very disappointing - not really strong characters
936258
This author thinks alpha males are just rapists.  Of course its fantasy rape.  This delta rapist (this charater is no alpha) forces the female lead down constantly, she struggles and then of course to keep it from being "called" rape she suddenly likes it.  The guy is supposed to be a charming and sophisticated man of the world (at least we are told that by the author); instead he comes off as a weak ass man and has to resort to force and rape to keep the woman he wants in the same room.  A true alpha doesn't need to force a woman who is supposed to be attracted to him to stay and talk.  This guy does.  The woman is basiclly weak and powerless.  No romance, just force, and a weak female character, and a delta rapist male equals save your money and pass unless your into the sick rape sex that some lazy authors use instead of creating really good romance with two strong charaters.  Those are the books I seek, but unfortunately you have to read alot of these bad books to find the gems.  Don't waste your money on this author.
4244865
I decided to give this book a try after reading all of the great reviews... and was completely disappointed. Maybe I went into it with too high of hopes, but this book was awful. I couldn't even finish it. I cared nothing about any of the characters and didn't feel connected to the story at all. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen - and it never did. I really wanted to like this book - but sadly, it wasn't that great. I'm not sure why all the 5 star ratings...
4664586
I don't quite know how to word the way I feel about this book. I remember faintly seeing a lifetime movie about it years ago, so I thought I would read the book. It started off VERY slow, and I was waiting for it to pick up and it just never did. I did not really enjoy the characters, and the over-all story. I was disappointed by this book because the premise of it really sounded like it would be a good read.
3673286
This book was not very good. I could barely make it through the book. The plot started out to be promising but then grew duller and duller. Also, I thought that the characters were completely unbelievable. Like in the beginning of the book when they left their home so quickly without giving much thought into it. Overall, I thought this book was boring and sounded unfinished
1198387
This book disappointed me.  I am a huge fan of the Vorkosigan series and Cordelia is one of my favorite characters so I was really looking forward to a book featuring her.  There were some mildly interesting situations but here never seemed to be much of a plot - which was a huge letdown since one of the things I love most is the convoluted plots.  Not only that but the characters seemed flat - even Miles was boring!  I kept waiting for the twist that would make everything interesting - but it never happened.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!  Read past here at your own risk!

I absolutely hated the reveal that Count Aral Vorkosigan had been involved in a long term romantic relationship with Jole.  Aral and Cordelia were such a great couple - two strong individuals that actually made each other stronger. The idea that he was cheating on her (even if she apparently didn't mind) was revolting.
2996888
The only somewhat interesting thing about this book was its ending. It had an unexpected twist. I didn't particularly like any of the characters. You have to read about halfway into the book before Colin's wife dies and he goes into depression. It begins with his marital issues and the couple's inability to conceive, and then her death. Very depressing and his relationships and interactions with clients, etc. It was just an overall depressing story with a guy who seemed to go off the deepend. The wife's dialogue was most always weak, short, choppie, ambiguous, undeveloped or wishy-washy. I was bored reading this and pushed forward hoping it got better--it didn't. I'm disappointed I purchased this book. I don't plan on buying or reading anymore books or literature written by Travis Thrasher. I want to read interesting stories, not boring, depressing and pointless dialogue that doesn't hold my interest.
3986792
Such a disappointment. Knowing what a skilled writer JKR is and her amazing creativity I purchased this book with high expectations. What a let down. I found the characters to be dull and no one was likable so I didn't really care about them or their situations which were not very interesting anyway. The first fifty or so pages were just introducing the characters. I tried to read it to the end thinking it would improve as we went along but it didn't seem to be heading in that direction so I gave up. There are plenty of good books to read; why waste my time.
2950248
Could not sustain interest in the characters or the plot
4278644
I'll state it up front: this book was disappointing. I'm not arguing the whole "Hunter dies in the beginning" point. I actually thought that made for an interesting plot element. Tiernan had started setting something to this extent up in the previous book by mentioning Colm & that ending his job as a Seeker meant that Hunter would be unguarded. It's just that this book is very poor in quality when held up against the other Sweep books. It read more like a fanfiction you'd find on the internet than something by Tiernan herself.

This book finds Morgan reeling over the death of her beloved Hunter in a freak ferry accident. Years pass and Morgan has managed to heal, marry one of her fellow witches of Belwicket, as well as give birth to her daughter Moira. The story picks back up six months after the death of her husband, with Moira going through many of the same issues Morgan herself went through as a new dark force threatens their peace & whispers of secrets held for sixteen years.

As a standalone book, this wasn't bad. It's readable & entertaining for the most part. However, when I compare it to the rest of the Sweep books, it frankly sucks. The previous books were all of high quality (even when I didn't like them that much), so this one was incredibly disappointing to read.

The #1 failure of the book is that it runs through too many plot elements too quickly. Another reviewer stated that the book has Moira going through all of Morgan's issues in the span of a few days, which is the truth. So much happens so quickly that it's really not all that believable & very little of the plot is fleshed out enough to make any of these elements have any life of their own. Moira is pretty much a watered down version of Morgan, with little personality of her own. She's not an unlikeable character by any means, but the book goes by so quickly that very little of Moira's personality shows through. She pines after a boy, she mopes over her father's death, she anquishes over the "is he or isn't he evil" signs. Other characters are trotted out, but are so thinly written that you pretty much ignore them for the most part.

If this had been fleshed out more & put into 2-3 books rather than one book, the story would have been far better. It's just that the book is "this happens, oh now this happens & this happens". The ending is frankly ridiculous when you realize how quickly everyone supposedly moves & realizes things.

I liked the book enough to give it 3 stars, since Tiernan's writing ability shines through & manages to polish this lackluster entry with as much gusto as she can. I know that the publishing company had an unreasonable amount of control over the series length & plotting, so it is them that I blame for this book. At times it felt like I could really sense Tiernan's frustration over having to cram 2-3 books (600-900 pages)worth of plot into 300 pages.

If you are a Sweep fan, I recommend getting it & reading it just so you can finish the series. I just recommend getting this from the library instead & sticking to just volumes 1-14 for the basic story. This book just could have been so much better, which is where this story really disappoints- you know the potential it could have had.

2.9/5
3684710
I have been a Emily Giffin fan since Something Borrowed was released and was really looking forward to the release of this book. I'm sad to say that I was very disappointed! Besides their lack of depth, the characters in this book are just boring and unlikable. The relationship between Shea and Coach was creepy and I grew tired of her football obsession very quickly. Unlike the rest of Emilys books, I would NOT recommend this book to a friend. Check out Emily's other books if you haven't already read them, but pass on The One & Only.
3398705
I had read another book by this same author that I thought was really well done.  This one was a disappointment.  It did not have much of a plot, just a group of barely connected characters with a rather silly premise.  There were parts that were amusing, but as a whole, there are better things to read than this book.
407298
I love paranormal romance, and have read many of the popular series; sadly this one seems to fall short of my expectations. Most PNR storylines follow a standard structure that involves a hero (or heroine) and a protagonist; the story leads the reader through a certain amount of angst combined with serious threats from a diabolical or sources, all mixed up with some well placed steamy sex scenes. As well as that, the vamps are otherworldly in their abilities with super-human, multi faceted (often insane) levels of varied paranormal skills.

This series (and I have tried the first two) offers seriously watered down versions of the usual vampire skills and temperaments; they are sooooo nice as to be rather inane and weak creatures that are prone to all too human emotions and problems. Yawn. When I read this genre of books I have come to expect the weird and wild, with all the bells and whistles of paranormal crazy strength and abilities with equally mad villians who are nearly (but not quite) as strong. Sand's books seem to only deal with the nuances of love and the trials of new relationships with exactly one very watered down bad guy for a little difficulty...I found myself disliking both the main characters for their lack of character.  Sorry fans of this series...thumbs down for me!
734478
not worth buying - check it out of your local library if you think you really want to read it
1464010
After reading so many of Grafton's books and enjoying the devil-may-care personality of P.I. Kinsey Milhorne, I was very disappointed in this book. There are so many characters ,I was hardly able to keep up with who was who, and why, and none of them were appealing anyway. In this book, Kinsey teams up with her old pal, Con ,from the police force. He later  has the heart attack he  too obviously deserves from all the overly mentioned cigarette smoking and alcohol imbibing. A third member of the ensuing investigation and a close friend and mentor of Con's,  Sheriff's Dept. retiree, Stacey Oliphant, is dying of cancer.  Con feels if the three of them join forces to solve an old case of Stacey's, it will pull him out of his depressed state and give him something to think about .The setting , mainly in windblown,  dreary, one horse, mobile home  towns with names like Creosote,AZ or was it CA?  did nothing for me either. Hope Grafton can have a rest between books and rejuvenate her high spirits which are probably evident in her main character.
2492132
This is the first time I have read a Bernhardt novel. I am a fan of all the other typical thriller authors - Lee Child, Michael Connelly, John Sanford, etc. I was very disappointed. I think the overall plot was a great idea - I liked the numerology involved - but I just didn't think he did a good job establishing the characters. There was no one character that I was rooting for. Although Darcy, the autistic companion, was interesting, I didn't feel particularly connected to any of the characters. I found myself skimming through the book to get to the end just to find out what the outcome was and not really caring about the pages in the middle. Sometimes Bernhardt would be very detailed about certain specifics (numerology and its history) but I didn't feel it was well woven into the book. It was like he took a couple pages from an encyclopedia and threw them into the middle of the book. I also found that in some of the passages he didn't have a good grasp on writing in the first person for a female character. Some of her thoughts (about a female friend in particular) seemed more from a man's view rather than a woman's. Overall, I was very disappointed because I was hoping to find another author I could enjoy and count on for quality material. I just didn't find it with this one. Being able to sit down to read a book is a luxury and I regretted the time wasted on this book.
3014148
The storyline was weak as were the characters!

I really was very disappointed with this book, and wouldn't have even given it one star!

Don't waste your time!
1033835
I agree with many of the reviewers who were disappointed in this book. I actually struggled to finish it. Neither character was very likable. The chemistry between Allison and Liam was nonexistent and the plot was extremely weak. Definitely not worth the purchase price and not up to this author's usual caliber.