Did not live up to my expectations
924307
I really, really wanted to love this book. The premise of this book made it seem so great and exciting. And Im a huge fan of kick-ass girl characters and sci-fi and fantasty elements. And that cover? Its gorgeous in person. I was so excited when I was offered an ARC of this by the publisher because it was one of the big hyped books of BEA and I wasn't able to get it there. Unfortunately, it wasn't soon after starting the book that I just knew it wasn't going to live up to my expectations.

I had two main problems with this book. The first was that there were so many secrets and just when I thought wed get some really cool explanation or a scene with lots of action, the scene would just cut out and wed move forward to when everything was over or the MC would pass out and wed miss everything. It was frustrating to say the least. Like the author was afraid of coming right out and saying what was happening and what the characters were doing but wasn't afraid to hint at it all. And that might work for some people but it just made me angry and sad that we were missing what could have been some of the best moments.

The other part that really frustrated me was how non-kick-ass the main character ended up being. I wanted to see her fighting and standing up for herself and her friends. But she just ran away or passed out. She was afraid of standing up to her dad or of talking to her mom. She wanted to know what was going on and when she found out and then didn't like it and agree with it, just went along with it anyway. For a while. Until she ran away. And after she was out she made herself forget what she knew. She didn't fight or even try. It was so not what I had hoped going into this book. Plus her back and forth with both boys was additionally annoying. Im not sure if the triangle would have bothered me as much if I wasn't already bothered by the character so much so maybe if the other stuff won't bother you this wouldnt either. I don't know.

I really wish that this had been the beginning of an epic new series like I had hoped but, for me, it just wasnt. Even with everything I mentioned above, I did enjoy it a bit, especially the last part when I couldn't put the book down. I really wish the whole book at been like that. School Library Journal says its for Fans of Veronica Roths Divergent, Marie Lus Legend, and Suzanne Collinss The Hunger Games series. But I really do not see that at all. This book fell short of my expectations and of this description. I didn't get the world-building of Divergent, the high action of Legend, or the depth of characters from The Hunger Games. Id recommend going somewhere else if you loved those books and are looking for something to follow them up with.
4203853
The snippet on the back of the book sounded so interesting, but the book just did not live up to its promise. I felt like there was no real climax, the events just kept going, and I often felt as in the dark as Lalla.
I'm disapointed that I bought the book-if I had checked it out from the library, maybe I wouldn't care as much, but it wasn't worth my money.
1007473
Never lived up to my expectations.  I planned to give it to someone but felt it would not be helpful.  All I have to say.
1099887
My expectations were high.  I was very disappointed. The book was slow.  I attempted to find something positive but at the end I could not find anything to make me want to recommend this book to anyone. I will not give up on Grisham as he has had some great books in the past.
4394338
I was really disappointed with this book. I thought it had the potential to be very good but it definitely fell short. The basic storyline was very interesting and that was probably why I finished the book. I felt the author didn't expand on her characters or details enough to really grab me where I felt I was deeply immersed into the story. I kept thinking it would get better but it didn't. There are many other stories and authors out there that will do that so I had to rate this low. If you are looking for a
easy read were you are killing time then maybe this is a better choice. If you want to feel sucked into the story you are reading and involved with the characters then move on.
538660
I was disappointed in this book.  I was looking forward to reading it after reading the previous books in the series; however, I became disheartened when I reached page 800 and was still wondering when it was going to get interesting.  There are so many characters being introduced and not much depth to any of them. I had trouble deciding what the central plot actually was and who were going to be identified as the main characters. Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish- it just wasn't worth it.
2624845
I should say that the first book is way better than this one. This book didn't live up to my expectations since I expected more based on my impressions with the first book. The second book should make you keep going and impressed a reader so that s/he would buy and read the next one but this just didn't do it for me. It is a little bit dry and boring, in my opinion.
4015645
I did not find this product to be any better then others i have used. I will not spend my money for this product again.
4220330
This book did not meet my expectations I thought it was going to be more interesting. Have found this book to be a hard read.
732234
This was nothing like I thought it would be.  After reading other reviews I expected it to be more than it was.  Very disappointed.
4722488
I paid $2.99 for this story.  It turns out it was too much.

After reading the story description, I thought it had potential but it did not live up to my expectations.  The love scenes were not well crafted and did not feel romantic.  The plot was rushed.  The characters were not properly introduced and their backgrounds never fully fleshed out.  The characters did not feel real.  They all lacked emotion.  I really wanted to like this book but I am disappointed.  I will not be buying any more of this author.
1669632
From the description of the book I was expecting a good quick read, the story line was good and had possibilities, but it was slow and parts of the beginning were just boring, it picked up later in the book but it still did not quite live up to my expectations.  The characters were interesting especially the Fairy God Mother, Sarafina, Gloria had low expectations for her future and was willing to settle, Greg was such a science nerd it took Sarafina interfering to help him see what he was missing and to make him more self assured.  I voluntarily agreed to read and review a copy of this book.
179433
I found it very difficult to motivate myself to keep reading. It just wasn't the page-turner I had hoped it would be.  It completely didn't match up to my expectation.
4716329
This novel was not nearly close to what I expected. I had to read this book for summer reading for English and I simply could not understand the actions of the protagonist (or should I say antagonist) and too many things happened at the same time. I also could not connect with Bigger, I mean why would he kiss a white girl when he was always so jealous and scared of white people, and then after ,although accidentally, kill her? In my opinion that simply does not make sense. Not to forget his obvious temper issues, I felt that his point of view overall just made me confused, throughout the story he claimed that others were blind (to what?)  and he was always right. I feel that his story was not reasonable and not enough to portray the lives of so many other African Americans during that time. However, I must admit that certain parts of the book did have and edge that kept the reader hooked for the next chapter. There were also moments when I felt I could connect to the reader, if barely, such as Max's speech. The writing level was also quite high, for once or twice I had too look up the word to find the meaning. Overall, I thought the book was okay although not the best book about this topic.
2540121
I really did not like this as much as I hoped. I found it to be pretty bland and a little gritty. I'm surprised at how many glowing reviews it got. Maybe I am missing something.
4273695
It was all right, but it did not live up to my expectations. In many ways it felt contrived, and there were a lot of gimmicks that were simply that. They added nothing to the plot.
209046
I have to admit that I read the blurb about this book and it sounded right up my alley - a murder mystery with a bit of a paranormal twist, set in Glasgow. Perfect, I thought.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. From the start, I struggled to read the sentences which over-described almost everything. It's like the book was perfectly fine as it was, but a little short, and someone told the author to add more words to it. It was hard to get into the flow of reading as there was a little too much detail about irrelevant things which got in the way of the story. The second half of the book was easier to read but there were so many questions that I had e.g. I thought if a whole lot of men were being DNA tested, there would be a description of that but that was skipped over and I thought the relationship between Patrick and the police was kinda odd too. The negativity that one of the police officers showed towards Patrick was well written about though.

Then there was the paranormal aspect of things. It could have been just brilliant, since both Patrick and his fiancee had these gifts but there was not enough detail there, somehow. I have to admit to not getting very emotionally involved with either of them, and their relationship was supposed to be close but I just wasn't feeling it.

The killer being revealed early on was well done and I liked his character the best out of all of them. He was scarily believable.

This was an OK book, its a 2.5 star for me.

Thank you to TBC for a chance to read and review this book in exchange for my honest opinion.