Bland characters and light humour left me wanting more worldbuilding and character development like her other books.
354089
This one is really light weight. I have read all of her other books and they are leaps and bounds better than this one. This is more like a quirky fae detective story with somewhat bland characters. It borders on comic in places but is too Americanized for my taste. The characters did not draw me in and seemed quite one dimensional.

However, the writing is good quality and if you like a bit of quick light reading this might appeal to you more than it did for me. I probably won't read any more of this series but hopefully the Author will develop other books along the lines of her previous works.
1723748
The premise and underlying ideas of the world this story is set in are alright, but I just found the characters so uninteresting, lacking in personality- what motivated them just seemed so thin.
4833725
Maybe the other books in this series have some depth, but this felt like a character filler and while cheap and sweet, wasn't a top shelf effort.
2601653
The world building is immersive and exceptional, but many of the characters are less well defined. While the main character Kell is a rounded individual full of humanizing flaws and passions, I found myself often wishing we could get to know more of the side characters better, such as his adopted brother, Holland, or even the villainous Dane siblings who are fascinating, but barely covered. I especially disliked the one prominent woman in the story, Lila, who felt like a cobbled together homunculus of "strong female character" traits. As a result, I often rooted against supposed heroes and wishing some of the antagonists, especially Holland, were given more spotlight. While some may argue that later stories in the series may pick up the slack of these meager characterizations, I don't feel as if that's a sufficient excuse for flat personalities and unexplained motives in the current novel.

The writing style is excellent, but the story, which has an immediate appeal, fades into something in which the plot is lazily moved along by convenient happenstance. I wanted to enjoy this book, but ultimately grew bored during the rising action and climax.
519051
Frank's set up of a Interplanetary Militia and the Chosen Ones (lame name) was a good paranormal/sci-fi fantasy idea; something similar to Showalter's Alien Huntress novels. But her writing is disappointing. I didn't have issues with her setting up other characters and back stories that some other reviewers had. I expect it in a first novel of a series. Plus it might convince me to get the next in the series if I wasn't impressed by the first if the other characters draw me in.

First I was annoyed that her paragraphs droned on which drags the story when the first half of the book could have moved at a healthy pace with great action. Her use of cliched terms was disappointing. Heroines with "perfect beauty" are boring. And the virgin goddess territory is everything that can ruin a good paranormal romance. Plus the first sex scenes were too flowery and drawn out to be truly hot and fun or hot and romantic or just plain hot.

But after reading the reviews of her other series, especially the first couple of novels, it sounds like she's improved. I really hope it gets better because the next book in the series is Ender's story. He's a character that genuinely interests me.
3244177
I waited through about 80% of the book to see the paths of the 2 main characters converge and when they finally did it was lack luster.  I was hoping for so much more.
2553699
I felt it lacked the emotion & story telling if her previous books.  I'll still keep reading them but I hope for more.  She's an amazing author.
435559
I didn't find this to be as well written as her previous book. I think if you see it as a light"beach read" ,you can justify the time spent with it. I am just ready for something else.
1623322
It read choppy to me and there wasn't a lot of character development.  Not sure if I am going to continue with the series but I may while I wait for new releases in other series.
1777383
I've read the Assassins series & loved those.  This one I wanted to love because it's set in Ireland, where my soul belongs. However, the writing seems juvenile and the characters somewhat flat. Lots of repetition of feelings, I kept thinking blah blah quit whining. Aleo needed to put more time into deepening the characters and writing. The story is lovely but it falls flat. I hate a negative review, but this book seems hurried and shallow.
2575395
This prequel seemed a bit 'phoned in'. The writing lacks the lyrically spellbinding stylings of it's earlier released Practical Magic, and for me did not stand on its own. Redundant, and poorly edited, the 'magical' part was reduced to a less enchanting version of it's earlier iteration.
The characters were hard to relate to and for the most part not that interesting. Not much happens for a book that spans around 6+hours of read time.

I wanted to be sucked into the delicious, sensual and delightfully surreal world that at one time, only Alice Hoffman could create.
If you enjoy this genre, I highly recommend her earlier works Seventh Heaven, Fortune's Daughter and of course Practical Magic.
3303886
This book felt slowed paced. The writing detailed the world/backstory in such a way that bogged down the current storyline. Character development was lacking. Overall, the premise is interesting and I will read the next book. Hopefully the author/editor has tweaked these issues and the rest of the series is more enjoyable.
1780669
I discovered Stephanie Plum this spring and devoured the first 13 books in the series with general delight.  After anticipating the release of this latest book, I feel generally disappointed after reading it.  There just didn't seem to be much to it: it was less exciting and suspenseful, less hot, less funny.  There was not enough actual bounty hunting, not enough of Stephanie's family, not enough Morelli, woefully too little of Ranger and Stephanie's car doesn't even meet a premature end.  Just not enough of Stephanie's life.  And the story just didn't seem to come alive for me.  Admittedly, these characters were on the silly side to begin with, but in this book they seem like quick caricatures of their usual selves.
4296408
I missed the previous characters who had been so well developed in her other books.  I was also disappointed at the need to present another tragedy in the personal life of the main character.  Ms Winspear does not seem to know how to do happiness in her characters.
533568
There was a couple areas with minor characters  I wish the story had spoken of more or had a spin off book listed for them.
1055324
This book was just okay, i felt like something was missing.
3370524
I do love that she keeps returning to the same family of characters, but this was weaker than most of her other Sevenwaters books for the reasons the other reviewers have noted.