Could have been a great book
343635
Could not finish this book. Could not stand the heroine. She was such a ungrateful brat. It's such a shame. I LOVED the book before this one. Special Ops Rendezvous (The Adair Legacy)
Karen Anders I was excited to read the next one. I loved the other characters, but the heroine in this book had me wanting to do her in for the bad guy. I felt sorry for the hero for having to put up with her.
It would be terrific if the author could rewrite the whole book. Same found granddaughter plot with a loving new found family, only with a heroine that was likable.
984630
I had high hopes for this book and it let me down. This man has great ideas and a good editor could help him write a good book. But the book as it is disappoints. A lot.
1699164
This could have been a great book, but whole sections seem to be repeated over and over again making it much longer than it needed to be. A good editor should have had the author cut all the redundancies.
4372765
This could have been an amazing book. It is great in one aspect, that is if you're a beginner and know nothing about T206. It will help you get familiar with the players and cards of the set. The information on each player is very brief which is one of my issues with this and makes it just a good synopsis of the players.

My guess is they did this just to make sure that they could fit multiple cards on one page. It could have been the size of an encyclopedia. The glossy paper and presentation however is nice. They include the player's lifetime W-L, ERA, AVG, H, HR, RBI, DOB, DOD, and where they were born.

This book will do a good job at making you crave more about the collection and the players. Some of the following would be great sources to continue after this book:

http://sabr.org/
http://www.net54baseball.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2

They also favor PSA and use them as the poster child for grading companies. (Opinion based) SGC does a more consistent job at grading their cards. Their slabs are far more attractive.

I currently have completed 32% of the Monster. I've created a master Excel file that is as complex yet beautiful as the T206 collection it is automated as well. If you would like a copy please send me a message and a donation of $25 for the HOURS I put into it. It is more or less completely automated. For more questions send me a message.
1898791
This book had the potential to be great. It contained vast amounts of information, mostly in anecdotal form, but was poorly organized and edited. I'm a bit of a grammar snob, so maybe I'm being too picky, but I was continuously distracted by Van Kirk's usage of the word "which" when "that" would have been correct. It seemed she was self-consciously choosing to use "which" because it sounds more formal, but it was simply wrong in most uses. A sample sentence: "The women which lived in this fort..." No, not correct.
As far as organization, she backtracks frequently and rarely mentions approximate years, which makes it very difficult for a reader to keep track of when the events mentioned took place. In one chapter, events covered will stretch from, say, 1800-1830. Suddenly, the next chapter is referencing events from 1790-1800. There's also no background information provided on the fur trade industry itself or the meaning of the ranks within. She expects the reader to know where bourgeois, voyageur, governor, Chief Factor, and other casually-mentioned positions within the companies. Without these frames of reference, I had a difficult time reconciling all the anecdotal history within the book.
With the help of a ruthless editor, this book could be great. As it stands, its points are often muddled in poor grammar, syntax, and lack of background information.
4187699
I had just finished reading Lucy Grealy's wonderful, luminous, heartfelt Autobiography of a Face and I was looking for another book along these lines.  Facing Up to It by Dawn Shaw with its similar topics--learning to value oneself as an individual not a face, a love for horses, an interest in theater, a search for love and understanding in a world that values facial beauty--seemed like a perfect follow up.

Despite this uplifting messaging and some great stories, the book, in my opinion, could have been greatly improved by extensive editing.  Here's why: unevenness of the quality of the writing, narrative bogged down by focusing on hobby and other descriptions; not enough soul searching on a deeper level, etc.  I found myself skipping large parts of this book because it failed to hold my interest.  Many chapters contain lost opportunities for more fully engaging the reader.  For example during the cross country trip with her father, why does Dawn Shaw resent him as authority figure?  Why does she think her mother is not "cool?"  Analyzing these questions in depth would have been more revealing than a story about getting a T-shirt with a connection to the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  There are numerous other passages where the author could have gone deeper.  For example, the mother-daughter relationship could have been explored in a lot more depth.

I have to admit that I rapidly skimmed through the last third of the book since so much of it was uninteresting and failed to hold my interest.  These chapters are descriptions of travel itineraries, details of audio-visual work output, participation in an esoteric riding test for Icelandic horse trainers, the author's admiration for an Indy band.
100615
This could have been a great book. Some good lines.  Loved the Widows in their "club".  I have a feeling this book was written originally when the author was just starting her craft. Ms. Price does write well.

What was my main beef? The book starts with a new widow saying goodbye to her much loved husband who has tragically died unexpectedly. We learn they loved each other very much.

The author then has this same person wanting her husband's best friend arms around her. Within a month of death.

Maybe it's because I walked that road. Amish or not if there was great love, you do not seek another man that soon. (Except maybe to fix something.) And Ms Price does this repeatedly. So many of the widow's reactions after his death were so far off the mark. Eventually, I ended with zero stars.

I could have really liked this book a lot but instead was sad that the author didn't talk to some widows first. AND then write the book.
1591156
This had the potential to be a much better book than it was. All of the ingredients are here, it was extremely well researched, it was just too long and overly detailed. The read grows tiresome, and at some point you stop really caring. The author seems to love his own written word a bit too much. I didn't need the entire life history of everyone involved. Half again too long. Give it a read, but learn to skim through after a while.
262479
This would have been one of the best books I have read in a while; however, it ends up with 3 stars because there are so many different characters viewpoints. It's okay to tell a story from 1,2 or maybe 3 characters, but when you are close to over 7 characters, something needs to be done.

Now as an attestment the author's skills, the plot was not confusing. The book was still entertaining. It's the changing characters every few pages that I could not stand. Also in a way, it limited the character development. In addition, this contributes to a rushed ending. If you are okay with that, then this book will be a 5 stars for you. When I was less than 10-20 pages in, I was so confident that this is a great book. Up till they introduced Jaclyn's view point and so forth
2693942
This is one of those books that could've been a great book but there're some parts that are left out we're glossed over that I found really annoying. I don't want to giveaway the highlights of the book because it wasn't a terrible book it just could've been so much better the soldier in the book writes "SORRY"  in the back of the envelope which is a key part and yet they never really get into this part when the letter is finally delivered to the soldiers wife who is father pushed out of the relationship.
3722493
This book has the potential to be an excellent story.  I enjoyed the plot and the characters. I especially like how Cali saved Willow and sent Jennie back home to her family.  And of course I liked Blackhawk and Cali, Smilingeyes and Snowman (could there be a better name for him?)  But the poor grammar, spelling, syntax and wordiness drew my attention away from character development and progression of the story.  If this book was carefully edited and rewritten to tighten up the dialogue and descriptions, as well as to check the grammar and spelling, it could be an excellent book.  Halfway through the book I was trying to decide if I really wanted to finish it because these issues were such a distraction to me.  I did finish it, but will probably delete from my Kindle because I won't read it again.
1936268
This book could have been great - if it had streamlined the characters and plot.  I enjoyed the writing, and the author set the scene that reminded me of an old 1940's black & white spy intrigue film.  I enjoyed the witty & charming English houseguests sort of drama - everyone has a story and secret.  Unfortunately, the author should have brought all the pieces together better at the end and focused more of one central spy intrigue for LuLu.  I did enjoy reading it, and was kept reading to find out what was going to happen next, but found it a bit disappointing at the end.  That being said, if there were a "LuLu in London" novel, I would read it - and the author could do a better job of advancing both LuLu's spy plot and her romance with Ian.
3274668
This is, at its roots, an engaging, thoughtful book.  Unfortunately, it reads like a first draft.  The characters aren' t developed and the imagery reads like a high school writing project.  There is also glaring grammer and composition errors which surprised me considering three people edited it.  This really has potential but I think it needs to be polished up, fleshed out and given a second edition if there is any hope of turning it into a series.  With a little more work, education and experience, Watters has the potential to be great writer.
4916833
I really wanted to like this book.  In fact, I looked forward to getting a chance to read it and review it through the vine program.  Perhaps my expectations were too high.  The main character, Peter, is a sweet and well fleshed out character.  Unfortunately, something in the writing style was just missing for me.  The premise here is great, looking at a Chinese young man, the only son in his family, who is living a lie....he believes that he should have been born a girl.  The writing is free of that "preachy" or outmoded view of the trans life.  Just not enough to rate it higher, the style is just lacking something.
1857253
I had great hopes for this book, but it was not to be.  I think it could have been a great book because the story is intriguing .  But the editing was terrible so there were many errors plus the sequence of events seemed really scattered.
Also,  when I start to read a book I want to really care about the people in the book.  I never could do this .  I felt like I never really got to know them in a personal way.  The cover is nice.
1228928
This had the potential to be a great book. However the heroine was very frustrating. And since the book is told exclusively from her POV, I got frustrated a lot.

Erin first meets Seth when he moves to her home town to live with his guardian following the death of his grandfather. Seth was a emotionally distant teenager who grew up to be an emotionally distant man. As soon as he could he moves away without a look back. The two reconnect at the funeral of Seth's guardian years later. Seth had not really enamored himself of the people of the town but his guardian, Mac, had been beloved. But at Mac's funeral, Erin noticed how alone and lonely he looks and, in a fit of compassion, she cajoles him out for a drink.

After great conversation and lots of liquor the two wind up in bed together. The sex is fantastic but both simply smile and go their separate ways, content to have had a smokin' one night between the sheets. However, weeks later Erin discovers she has become pregnant from the encounter and tracks Seth down to tell him he is going to be a father.

Initially I really enjoyed the dynamic. I loved that Erin wasn't obsessing over Seth or that she hadn't given the night more significance than what it was. But my enjoyment of this dynamic wanes fairly quickly because as far as 3/4 into the book, Erin never feels anything beyond friendship for Seth. And it isn't a case where she is in denial and the reader realizes it even if she doesn't. No. The way the writer presents this, I was convinced that Erin really had no feelings beyond friendship and co-parent-ship for Seth.

I like it when romance novels push boundaries. But having your heroine NOT even begin to fall in love with your hero for three-quarters of the book is not the boundary I want pushed. Honestly, I was baffled by Erin's reasoning especially since she and Seth created such an intimate relationship throughout her pregnancy. He, by all counts, was sexy, handsome, great in the sack, committed to being part of the pregnancy and he was totally into her. During the pregnancy he was clearly falling for her. And yet Erin was insistent, to the point where she got irritated with the idea, that she just didn't think of him that way.

I get IRL that this can happen. A woman can get pregnant from a one night stand and not fall in love with the father. But this is a romance novel and the expectation is that Erin would begin to grow deeper feelings for Seth. So when that doesn't happen I got frustrated.

And then it does. Because suddenly 'Durp! I do love you.' Erin says. She's been falling in love with him after all. But Honestly, as a reader I felt cheated. I don't feel that I got to see that happen. And what is more, Erin kept telling me it wasn't happening.

And what is worse, I didn't 100% trust her. I kept waiting for her to mess it up somehow. I was gratified to know that on some level the author was aware of the impression Erin made because Seth couldn't relax either after she tells him. He, just like me, kept waiting for her to back out.

The books gets three stars because the writing is excellent. I thought she allowed the story to unfold nicely, even leisurely. I especially loved all the scenes around the labor and birth. There is an author's note in the book that the author had never been pregnant or had kids, so the fact that I was totally transported back to my own pregnancies during those scenes really speaks to her ability to communicate in writing. And although I wish he had some sort of POV, (he gets no POV at all) Seth's character and emotional state are well conveyed also.
2710886
This book could have had it all: a great plot, twists and turns, tons of emotion.  But alas, it fell short.