Different but not my style- ***SPOILER****
932007
Ok, I was excited to read this one...it had a nice cover, a good description and thus good potentional. but i didn't like the whole troll thing. I think if they would have stuck with calling them Trylle it would have read better. I don't know I couldn't get past the whole stereotype of how trolls are normally depicted. Also I just didn't like the world the author took us too. It was pretty depressing and quite a let down to read her moving from one situation that wasn't all that bad to a worse one. I'm not investing in the sequel...however like some people said...it isn't vampires or werewolfs anymore with this one...
1228535
Thought I would try something different, this book is different, not bad, but not my taste.
473498
I have to say it was not the ending I expected. The tone seemed very different from the first 3. I do hope we get more of their story in future books.
4062838
I'm conflicted on how to rank/review this book. I had to think on this a while today just to write this review. The book started off a bit slow, but picked up speed, but ended with a cliff-hanger. I personally didn't like Sean & Harper, I can't say why either, I just didn't. The whole dark feel of the story, the addiction issues & the BDSM type scene really aren't my cup of tea, I'm sure that hurt my enjoyment factor, as I usually like this author's books. I hope others will enjoy this more than I did.
3470307
I downloaded the book without reading the description or any customer reviews. I bought it solely because of the author. I am an adult and a huge Harry Potter fan. I was not expecting this to be anything like Harry Potter, but was excited to see what else JKR wrote.

I read some of the reviews after I finished the book to see what others thought since I was feeling conflicted about my final opinion. I was surprised by what I found because I had a different take than many that posted. I did not have a problem following that many characters. I did not find the characters unlikeable. I did not find the first half boring. I did not think JKR was writing for shock value.

I thought it was a conventional "how are all of these people going to be connected" type plot with very interesting characters. I liked that there was not a good guy or bad guy. The characters were written like actual people with good and bad traits, beautifully written. I read a little before bed each night and found myself really looking forward to reading more.

The last of the book picked up quickly and went in a direction I was not expecting. I hated the ending plain and simple. I put the book down feeling disturbed and disappointed.

It appears this book is definitely not for everyone. I will say though that I found myself thinking about the book, the characters, their story lines, that awful ending, all of it days after I finished. It stuck with me and made me think.  It is an odd feeling because I do not think this has ever happened before, but overall I guess I loved it and hated it.
2490466
This was a difficult book to review. First i did not like the fact that the script seemed to have odd twists that felt off for me. I loved Levi and Kendall for the majority of the book. By the end i was extremely disappointed because it was so different from what i expected. The first letter written that opens the book got me super freaking excited and then it just felt wrong. A lot of inconsistencies. I love Isabella's writing and it was all there but i just feel maybe this story changed so much and then jumbled and was a little rushed. I definitely did not like Amanda and towards the end i just started skim reading because i was disappointed with the direction of the characters. I didn't know this was a menage or id have read with caution because really i was not expecting that. I will still read any of her books i just wasn't a real fan of this one.
4100343
As this series progresses I seem to be losing interest. While the plot progresses and I will finish the series it has not lived up to my expectations. This book used a very different writing style and seemed to lose a little of the story in the process
4387464
This one is tough to review, as I've been a long time fan who loves the series. I want to give them all 5 stars. That said, the overall story arc of the curse from the previous book moves along, but the couple's story isn't what I'd hoped for. A few things bothered me, foremost was the very basic storyline for the MC. It was quite similar in a number of aspects to Exiled, which was not a favorite of mine. The main characters really left me a bit cold, even with the tons of sexy time. She was more than a tiny bit annoying, he was quite the alpha, but just didn't do anything for me. I found myself skimming some of the sex scenes to get to the story because I just couldn't get into either of them.
THE scene, the one spoken about by readers, where he is ready to make a huge personal sacrifice for her, really bothers me. Not in what makes it a sacrifice (more on that in a minute) , but that there wasn't a real fight about it being made. Not enough, "I'll do it.", "No, I will." Just what seems a token protest and she agrees to let him make the sacrifice. Only discovery of his past stops her, even though it was clearly a very painful idea to him before she knew.  It seemed to me that the willingness to sacrifice for another they care about wasn't equal. Through out, the emotional components of the relationship came across as uneven.

**TRIGGER WARNING**
Now, the sacrifice. I won't give exact details, but I will say that it  involved past, long term sexual abuse and rape. Parts are described in some detail, which, obviously, could be disturbing to some readers. While it doesn't occur in the time frame current to the book, it's there with enough detail to know just what happened. I understand not having such a detail in the blurb, both as a spoiler of sorts and to not turn off readers, however, I'm sure some form of a heads up to those who may find that aspect of the story to be a trigger could be given. And would be appreciated.

All together, as my title says: I didn't love it. Didn't hate it, either. I'll say that it won't be one I re-read , as I do with most of the other books in the BotK series.
3362859
Well...this book went in a completely different direction than I thought it would. That's not really a bad thing...but I just did not like it very much. It starts of slow as Seraphina spends a lot of time searching for the other half-dragons, but it picks up as conflicts from the end of the first book come into play and also with the rise of a certain villain I won't name. In fact, I did not like this villain at all. I think she actually made the book worse bc I was really looking for more of political conflict between the dragon and human worlds, which I really enjoyed from the first book. But this conflict was actually more of a side story in this book as the main plot focused more on the nefarious scheming of this pretty stereotypical villain. I thought the ending in general was really weird and abstract and I was not very satisfied with it.

The story of Seraphina pretty much came to a conclusion with this book; maybe that's for the best. I enjoyed the first book immensely but was not very impressed with this follow-up, which made me a little sad. It was not a bad story, and some may find they actually really like the ending, but it just wasn't for me.
4400516
2.5 Stars
~Reviewed by ANN & posted at Under the Covers Book Blog

In my hopes of learning more and adding depth to Ethan's character, I got a one-dimensional storyline that lacked an emotional draw. ~ Under the Covers

In the second book of the Blackstone Affair, ALL IN takes a different approach, so different that it felt like a totally different series in terms of writing style. This book is from Ethan's POV and it turned out to be vastly different than my expectations. From the first book, I took away several things: I thought Ethan was sexy and dominant. I thought getting Ethan's POV would mean readers would get a deeper insight into his mind and his own personal struggles. And I thought that this book would make me love him more.

Getting to read Ethan's POV changed how I saw him. He seemed a little too whiny in the beginning, pining for Brynne until he seemed wholly consumed by it and nothing else. While romantic, it also felt a little too forced because Brynne and Ethan fall in love so quickly in the first book that the challenges they are facing now seem too soon and too unrealistic for me to really invest in it fully. While I could push that aside for the time being as I continued to read, there was another thing that disappointed me about this book.

I thought we would get greater insight into Ethan's mind. While Miller does provide readers with a series of flashbacks that are a twisted combination of Brynne and Ethan's current predicaments and Ethan's traumatic experiences from his time in the military, I didn't get that emotional pull that I got from the first book. I totally missed the charismatic and dominant side of Ethan and got annoyed by the constant phrasing of "my girl" as if he was a teenage boy, staking claim on his first love. In my hopes of learning more and adding depth to Ethan's character, I got a one-dimensional storyline that lacked an emotional draw.

I had hoped for something more edgy and dark. While the suspense aspect of the book wasn't bad, I kept thinking how different this book felt to me as I had just jumped from reading book one, NAKED straight into this one. I'll be jumping into book three, EYES WIDE OPEN and doing exactly that, keeping an open mind, hoping this one floors me as it did the first book.

*ARC provided by Publisher
2501427
ALMOST FINAL CURTAIN was not as intriguing as the first book in the series. It was like suddenly I didn't really care for these characters anymore. It was a bit surprising.

In ALMOST FINAL CURTAIN, Ana just seemed too dull to me. And I didn't really enjoy watching her going out with Nikolai while being engaged to Elias due to the last book. It is very obvious throughout this book that she likes Elias. And she and Nikolai are having problems with their relationship due to Ana being between the vampires and the witches.

I think I was hoping for too much in ALMOST FINAL CURTAIN and Tate Hallaway didn't seem to deliver that. When I read the first installment of the series I was intrigued with the half vampire-witch princess concept and was hoping that it would expand but it didn't.
2249256
Does anyone else feel like this was written by someone other than Patricia Briggs?  Language and style just seems different to me.  Binge re-read the first 9 books before reading this and it just has a different feel to me than the other books.  And not in a good way.
1524929
I've noticed a pattern in her books that is just not my style. I can see where the series is going
1495966
Well, I was excited to get this book based on the description, but it turns out that it isn't really a standalone novel. Since I haven't read the previous books I really felt like I wasn't quite keeping up with the story line throughout most of the book.

For people that have read the previous books, I'm sure they will like this one too - I'm just saying that it isn't a great place to start.
1798869
This book is not your usual rocker romance. At first, I almost didn't finish the book. I thought it was going to be another book about a weak female character who takes back her cheating ex. I am all for kicking cheaters to the curb and keeping them there. Don't want to spoil the story for you because this book turned out to be different than I expected with a twist at the end that I didn't see coming. I gave this book 3 stars because I felt Tage was short changed. His part of the book was rushed. Asher makes some really stupid choices, and they really aren't explained.
2397528
This book went in a completely different direction than I expected it to.  I wasn't sure I liked it at first, and the... unexpected setting... is admittedly pretty dismal.  But it is supposed to be, and although it dragged in a few places, I thought the story overall was well done and brought some fresh new plot twists to the series.  The ending was good, and I look forward to the next book.

If it helps:  I loved the first two books in this series!  Book 3 was also fairly good.  I can't say I enjoyed Blackveil as much as the previous three, but it was likely on a similar level to Mirror Sight.
4751028
I love the series and am a steady fan. I was so looking forward to receiving this book. Something feels very different about this one, though. It is almost as if it were written by someone other then Ms. Washburn. It didn't ring true to me; almost written from a male perspective. The characterization of Sam is so exaggerated and heavy-handed in his dialogue it struck me as overkill. Sam is an educated man - a teacher. He would not use poor grammar or be thought of as a "redneck" - a term used in the book. The women in this one are non-existent. I enjoyed in past books the interaction between the ladies and that is more or less missing. I loved the easy flow of the others - definitely an easy read. However, this one feels much more basic then the others. It felt like reading a book geared toward pre-teens. I will look forward to the next in the series but hope Ms. Washburn's original style returns.