I just thought I'd buy into the hype but honestly how could you give this two stars
343515
I decided to read the Da Vinci Code a while back just to see what all the hubbub was about.  It was fun, fast, even made me think and overall had some pretty nice twists and turns.  However, it was not nearly as incredible as I was expecting it to be since it nearly outsold the Bible or became the new bible to some people.
That being said this follow up is probably one of the worst books I have read.  I was a sucker and already spent the money, so I had to read it to the end.  I can't even tell you how many times I shook my head while reading, out of pure disbelief of character reactions and plot points .  Honestly, the entire plot was pointless.  I mean who really cares if Masons make up a part of our Government, like that would be a surprise to anyone to find out there are secret societies in Washington.  And honestly if the Robert Langdon is suppose to be this brilliant Prof. from Harvard why is he so dumb. Why can't he make a decision and why is someone else always figuring it out first.  Actually everyone involved in this novel knows the secret already so what is the point of keeping it secret.  I could watch National Treasure one and two and enjoy it more than this book.  Sorry for the backhanded compliment National Treasure.  Man this was an awful book and the last one I ever read from Dan Brown.
4118789
I can't lie, when this popped up on my recommendations I was excited, especially after reading the reviews. It DID draw me in right away, but it didn't keep me there. The characters don't have any substance. I didn't feel a connection with any of them. I read it through thinking it would get better...and it did at the end. Which is why I purchased the second book. Big mistake. Same problems with huge chunks of time missing. This will be the first series EVER that I started and just don't care what happens next.
3673663
I have been avoiding this book after hearing that the main character's first name is Sookie, but seeing so many wonderful reviews, I figured I should check out what all the hype was about.  Let me also mention that Sookie roughly translates to '[...]' from Russian, but I do realize that Ms. Harris had no way of knowing that. Oh my was I disappointed with this book, first names aside.  Everyone in town thought that Sookie was crazy due to her rumored 'disability', but I really can't blame them after her odd behavior.  She laughs for no reason, acts like a complete airhead most of the time (being called naive is too mild a word), doesn't seem to possess any depth and even when she tries to show compassion it only goes so far, doesn't think through a single action, and completely embraces her own stupidity. Based on her descriptions, it really appears that the towns people got it right, and she is not entirely there most of the time. It's also mentioned that she is well read, but I don't remember her ever picking up a single book while getting a tan or whatever she did all day. Also she mentioned that she only lived with her elderly grandmother to help her out, but the poor lady cooked and cleaned while the lazy 25 year old lounged around the house. How's that helping?

And then there is Bill.  I realize that Ms. Harris tried to make a joke out of the name, but it fell completely flat.  I still don't know what he is, since his character is not well developed.  Is he a monster? Is he a sweet guy next door? Or is he just completely boring and uninteresting by nature? I don't know (although I'm leaning towards the last) and the writer didn't seem fit to fill us in on his personality traits.  One of the reviewers wrote that all the characters in this book are two-dimensional and I couldn't agree more.  There is no substance to any of them. I admit that I know very little of Southern behaviors being from the East Coast, but a lot of the stereotypes mentioned in this book came out offensive in my opinion.

Whomever compared this book to any of Hamilton's works got it completely wrong.  I agree that Ms. Hamilton has gone overly x-rated in her latest books, but she is still a wonderful writer and every one of her characters is amazingly well developed.  In comparison, 'Dead Until Dark' reads like the diary ramblings of a mentally challenged 16 year old girl (I upped the age from 12 since almost every other word out of Sookie's mouth was about sex).
2663225
The idea of this book captured me, but I really wish I'd paid more attention to the reviews this time. The characters just aren't convincing, the plot flow is choppy, and the ending is frustratingly lackluster. So much more could have been done with the concept of this book. I'm surprised I even made it all the way through!
4523074
Where do I begin?? I figured it was a fluff story, & I'm usually easy to please... but this was pretty bad. The concept was cool, the main character Anna had so much potential. It was full of run-on sentences, & it was like the author was writing it hopped up on caffeine. Or sugar. Or both. The editing wasn't the greatest either, made it like it was written by an 11 year old. The 3 best friends scenario (won't add a spoiler) made it boring. It was a bad predictable story all around. I'm really sad that I didn't like this more & dislike writing a bad review.
1188448
I have no idea how this became anybody's best seller, unless like me, the buyers got sucked in by the hype.  A beautiful cover hides one of the worst-written books I've read in a long long time.  I can see sparks of what could be interesting storylines and characters, but the writing is inconsistent.  Just when I'd start to get pulled into the story, I'd be dropped into long tedious sections where nothing happens to develop the story or the characters in any way.  Or, I'd be jarred by changes in perspective that came out of nowhere and simply never felt true.  Edited into about half its length, it might be awesome.  As it stands, it is all atmosphere, no guts.
4192316
I forced myself to read the entire novel just because I wanted to see for myself what all the hype was about. I almost threw it out after the first section which deals with the Wicked Witch's childhood. The author left me wondering what he was trying to say. There is an attempt to comment on organized religion (her father is a raving "unionist"). There is also an introduction, incomplete and puzzling of the Witch's personality. Her sensitivity to water is never explained nor is there EVER and I do mean EVER much really developed to explain her actions.
  The second section of her experience at school was slightly better, but then dissolves into puzzling rantings about animal (make that Animals as intelligent beings) rights and the girls being magically sent out to a mission which again is never developed.
  There is an attempt to make a comment on politics and rebellion, but so many authors have done that so much better. This author just lumps a lot of typical anti-dictator comments and does not develop that theme.
  The Witch spends some significant time in a type of nunnery but again, the author just drops this theme as though it had no real meaning. It seemed he uses it just to mature her a bit.
  Again and again, the story seems to develop some worthwhile character and plot only to have them half developed or dropped. At the end, the author tries to comment on religion, the soul and evil but his attempt fails the mark miserably with absolute nonsense.
  I will not be reading any of his stories again. I gave it a generous 2 because there are some enduring moments and some very well written passages.
  The back of my book said that a reviewer thought Wicked belonged between Alice and The Hobbit on your book shelf - I agree but I would place it in the dust between the two and would never actually allow this book anywhere near those two books. I am throwing it in the recycle bin.
3070409
I tried to be positive about this book and the first two. I kept thinking it would pick up, get better.  It had some interesting developments in the beginning about the dangers of online relationships, that nobody learned anything from by the way. The overall  plot failed. It just wasn't believable, and pedantic in a lot of places. It could have been so much better.
 Catherine being reclusive and totally shut off, does a complete about face, which given her origins, just didn't make sense to me. She decides to just openly trust a man she only knows  based on his online persona, sexual lines and outright  evasions.  Talk about looking for love in all the wrong places. It's a wonder she actually survived at all. She has victim written all over her. Actually, I felt bad that she could be so gullible and trusting with no self preservation instincts at all.
 I was unsure of Watts, his sudden change of mind to meet Catherine after being so adamant about not getting into a relationship because of his chosen lifestyle, just wasn't in character.  His absolute belief, that he woulld never put any woman in his life in danger because of who and what he is, and to just change his mind. Gee, given his profession, that was down right stupid, not to mention would have gotten her killed, so what, now it's ok to put her life in danger? Paid mercenary, contract killer aside.
Also, the inaccuracies  when Watts and his associate are hiding in the van, and the two canines miss their scent, while the police swarm the area, having been tipped off  about terrorists, and no one bothers checking a suspicious van they happen to be hiding in the immediate vicinity. Please, not likely! I actually walked by a K-9 unit parked next to me at a local sub shop. All I did was open my door and step out and the dog went  ballistic. Those dogs have highly trained senses, they would have easily alerted their handler. that there was someone in the van.
 And how about Catherine getting a job with the FBI and having an identity issue? That was just ridiculous, and insulting to the readers intelligence. If there was any question about her identity she never would have been hired no matter what.
Overall, there just wasn't enough believability in the characters and the faulty reasoning in the book had me wanting to do an eye roll and snort, your kidding right? Would I recommend this book or the two previous ones, that would be highly unlikely.
4488974
Even with the shortcomings of the first book in this series, I was looking forward to reading HTO II. I wasn't expecting a literary epic, but I figured at the very least Id enjoy a fun read. I was terribly disappointed. This book was riddled with every clich I would have enjoyed as a testosterone fueled, adventure seeking teenage boy. But I had other problems with this read as well.

If I recall correctly, their journey from Houston to the ranch was retold through narrative no less than three times. I can understand doing this once for the benefit of those who had not read the first book. But anything more than once is just word count filler and fluff.

I struggled with POV several times; especially in the beginning. There were a few times when POV changed from one paragraph to the next. And one time, we went from Bishops POV to an omniscient POV; again, from one paragraph to the next. The super long chapters in this 217 page book made this even more confusing to me.

The editing was sloppy at best. There were a handful of typos which should have been caught. Im also trying to figure out who Mata Tari is. I think the writer meant, Mata Hari.

The annoying comical banter from book one between Bishop and Terri continues in book two. Its not that couples don't talk this way, but it seems that thats the only way these two communicate with one another; 24/7. And in the rare times when they do communicate in a serious manner needed to move the storyline forward, the dialogue and character actions are rife with soap opera worthy clichs.

I also thought this book was going to be about The Independents; a rogue, but powerful group of patriots that have organized in opposition to a wounded government trying to regain control. Nope. This book was about gold, and how Bishop deals with a Columbian drug lord whose wife and child were kidnapped by Mexican drug lords. Bishop is caught in the middle of this drama and has to deal with this throughout the book. The Independents are mentioned only sporadically here and there, and its only towards the end of the book that their storyline is addressed in any significant way.

One issue that I had and has nothing to do with the book or its author was; my 2 day guaranteed delivery turned out to be 4 days  an Amazon/UPS issue. Secondly, the font and the amount of words crammed into a single page were difficult to read. This may be a, blind as a bat issue, or a cost issue for the author. Sorry, I still like the feel of a real book and physically turning a page  no ebooks for me. Regardless, my two star rating is based solely on what I read.

I am now on the fence about buying and reading book III.
1927908
The hype will have people waiting in line to buy this, but it's pretty weak compositionally. then again, this listener wasn't so into the 1st album either, more hype...sorry
2984649
Open up a big bottle of maple syrup and glug it down. See how you feel. This is the impression that The Idea of You left with me. Lucy is forty with a brilliant career who wants desperately to have a baby when she meets slightly older Jonah at a baby shower, of all places. The two of them hit it off and get hitched. Lucy leaves her sleek and modern digs and moves into Jonahs character rich older home. They immediately start trying to conceive.

Several miscarriages later, and just in time for Jonahs sixteen year old daughter to move into their home, the newlyweds hit a rough patch. Lucy continues to work but nothing means much to her if she cannot have this kid. Jonah seems disinterested and whats worse, sweet Lucy is thrust into the role of horrid stepmother. No matter how hard she tries, her step daughter just won't come around. Lucy is also harboring a secret, one that greatly informs her narrow-minded baby desires and also her relationship with her mother.

I could not relate to Lucys character and hers and Jonahs overly theatrical, smarmy relationship truly detracted from feeling any sympathy for these characters whatsoever. The dialogue between these two characters sounded completely disingenuous and bordered on ridiculous. On more than one occasion I was tempted to forgo finishing the book. I soldiered on because I rarely choose not to finish a book, a flaw of mine.

Lucy has an ongoing fantasy talking to her mythical child that is interspersed between chapters. It is all sweetness and light, completely one sided and unrealistic. I was unimpressed with the way this subject matter was handled and was surprised to learn that the authors catalyst for writing this story was her own experience with miscarriage. The serious nature of this topic warranted a far more relevant storyline, one that wasn't trite, mired in fantasy and dressed up with bows and ribbons.

A disappointing read.

BRB Rating: Skip It
403334
I was intrigued by the mystery behind this book and went into it with high hopes but that didn't last long. My first bump in the road were the characters. They are so incredibly immature. I mean, Varen writes his number on her hand so that she can call him and set up a time that they can get together to do this project that they've been paired up to do. No big deal, except to maybe EVERYBODY! Isobel freaks out that he's writing some voodoo symbol and sentencing her to death while her big, buff, jock of a boyfriend goes ape-s*** crazy because of it. Not because of the voodoo but because Varen is encroaching on his territory. So he starts beating up Varen and literally terrorizing the poor kid. Then when Isobel decides that this project's grade isn't worth the drama, she finds herself in a doozy of a situation. Her boyfriend and their "crew" go out for ice cream, which just so happens to be where Varen works. Is it a coinkidink? I think not! The boyfriend and "crew" start vandalizing the place and it isn't until the boyfriend opens the register to steal the money that Isobel decides enough is enough. I mean, seriously?! Red lights would have been flashing the moment my boyfriend flipped out over someone giving me their number so that we can do a school project.

Aside from the characters being the clique teenage "populars", the story had some merit. I like the mystery behind it and the fact that you really didn't know what the heck is going on with Varen. Hell, even after finishing the book I still didn't know what the deal was with Varen. One minute some freaky stuff is going on and then all of a sudden I'm thrust into chaos and I have no idea how I got there. I was completely lost the entire last quarter of the story when the s*** hit the fan and that sucks because I'm sure that was the best part of the story. Maybe a page from the book was ripped out and I missed a vital part but I was left literally scratching my head. By the time I got to the last page I was thoroughly confused on what I read and what happened.

Will I be giving the second book a shot? No. Not until I figure out what the hell happened in the first book since no doubt my confusion will just roll over into the second book.
3209006
I bought the entire set (Baking, Scramble, Yolk & French Toast) believing the hype. I should have known better since hipsters tend to hype up everything surrounding their lifestyle even though it is nowhere near good. First off, it doesn't even come close to the taste of eggs and the texture is kinda like eggs, but you can tell it came from a powder. Taste wise the scramble mix taste like powdered beans and is very powdery even after cooking (which takes forever... easily over 8 minutes to cook an egg using the scramble mix) I've followed the instructions to the T and they just don't come out right. These also ship out of some guy's (I'm assuming the owner's) apartment which adds on to the feeling that I got ripped off even more.
990835
All that hype, so dumb and boring of a movie.
2360935
I'm a big fanboy of the cyberpunk genre. I should have liked this book. Instead, I can honestly say that hate this book-- and I also feel bad saying that about someone's work, because it's almost like saying you hate someone's baby.

Maybe it was all the hype I was exposed to before reading it,but I just could not shake a deep feeling of annoyance throughout 90% of this book. I found myself rolling my eyes a lot. And when I wasn't doing that, I was asking myself things like: "Do people really think this is the Cyberpunk cream of the crop? How many pages to go?"

The first obvious problem was the prose. Apparently some people's funny bones get tickled by similes comparing military bases to boils on someone's butt, metaphors about valleys and geological oral sex, and clever wordplay like calling refugees "Refus" (Refuse, har har har, get it?). To an elitist douchebag like me it just sounds juvenile and unimaginative. Combine all that with clunky, corny writing, and it's just downright lame. I could have also done without the "Unix In A Nutshell"-like explanations of EVERYTHING that drag down the flow of the book even more.

The other big problem was that I did not care about any of the characters. Hiro was annoying as hell because it's obvious that he's just a nerd's fantasy of what he wishes he could do. Y.T. also got on my nerves. She could have disappeared in the middle of the book and I would not have missed her. There was nothing likeable or interesting about either of them. Ironically, among all the cartoony, shallow characters, the only ones that had some sense of deeper humanity were Ng and Raven.

Another letdown was that the book's ideas were not that great, which did not help the plot. I just did not buy the whole "neurolinguistic hacking" angle as it was used. People becoming brainless zombies from watching some binary code on a screen, or listening to some Sumerian "namshub"? That is so far removed from the fields of NeuroLinguistic Programming and memetics, that this might as well have been a Dungeons & Dragons novel. I get it. Brains are just like computers, so they can get viruses, binary code, 0's and 1's, blah blah blah. Seriously, I can suspend disbelief, but you can only take a metaphor so far before it starts to look stupid.

Finally, for a book that's supposed to be a belly busting satire, the humor in this book is rather lame and nerdy. I read people talking about how this book made them howl with laughter, but almost everything fell pretty flat for me. The only section that got a half-assed 'heh' from me was the government policy on the use of toilet paper, but by the second page the joke had already become stale.

All in all, I doubt that I will buy another book from this author. Judging from what little I've read in Cryptonomicon and Diamond Age, there is little that has changed for me to warrant another look.
2689918
I guess i'm just not sold on the hype of this book.. I purchased due to good reviews but overall this book has been very un-impressive and boring. I'm about 3/4ths of the way through and still trying to find a take-away from this book.
4540427
I was excited to read this. From the description and the glowing five star reviews, I truly thought this book would be amazing. Unfortunately, it was not. I expected a book about a hilarious college romance (because let's be honest, the majority of my college romances make for hilarious stories now). It did not really live up to my expectation. I had hoped it would be like&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Losing-It/dp/0062273248/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Losing It</a>, which I cried over because I was laughing so hard. Only it wasn't. Why?

1. Julie. Where as Bliss felt like a real flesh and blood person in Losing It, Julie is a flat, cardboard cutout. How ironic. I didn't see anything dynamic in Julie's character and she came off as a stereotypical liberal ed college kid. I just didn't care for her at all.

2. Within the first twenty pages, I knew the ending. There wasn't any shadow of a doubt the reason behind Flat Finn or the dysfunction in the family. I really wanted to not know, to not be so sure. But I was and the book ended up being formulaic. The only character that really even seemed to change was Celeste.

3. The use of Facebook. At first the status thing was neat. Then I just started skipping them because they added nothing to the story except for word count. Then there was all the emailing and Facebook chatting which seemed to take up half the book. I get that she's trying to fall in love with someone who isn't there, but it all seemed really artificial. I've flirted over Facebook before. Sometimes my heart is racing while I wait for a response, or I'm dying of laughter because he said something funny. Where was that? It wasn't written in anywhere. maybe if that had been included I would have been able to feel more of a connection with Julie.

4. The writing. In this day and age, whether you are self-published or published by a big publishing house that does not mean that your writing is amazing or that you are a literary master. You are simply published. I see people too often getting attacked when they say the writing was not good. Someone says to them, "Well you aren't even published." No. The readers aren't published (maybe they don't want to write books?), but that doesn't mean they know less about sentence structure, grammar, plotting, characterization, etc. We are educated. At some point in our lives we learned this too. So we can comment on the writing. In this case, it was so-so. I felt like the author had to keep telling us that her character was named Julie. Many of the sentences began with Julie. There also wasn't much variation in the structure. Finally, the phrase "show, not tell" comes to mind. This book did a lot of telling and only a little showing.

Overall, it was cute. The behavior of the characters all seemed a bit below their age level. I would be perfectly okay letting a 12 year old read this. For someone in their twenties it feels a little bit immature.