I wanted to love it, but...
927091
Totally unrealistic and absurd. You lost me at "Cuddle Bunny" and "Twinkle Pot". I felt like my intelligence was being insulted. Just too far fetched for my liking.
4146186
I wanted to LOVE this book.  It is written with such intelligence and flair, revealing the myriad lives of a very likeable Ursula who is born to live again, and again, and again.

But to what purpose?  One might be tempted to think that there is NO purpose, and that Atkinson is simply showing off her story-telling skills, demonstrating that within the same basic story dwell infinite posssibilies. This would be fine in its own way, although perhaps a little meaningless.  We all know that but for the grace of a supreme deity ...

The problem is that Ursula begins to have inklings that she has lived her story before, and she starts to change her behaviour at critical junctions, leading us to believe that she can alter her ultimate destiny.  If she can only just change the right bits in the right order, the universe will unfold for her (and those she loves) in the way it was meant to.  Unfortunately, Ursula remembers only some of the time that she has experienced a situation before, and that she must do something concrete to help herself; other times, she has only a vague inkling or simply a feeling of dread.  In the end the story turns out somewhat haphazardly "right" (Ursula's actions lead towards what many would be satisfied to call a positive consequence).  My problem is that I was left feeling unsatisfied and cheated - I felt that Ursula would CONTINUE to be born again and again, and it was entirely possible that the next time her life unfolded, she might get it completely wrong again.  Ultimately, it seemed there was no real end to the story, only an infinite range of possibilities.  If this was what the author intended all along, what was the point in Ursula beginning to sense her past lives and trying to alter her current behaviour and her potential outcome?

The premise was great; the end was just a tad unsatisfying and illogical (yes, I use this word advisedly, despite my willingness to suspend disbelief in a huge way throughout the novel).  Also, sometimes the book stagnated a bit and Ursula's time in Germany seemed a little contrived.

I thought the bits about WW2 were excellent; I'd given little thought before to the deprivations the English (and the French and Germans, by necessary implication) must have suffered.  In some ways this was the strongest part of the book.

Overall, this was well worth reading, and not at all your usual humdrum fare.
623811
I wanted to love this book. At least, I wanted to like it.

However, I don't feel that it delivers what the title suggests. The tone inside the book isn't as inclusive as I'd like. In some passages, it's downright dogmatic.  Like another reviewer, I wanted to ask the author, "Okay... where did THAT come from?"

If it had been simple prayers, chosen from the Bible -- even a very modern version -- that would have made me happy.  Really, a seven-page book of powerful Psalms would have been fine.

Unfortunately, the tone and the opinions (even if the author feels they're inspired)... they turned me off just a few pages into this book, and I'm someone who reads Scripture daily.

The cover of the book is lovely. The title of the book drew me right in.

But then the contents lost me pretty quickly.  I'm glad it's inspiring and meaningful for others, but it wasn't right for me.
1298328
The idea behind this book is a good one, and I feel like the book could have come out better than it did. I really wanted to like this book when I started, and I did end up enjoying it, but not as much as I hoped I would.

Mainly, this book just seemed choppy. I could get over the clichd aspect of the novel because it's rare to find a book that doesn't contain some sort of clich, however, the book seemed to jump all over, and some it was hard to connect certain times, places, relationships because they just didn't seem to add up or make sense.

Throughout the entire book, I felt like I was missing pieces of information that would have brought sense to the story. For example, how Katy goes from knowing something is different about her but not knowing what exactly to suddenly performing spells with Hattie, without much of a transition between the two. Parts of the book just seemed to jump around and it made it hard for me to enjoy the story as much as I wanted to.

I did like this book, I just feel like it could have been better if there had been a little more flow to it.
4898198
I wanted so desperately to like this book more. It physically hurts that I can't give it a higher review, but it just has a couple vital things missing that keeps me from absolutely loving it.

Beginning was good. I liked how the story really got going almost instantly. No fumbling around and building up the main characters in a couple slow, awkward first chapters here. I will say that about this book too: character development was ON POINT. By the end of the book I KNEW these people. Every single character I got to see different sides and perspectives. No one was a crazy evil villain or a goody-goody. Even the main character, Cara, had her faults. Stealing away the crush of your sister is not exactly a slap on the wrist kind of move.

Then the middle comes along. I'm invested by now. I DESPERATELY want to know all about the past between Cara and Boone, but naturally the author kept me on my toes. And this was okay for a while. Like I said, it definitely kept me intrigued while I struggled through the endless insults and cat fights and ugly outfits. When I say struggled, I mean I sort of enjoyed the tense and nerve-wracking scenes at the beginning but then got over them for several reasons. First, the number of incidents just became too much. It really started to feel unrealistic. Second, I couldn't understand how Cara could have an honestly touching and realistic heart-to-heart with her ex, only to be in a screaming match with him the next morning. If they settled things so well--he said sorry, she said sorry kind of thing--why is he back to insulting her and her date like that never happened? Finally, they bothered me because I felt they were starting to take up "screen time" between Cara and Boone.

**Sorry, some spoilers**

That brings me to my last big issue with this book. I could feel the sexual tension. It, again, kept my on the edge of my seat like all the other things going on. I waited. And waited. And waited some more. BUT NOTHING REALLY HAPPENED! I hated that I became this fiend who NEEDED to read some action, but it wasn't fair that the authored made these characters so sexually charged and kept alluding to sexual incidents but never really followed through with a big moment. Even a fade-to-black kind of scene would have satisfied my thirst. But, unfortunately, I know exactly why the author didn't have a sweaty and gasping moment between Cara and Boone. This book really wasn't about that. The history we're shown implies that they've already had plenty of those moments. This week between them was about healing and forgiving. Sadly, sex does complicate things and I give them credit and the author for not going that far. Of course that still does not make me any happier about the fact that it didn't happen.

Overall, this book did give a satisfyingly happy ending. Would I have liked an epilogue? Umm, YES! But it wasn't really needed. Cara and Boone knew where they were headed and weren't going to make the same mistakes they did before. I got that. Do I think the ending was almost a little too perfect after everything? Yes, again. But I liked it all and that goes along with my general feel of this book: I did like it. Like I said before, I wanted to like it so much more, but that's obviously just my opinion. The author still did great work and I look forward to her next book.
970605
I really wanted to love this book but I just couldn't. I didn't connect with the story or the characters. While I found Luc overly charming and darling, I just couldn't get into the story the way I would have liked. Having said that, I did like. Luc, the male lead you're meant to fall in love with, was my favorite part of the novel. The female lead was so bland that I have to look up her name, it's Megan. I could finish the book which is a sign that it wasn't absolutely horrific.
986406
I really wanted to love this book.  The sample grabbed me, but finished product felt like it needed more.  The formatting is what did me in.  On my reader I had no paragraph breaks, and that didn't allow the story or the characters to flow.
168751
I admit it: I feel like a grinch or a curmudgeon. But I really WANTED to love this book, to be charmed or moved by it. I crossed my fingers and toes for that to happen. But it didn't, even though if anything I'm more addicted to books than its author and have routinely used them to cope with the vicissitudes of real life.

Nina Sankovitch decides to read a book a day for an entire year, as a way to cope with her grief at the premature death of her sister and find her way back to life. The books are a means to an end, rather than an end in themselves, which made this a less-than-exciting read for myself and other book addicts of my acquaintance. True, I learned about books that I may not have heard of or discovered elsewhere, without which I might simply have given up on the book and turned to reading something else. Like Sankovitch, I'm an insatiable reader, averaging more than a book a day; that said, life is too short to read something that ended up feeling more like a way for the author to cope with her grief than either an insightful book about reading or something that others battling with grief may find useful. Frankly, had this been about another way of coping with grief -- for instance, following a favorite sports team around for a year, or designing and making a quilt -- I would have abandoned it altogether.

This doesn't fall into the category of what I call "stunt memoirs" -- books in which the author decides to tell the story of an experience sought out for the experience of retelling it in a book or a blog. Had that been the case, I wouldn't have bothered to read it at all. While the thematic approach Sankovitch takes, linking her reading to her memories of her sister and family and to broad themes such as friendship, children, etc., makes this better than it would otherwise have been, I also think it contributed to the repetition of anecdotes (involving the one time her sister broke down, for instance, or finding her sister's sweater). And the books emerge as tools rather than as works in their own right.

I wish I hadn't been so underwhelmed by this memoir. I'm glad the author emerged from her grief and came back to life, but while memoirs like that of Joyce Carol Oates about suddenly being widowed made me feel the author's pain and loneliness, this one gave me no fresh insights. On the contrary, the author muses that "my reading, sometimes painful and often exhausting, was pulling me out of the shadows and into the light." There's a lot along these lines, and after a while it became predictable and -- given the context of Sankovitch's project -- sadly tedious. But a book dealing with some of the universal issues we must all grapple with -- love and loss -- that wants to stand out from the pack has to deliver more than this one does.

I admit I'm likely to be in the minority on this. I tried hard not to be, even re-reading parts of the book after a lapse of a week or two to see if it grew on me. But it didn't; I just ended up wondering what it could have become in the hands of someone who was not only an avid reader but a writer with a flair for taking her own readers to new territory.
854829
I so wanted to love this. I thought I was getting a cheaper version of the Dyson but this was a disappointment. Admittedly, I haven't used the Dyson side-by-side with this, but my assumption based on reviews is that it's fabulous. The Pyle vacuum comes packaged beautifully, and is, in fact a beautiful machine. However, it doesn't suction particles larger than dust off of my hardwood floors unless I lift up and place the vacuum head right over the object (I'm talking about tiny bits of paper, etc., not legos or rocks). The vacuum is meant to be disassembled before being placed into the charging base, which I find to be a hassle. It does charge while assembled, but it stands upside down in a way that feels precarious and dangerous to my toddler who plays in that room since it could easily topple. Most disturbingly, there isn't an off/on switch, just a button I have to grip the whole time I'm vacuuming. I'm a healthy woman in my 30s, with no arthritis and pretty fit, but having to press that button down the whole time I'm sweeping starts to hurt after about 2 minutes. I think part of the problem might also be that the bulk of the machine's weight is in the motor/handle, so you're also having to lift that up while also squeezing. Finally, if I elevate the head while holding onto the wand and not the motor (I can't even think of why I needed to do this, but I did) the motor fell right off onto my floor.
I will say that the dust cup was easy to clean and that the machine picked up tiny particles and dust ok. If it weren't for the button that has to be squeezed the whole time, I'd probably keep it, but that's a deal breaker for me. It's going back.
1378875
I really wanted to like this vacuum.  It was a better price and much more attractive than the Neato or Roombas.

Pros:
-Suction - Sucks up a lot of dirt/dust/hair - I was surprised at the amount of stuff it picked up.  It does struggle with larger pieces of debris like paper or "heavier" stuff... like the small glass pieces from the lamp it knocked down.
-Side Brush - It really sweeps along the edges very well.  (See Cons, also, this is also one of its major stumbling blocks)
-Quiet - It's a vacuum, it's going to have some noise.  However, this was definitely quieter than I expected.
-Run Time - It runs for about an hour and a half
-Low height - she fits under the dresser and bed which is great for getting all the dust/dog hair underneath.
-Price - it simply beats Roomba & Neato Prices.
-Build Quality - It's a good looking, seemingly well built vacuum.  The Bin is pretty easy to empty, the silver finish and touch buttons are nice and the remote is a +

Now the Cons I've run across that have ultimately made me decide to return:

-Sensors: Some things it senses perfectly, goes around, etc.  my Chairs (plain black wooden chairs) it can't see - it rams them constantly.  I came home to two of them in another room.  She pushed my large tropical plant all over the place (in a black 10" high container) I also have a 'bar cart' in my dining room that it just kept ramming into.  The indent under my cabinets are not high enough for her to get under.  Not her fault, however, she can't sense the cabinets either and again just keeps ramming into the cabinet doors.  Heading upstairs, same with the vanity and footboard - she can't 'see them' and just keeps banging into them.  She also has a habit of knocking into her docking station which makes it harder for her to juice up later.

-Side  Brush: It's long and great for sweeping side boards, however, due to the design and length of it... as Bobi approaches area rugs, the brush sweeps under it and then starts to lift it as she tries to roll up on it and gets herself caught/stuck.

-Docking: Bobi calls it "Juice".  She struggles with docking.  She can 'look' right at her docking station (it flashes when they sense each other) and then turn around and wander off down the hallway.  She ultimately has ended up finding it 90% of the time.

-Aggressiveness: this leads back to the sensors - stuff she can't sense she just keeps ramming and pushing.  Roombas have an anti-tangle feature that if it senses its sucked up a cord or something similar, it stops and reverses its brushes and backs away.  Not Bobi, she keeps attacking.  She knocked down a floor lamp.  She yanked down a side table lamp.  Yes, ideally you should be getting cords out of the way to begin with - but sometimes you miss some forgetting how she gets into and under things where you might not think.

-Dropout: When Bobi goes to and from even minor transitions -- she leaves small piles of hair, dust, etc.  She goes over minimum transitions pretty well, but she can't make it into my kitchen.  It's about a 1" transition that's ramped... but as she starts climbing I think she thinks she's at a cliff and backs off.

If you have a very open house this may work for you, but it did not work for my older less open house.
3604543
I wanted to love this. I really did. But I find myself slightly disappointed.

What I like:

It's a good variety of colors, and always the Playdoh is soft and fun. The roller and "stamper" are both easy to use. And it's cute.

What I don't like:

It's covered in little molds shaped like different tools. They are small enough and deep enough that I highly doubt many kids could press the Playdoh in and successfully remove it without squashing the design in the process. My son can't do it at all. Even on my best attempts, most of the tools and jackhammers and such were slightly misshapen as I removed them. Larger molds would have been much less frustrating.

Also, the back of the cement mixer opens up, and along with the little extruder, there's a decent sized open space. It would be great if this could be used as storage, but alas. It can't even fit the stamper. You could store a container of playdoh in there, but that's it. It seems like wasted space. Had it been even a tiny bit larger, it could have actually been useful. As a mom who already had plenty of loose Playdoh accessories to store, I would have greatly appreciated that.
1547597
I really wanted to love this, it gets great reviews, and seemed perfect for my space. Unfortunately, we got it n, set it up, turned it on, and, nothing... If the cord is positioned just right, and the stars align, sometimes it will flicker on for a brief moment. It appears as though there's a short in the cord. I'm hoping the manufacturer will make right and exchange this for us.
4930913
I really wanted to love this story, because I love this writer. But in the end I just wasn't thrilled with the story.  You know it can't end well, and well maybe I'm a hopeless HEA reader.  I think if maybe the story had started at the beginning of their love affair, I would have been more accepting of the end, but then again maybe not....
3844187
I wanted to love this so much. It doesn't fit me at all.
1571740
I so wanted to love this vacuum.  Unfortunately it has some serious shortcomings... The biggest issue for me is that the dust bin (or whatever it is called) needs to be emptied after each cleaning.  I bought this to clean the house while I'm on vacation.  Obviously, it can't do that if it constantly needs to be emptied by a human.

My next issue is that it would get stuck under the toe-kick on my kitchen counters.  This necessitates human intervention, or it grinds away at the floor.  While it didn't do any damage to the floors itself, it did eat a bit of the gel mat I have at the sink area.

Another problem is that it would wander off and get lost in "remote" areas of the house.  This can be alleviated by using the little room divider things (again, not the technical term), however, they are obvious and unattractive, and if you want to use the Roomba in a separate section, you have to put it there... once again, requiring human intervention.

Finally, the fact that the Roomba is round means that it really doesn't do corners all that well.  There's a little brush piece goes out ahead of the robot, but it doesn't do a spectacular job brushing things into the vacuum area.  And it really didn't do well under the dining room table.  There were distinct areas it didn't touch over the 2 weeks I kept it.

I did find that the house was less dusty, as I was much more willing to use the Roomba every day, than use a vacuum (could have been the the novelty of the thing).  It did seem to pick up more dust than dry mopping, especially in the tiny grooves between the laminate floor pieces.  It was also entertaining... the whole family (including pets), had fun watching "Roombie" maneuver around.  However, this is not a passive vacuum.  It got stuck, or lost EVERY SINGLE TIME it was operated.
4315226
It was so much cheaper than the official Sony one, I wanted to love it. Sadly, it wouldn't charge. It looks like some people had great luck with it and some didn't, I just drew the short straw this time.
3245821
I wanted to love this, but it does not seem to be designed properly to allow keys to smoothly bypass or stack on top of one another.  The product could be improved by...well, a trip back to the engineering department.  Maybe it would work better with a different key spacing/placement design, perhaps plates of a different length (Shorter? Longer? I have no idea), or even different screws or washers. I'm pretty handy and actually enjoy assembling things (cheap furniture, kids' toys, IKEA junk...). This, however, was so maddening! I have small hands and just enough fingernails to be useful, but during installation I found myself getting frustrated with the minutely-sized pieces. I'm dreading the inevitable task of helping my husband and his meaty mitts when he tries to assemble his own W-plus key holder.  Problem number one - teeny tiny rubber washers with the centers still attached.  Ok...I used my fingernails to pick the tiny centers out, but what's Mr. Man-Hands gonna do - Get out some dental tools and mini-forceps?  Problem two - spacing the keys within the plates is an impossible puzzle to complete. I took this thing apart a half dozen times trying to get four keys in it without the extension pieces.  It just wouldn't work.  I tried doubling up on the rubber washer spacers on one side to provide enough clearance for a key on the opposite side to rotate, but then the key wouldn't remain parallel to the plates when tightening up the screws. I tried leaving the spacers between keys out; still no luck. No matter what, unless you have very, very short keys (such as those used for small padlocks), they will not stack or nest nicely inside the two plates without excessive fiddling between every use. Problem three - the screw design. It seems impossible to tighten the screws just enough to keep the keys from rotating freely without ultimately over-tightening everything, which results in undue effort to swing a key out for use. And, by using the nylon/rubber washer arrangement as indicated in the diagram, very little space is left on the screw posts for actual keys. Even with the minimum number of washers on either side of the plate I could not get more than four keys (that's only two each side) into the device, and when I got four into it, the keys were so awkwardly nested/spaced, I couldn't get them to rotate. MADDENING! I've reduced the number of keys in my device to three. I could carry more, but I would need to use the extension pieces, and then it would be bigger than I'd like, plus I'm not a janitor, so I don't really need very many keys with me on a daily basis.  I don't know if I'll keep using this, and I certainly wouldn't recommend the product to anyone until the company does some redesigns.