts into a silly metro-sexual who is pussy-whipped by the Suddenly appearing really bad character. That move simple blew it for me. It was akin to bringing a dead character suddenly back to life as to get a cheap Ah Ha moment. When this happened, the entire story just went down the toilet for me and left me angry that I had wasted all my time just to arrive at that false and silly device.