All the Fixin' Please! (3.5 Rating)
358956
Tabitha Harris is one of those women who dreams of the fairy tale life, the white picket fence, the model husband and the 2.5 kids. Unfortunately, when she enters most relationships she does so, with the frame of mind that she will end up in her fairy tale life. But too many failed relationships with too many Mr. Wrongs have schooled Tabitha. She does not want another heart-breaker, which is why she will not give the sexy and happily single Italian chef, Nico Valenti, the time of day. Attraction be damned!

Nico, on the other hand, is utterly fascinated with the beautiful African American, Tabitha. When he sees that she has no interest in having a simple fling with him, he is determined to find a way to spend more time with her. A proposed platonic friendship is Nico's suggestion to Tabitha, one to which she agrees. Will friendship be enough for two people attracted to each other?

Unexpected Mr. Right by Kelley Nyrae is a sweet read! Many readers will find the Tabitha and Nico characters realistic and easily understandable. Kelley Nyrae has written a book that has a smooth flow. The story moves along at a great pace that continuously pulls in the reader and holds their attention until the end. Unexpected Mr. Right is a quick enjoyable read and one that I recommend.

Reviewed by Chantay W.
APOOO BookClub
1600061
If you can get past the occasional Romance novel style, this is a good story, good characters, good plot, good twist. A few cheesy lines and a few lifted from popular culture (live, laugh, love, really!). One more pass by a more serious editor could fix all that, or be a patient reader.
2376007
I I give this book an 8 out of 5 , rather than 10 out of 5 because it could be a little longer !
3285570
I really liked the angst that was the majority of this book but I genuinely feel that when bad things like that happen it doesn't end all happily ever after. So it was nice to see that. See some human emotion between these two people. Now at face value I liked the book. Which is how I got it to a 4 star rating. Strictly face value as a continuation of the previous story it was totally a 4 star book.

Now I did have some issues. So really if there was a 3.5 rating I'd probably be more in that realm.

1. Why does Lil even have a career in these books? She came out of college with a serious career and two books in it's been for the most part an after thought. That entire part of the story could be eliminated because she, in the end, is little more than your stereotypical biker girl in these books.

2. I have a lot of difficulty with her being all about her college stuff like she was and then being perfectly ok with drug and human trafficking.

2.5. If we're going to be heavy on the illegal activities I really wish that children would not be included in these books. It makes me feel weird reading that stuff. I've said it before and I'll never stop saying it. If adults want to be involved in illegal activities fine. And I'm cool with reading that but for goodness sakes stop dragging the children into this.

3. I couldn't help this nagging feeling that I've read this before. There are only so many ways for a couple to react to the violence she went through. So there are going to be similarities to other books where the female partner is subjected to what she was. However, if one is sensitive to that sort of thing they are going to have a hard time not noticing that this book is heading down the same path as another series and has some similarities for at least a little bit with how the male lead deals with the trauma.

I can get past most all of that stuff and take the book at face value but some people may have issues. I noticed some minor editing issues. I guess I'd say if you're paying an editor make sure they are doing their job right. There were apostrophes where there shouldn't be. No apostrophes where there should be and some word usage problems. But nothing hugely glaring. But I notice that the editor is noted and if I was paying for editing I wouldn't be paying for how this was edited.
4018879
Wish I could have given it a 4.5 but could not -- not quite a 5 though.
2852603
The 3rd season release for "Have Gun Will Travel" includes all 39 episodes aired during the 1959-1960 TV season.  I personally would rate it as another 5-star "must-have" for fans of the series such as myself.  Be forewarned, though, that it's a  slightly flawed gem.  I have so far been able to view about a dozen of the episodes on most of the seven discs and would offer the following observations:

1. The advance release from Paramount Home Video said that the total running time for the set was 848 minutes (which would average out to just a little over 21.7 minutes per episode).  This was evidently a mistake.  The episodes all seem to include all available film footage and are about as "uncut" as possible.  All of the episodes I've viewed or timed run between 25:30 and 25:50.

2.  Audio and video quality are satisfactory, but the film restoration work for this particular set is a little more uneven than on the first two.  The quality of the work varies from "acceptable" to "really excellent".  For some of the episodes, the opening and closing credits have not been restored and these segments are noticeably rougher than the rest of the film. Some of the episodes (notably "Charley Red Dog" and "Love of a Bad Woman") have a somewhat "murkier" look than the others.  Some of the episodes include the four-second "CBS Television Network" tag at the end and some don't.  I strongly suspect that different people worked on the films and that some did a more conscientious job than others.

3.  Not all of the episodes have the "Wire Paladin" extra feature with information about the writers or performers.  This didn't bother me, because I'm not really big on DVD extras, but I know that some buyers take their DVD extras much more seriously than I do.

4. The bottom of the box includes a small-print disclaimer "Some music has been replaced for this home entertainment version".  Paramount was evidently unable to license a small portion of the "interior" music for video release.  (Different composers apparently did the interior music for the third sesaon.)  This seems to me to be a very minor issue, because I really haven't yet noticed any instance of obvious "replacement".  Rest assured, the opening and the closing theme song by Johnny Western are intact and are just as we remember them!

Overall, though, the set's flaws are very minor ones.  Knowing what I know now, I would still be quick to purchase this set and would recommend it most enthusiastically to any fan of the series!  I look forward to Season 4!
1994699
I want to love this CD. I really do.  I do love the lyrics, they're deep, moving, beautiful. I'm giving them 4 out of 5 stars. But here's my laundry list of what would make this album so much better: 1) I wish that the lead guitar could be dialed down considerably, at times it's soaring and really puts the song in a new place, but often it obscures the brutal heavy riffs in a negative way and seems to make the songs all kind of run together. (2) I wish the vocalist would venture outside of the low guttural zone a lot more; I believe in one instance he does, triggering a "HECK YES" moment, but that's the only one like it on the album. (3) This is just my personal nitpick, but the guitars could sound better. I understand they were 're-amped' which never sounds 'real' to me, or for lack of a fancy word, it nevers sounds as good as it could.

For fans of Opeth and possibly older Meshuggah, check this out, it's good, it's just not amazing. Let me take that back; the song "Divine Amnesty" is amazing, but I don't feel any of the other songs approach its epicness.
4812581
The good stuff:  I really enjoyed the dynamic between Justice, Patience, and Lillie.  I also really enjoyed the new characters Susan introduced in this book:  Felicia, Noelle, Isabelle, and Angel. I adore (super)Mayor Marsha!

The "eh": I know there needs to be a balance between having a plot device coming out of nowhere, and making the setup too obvious, but I'm afraid the climax/conflict of this book was a little too predictable.

The annoying:  (and this is the reason I'm writing this review)  Could Susan please figure out what branch of service Ford belonged to?  Was he in the Army (as several characters attested) or in the Navy (as several other characters said).  I really don't care one way or the other (although as a Navy brat, I'm partial to the USN), but his family and friends should know whom to root for during the Army-Navy game!
2364073
More like 4.85 stars! But the thing is, I feel like there could have been a little less detail about some of the things and a bit more detail about others.  Overall, it was a great story, held my attention, and I would definitely recommend it.
4222810
Great idea, good flow... needs editing to correct typos and word choice (stalky vs. stocky, for example). I do think there are some continuity issues. Mostly, it seems like a great draft. Just needs some clean-up.

I LOVE the story-line, so far. I don't typically continue reading books that have editing issues, but this story is strong enough to keep me engaged. I am looking forward to the next book.
760032
3.5 stars. A really fun, cute story, with some great twists along the way. Also, that cover is ADORABLE.

Things I really enjoyed:
-- Cameron's character voice. She sounded like some of my most charismatic friends in that effortlessly casual, hilarious way.
-- Cameron's sewing. My favorite parts of the book were when we got to be with Cameron in her studio. Reading about a character sewing could easily be boring, but with Cameron it was the most magical space in the book. I loved that.
-- The twins' relationship, with its familiar ease and its rocky moments. And that they didn't swoop in to solve each others' problems, but each character got to dig themselves out of their own personal mess.
-- The portrayal of harassment and the way it infiltrates everything around Cameron. I think this could have been developed even a little more, but it worked in the book as effective motivation for Cameron to put herself in a rather convoluted position.
-- The various adults. I always get excited when there's a YA with adults who love each other (Cameron's parents) and who are just as interesting as the teens (Dotty).
-- The unexpected turn when she displays her costumes at the end. I really appreciated that she didn't get her ending easily.

Things I'm a little iffy on:
-- The middle? In general? During the middle, I just found myself starting to get a little annoyed with everyone.
-- The love triangles got a little bit old.
-- Most of the book, I felt like Cameron wasn't just being used to teach the characters around her a lesson, and I appreciated that. But there were times, especially in the latter half, where I felt like her role was to just teach the other characters (and some readers) a lesson, to the applause of many readers. This could just be a personal preference thing--I might just not be gung-ho feminist enough to get fully swept into the narrative--but there were a few places where I felt the author missed chances to push Cameron harder by having her actually be wrong about some things. I felt like the narrative justified her whenever she was wrong (and faced one consequence or the other) and her basic assumptions about the way the world (and fandom) works at the beginning of the book were the same as at the end of the book. But, again... this is probably a matter of personal taste.
-- Similar to the note above, I liked that in the first third of the book (or so) the character Brody (our token douche guy) showed signs of challenging Cameron's prejudices (she admits that he thinks he's being helpful, etc). And I liked that he never went full stereotypical, nonredeemable jerk. But I again felt there was a missed opportunity to explore what creates people like Brody (since obviously it's not just inherently a male quality, as Why and Lincoln and others in the book show). Perhaps that's just because I prefer antagonists who have more layers, but maybe the author didn't want to humanize to the Brody hoard too much.

Those are my thoughts, for what they're worth! There was a lot to love in the book, and I can see it jiving well with a lot of my nerdy, con-attending friends.

(I received a free copy in exchange for a review. Thanks, Netgalley!)
1700481
I liked this story and enjoyed the characters, but it does need some editing and that is why I have not given 4 stars. I feel that there are more editing issues in the second half of the story where it is a little stilted at times, and repetitive.
It is easy to see where the plot is going, maybe a bit too easy in places for me.

BUT it's full of great ideas and after some polishing I would recommend it to young readers.
1299533
If half stars were a possibility, this fine novel would merit a 4.5.
1449235
3 - "It'll get better." Stars!

Just a Girl isn't my first read by Ellie Cahill, and although I enjoyed it more than her previous Loveswept offering; Call Me Maybe I was still left with the feeling that something was missing from the overall story.

I think the main problem I have is that nothing and no-one really stood out for me, the story between Presley and Paul had a really good base, but I just don't think the author really offered enough expansion on anything. The first 90% was very Shades of Grey a little monotonous and lacking in any real depth of emotion from either of them really, being such a short read it wasn't a struggle in that I got to that point in relative quick time, but I would attribute to that the fact that a large part of the book also takes place in the form of texts and tweets, so the page turnover was pretty quick.

"If you can get on that stage, so can I."

Presley is kicked out of her up and coming band; Luminous 6 basically because they think she gets too much attention and they would be better off without her, which is even more of a kick in the teeth, when you take into account her on-again, off-again boyfriend is still very much a part of the group. This compels her to return home from the bright lights of LA, and move back in with her parents as well as start back to work in their music shop The Continental. Apart from the obvious peeve at being dumped by her band so unceremoniously, I had to question her actions because it was mentioned more than once that she had been offered several solo deals, in my head I am asking 'why not take one up' seeing as she didn't particularly want to be back home either.

"Dont you hate it when that happens?"

My other gripe is her whole relationship with Paul, they literally seem to fall on each other like a couple of rabid dogs without any time taken to get to know the other. The efforts throughout the book to get to know them further as individuals were pretty slim as well over and above the issues Paul have with performance anxiety (playing guitar, and not sexy times wise) and Presley pretty much dry humping him like a dog when they aren't actually humping. You are given very little depth or emotional attachment between them until it all falls apart in the latter stages.

"Im not just here for you to snap your fingers and decide its okay now."

As I said Just a Girl wasn't a struggle, but I know it won't be one I remember too clearly a few months down the road. This author has skill and can put a decent story together, with this one I think more development and added page count into this couple actually getting to know each other rather than all the drama that surrounds them from the off would have helped.

"I choose you."

ARC generously provided via Netgalley, in exchange for the above honest review.
190632
3.5 ALMOST THERE STARS.

I LOVED this book.

I loved the character development.
I loved how awesome Layne was.
I loved how amazing/addicting the writing was.
I especially loved how delicious Beau was.

What I DIDN'T really like was how the author split the book into two endings.

Admittedly, it's an interesting concept, letting the reader decide.
Almost like those mini-horror novels for kids.
To me, though, the book didn't feel whole, complete.
It felt open-ended. And I didn't really appreciate that.

I want something SOLID, something COMPLETE.
This wasn't it.
Which breaks my heart, because everything UP until that point was pretty much perfect.

Oh, well.

3.5 STARS.
2450821
Overall, this project was enjoyable and anointed!  There were 1 or 2 tracks that seemed to struggle lyrically & with musical phrasing.  Regardless, an enjoyable project.
1709709
I'm feeling rather conflicted about Clarity. It was an enjoyable read overall and I loved that it kept me guessing until the end, but there were a few things that really annoyed me.

First of all, Clarity. I understand the whole tough exterior/soft interior thing, but the "I-hate-you-I-love-you" thing with both guys was really annoying. I can see her side of it all, but I couldn't connect with it so it just made Clare seem all wishy-washy and annoying. She was also very conveniently dumb sometimes. I mean, there was a part towards the end where she was all "something's not right, but I can't figure it out" and it had to do with her powers! I mean, come on, her power is her thing, you know, she shouldn't be thrown off by something that is such a part of her.

I thought I had a problem with some little things here and there that just didn't seem to fit in with the story, but it is a mystery, after all, and everything did get cleared up nicely. That being said, there was a good amount of setup for the sequel and I'm quite looking forward to it. For all you cliffhanger haters out there, let me assure you that this one doesn't fall in that category. Like I said, everything wraps up nicely so it could be a standalone, but there's a good tease to leave you wanting to enter Clarity's small town of Eastport once again.

I quite loved the characters. Though I would absolutely hate having a mom who could read my thoughts, it made some very entertaining moments. Justin was really interesting too. I thought I was supposed to hate him, but then he was all gooey and sweet. I'm totally team Jason all the way :] Nate was a great sidekick/friend too and I'm really hoping for more of him in the sequel.

Final Thoughts: Though there were some things that annoyed me along the way, Clarity is definitely worth the read (especially since it's been optioned for a tv show!). It has a little paranormal with a mix of mystery and just a little dash of romance.