Quite Unfortunate for this author
345653
Maybe writing this book was therapeutic for the author, however it is very disturbing to me that it is considered entertainment for the rest of us. Although the antics of the people surrounding this unfortunate child sound as if they are right out of Hollywood, they are not funny.  I feel pity for Augusten and disgust for his parental figures as they disregarded their greatest gift in order fulfill their own desires and self-destructive behavior. I guess it is fitting of Hollywood to continue to exploit this man's horrific childhood by making it a movie and calling it entertainment.  I will be skipping this DVD release.
628094
I had the misfortune to spend time and money on the audio version of James Patterson's "First to Die."  Further misfortune found me without another book on tape to listen to as I commuted to work.  Mr. Patterson is obviously of the opinion that all women are weak and all readers are stupid.  I've been a professional woman (a physician) for many years, my sister is a school nurse, my sister-in-law is a metropolitan child abuse detective, my brother is a metropolitan police sergeant.  Never in all my life have I met apparently successful women who are as whining, crying and ineffectual as the heroines depicted by Mr. Patterson.  Lord help us if women were as hopelessly Victorian, man hating and sniveling has his novel would suggest.  The plot wasn't a bad one-but would benefit if book were cut to one third its length by the omission of the constant summarizing.  This repetition only suggests the author believes the reader is too dim to keep track of his none-to-subtle clues.  An additional annoying device of the author is to repeatedly tell the reader how to feel about some event or happening, rather than having his story lead you to the emotion.  At the outset of the story the narrator, a police "inspector," is sitting on her terrace threatening to shoot herself in the head with her duty weapon.  Very shortly, I felt if she did, that it would be doing herself and all of us a favor. This was to me an extremely annoying novel.  I'd certainly steer far from any of his other attempts at fiction to avoid driving to work in a state of aggravation.
4464728
Nights of Rain and Stars is a literary boondoggle, in which a two week vacation in Greece obviously formed the setting for her new book (OK, I'm being a little mean, but this book is a serious let-down).  The main characters--who, if you are a Binchy fan, you will recognize as the archetypical Glamourous Blonde Who Is Secretly Disappointed in Love, a Sensitive Young Man Estranged From His Parents, the Courtly Older Scholar, and the Sweet Young Irish Colleen Who Dates the Wrong Men--are all shown how to right the wrongs in their respective situations by the Wise Irish Expatriate Lady.

Part of the charm of Binchy's work, especially her early novels, is the richness of the Irish communities and the loveable, or at least empathetic, humanity of her characters.  In NOR&S, the Greek village is composed entirely of stereotypes, and the characters are unlikeable and self-absorbed.  Most of the novel is taken up with their dwelling on their own lives at length, which is not interesting at all.

However, I was extremely amused at the number of times Binchy managed to work the Greek word for watermelon--one of the vocabulary words she picked up on her vacation, perhaps?--into the story.
4113635
Lord knows I wanted to like this book...I love Mrs. Weiner's other novels! But this book was terrible. Well written but so condescending to those of us who, literally, have EVER taken a painkiller. The protagonist is completely loathsome, she's weak and Mrs. Weiner's chronicle of her fall into addiction is both predictable and unlikeable. What is there to like about this woman? She can't handle the stress that almost all women face at some point and yet she manages to lie, cheat and steal to support an addiction that doesn't seem to make her any better or worse--there's no change of tone. I was so disappointed, and it feels very much as if this successful author is looking to capitalize on current events, rather than writing what she knows. And spare me the book club reading guide - designed with the idea that a suburban housewife would know absolutely nothing about addiction. I am astonished that something this shallow and poorly crafted could be published with seemingly no introspection - from the author, the publisher or her main character. Sad for the state of reading in this country.
1589032
I have been a loyal fan of  Laurels Hamilton's worlds since her very first novel.  I am so sorry to have to warn her other fans away from this novel.  It reads like she has either forgotten to take her daily Prozac or been taken over by a body double without courage or logic.  This novel does not satisfy the reader. Spoiler alert--she kills off one of the best of the fathers!  And why if you murder their King of the Slaugh, don't the Slaugh take revenge?  Why do Merry and her host of powerful warriors turn Into wimps? Why, despite all of the previous stories in this series showing the opposite, are Merry's immortal warriors becoming mortal?  Why are even the sex scenes kind of sad???  Why does Merry have mysterious crying episodes?  None of these questions are answered.  This was
Not a book that I would recommend to any of her fans.  It reads as if the author had a bunch of leftover notes and cobbled together a book from them.  The only good points are that she unalloyed
Has her children, they are powerful and healthy,  and Galan is maturing.  The rest of this book is
Sad and has a disappointing and depressing end.
1351359
Somewhere inside is a good author trying to break out.  I am afraid that's the conclusion I have come to on reading The Rules of Marriage.  Wilma Counts does her homework - she has read up on the Peninsular campaign of the Duke of Wellington and she has also read Lawrence Stone - one of the best guides I know to the history of interpersonal relationships in England.  Unfortunately, once again she has set cardboard characters into a rich and fertile setting.  And, very sadly, she hasn't got a good ear for dialogue, putting modern speech into early 19th century mouths.  This never, never works for me; it simply irritates and disturbs the rhythm of the story.

I have said in a number of reviews how interested I am in Wellington's Peninsular battles but sadly, I have been disappointed in the author's failure to utilise such opportune events.  I am fully convinced that had Carla Kelly written this book all of the reviewers who have commented on it would have been restrained by the limit of 5 stars.

I am now giving up on Wilma Counts.  Although it was a "good enough" read, The Rules of Marriage did not manage to entertain me and I certainly found it impossible to empathise with the hero and heroine.  A shame, really.
4773849
I am deeply sorry that I have to agree with some of the readers who expressed their amazement about how bad was this book especially coming from this author.
It really was. At least for me who has read a lot of this genre and a lot of this author. Some of her books are in my Repeat Reads, so I am sorry this book is one of her own. I sincerely hope this was a fluke, a one time mistake.
I don't like to go into detail regarding the plot, but it did have potential. Unfortunatelly, for me nothing was believable, especially the characters and their actions who didint make sense. While reading I felt stupid for not understanding their reasoning, actions or nonexisting "character development". I had to re-read some parts, but came to the conclusion, that "it wasn't me", but the book.
I felt frustated with it, waiting for the book to redeem itself, but having read 85% of the book, gave it up as hoples and didn't finish it. I wasn't curious at all.
Please pass up this one.

Feeling let down from an otherwise very enyojable author and hoping the next instalment will be worth my while.
2225556
Carolly Erickson has been writing biographies since I was pretty young, and I've always had a lot of respect for her, although I have to admit that the last couple I've read have seemed pretty insubstantial compared to her earlier work, whether due to carelessness or an attempt to appeal to a broader readership by "dumbing down" her writing. I haven't read her previous novel, but this one was a terrible disappointment.

I would like to explain my expectations of historical fiction, and this novel in particular. Obviously, since there is a lot we don't know about people's lives and, after all, it _is_ fiction, I personally will give the novelist a lot of leeway. We don't know that Catherine Parr didn't have an ongoing friendship with Henry, and it's certainly possible. We don't know when she met Thomas Seymour or exactly what her and her second husband's roles in the Pilgrimage of Grace were, so my attitude on those things is, "Go for it! Imagine to your heart's content." However, unless there is good reason for it, a historical novelist shouldn't _contradict_ history or the known character of a real person. Some of the innaccuracies of fact and inconsistencies of character in this book are downright painful for anyone who knows _anything_ at all about the real history, and there are people who will take this for a realistic portrayal of historical figures and events.

The book was well written but as it went further on I was more and more distracted and annoyed by the author's flights of fancy, and I agree with other reviewers that at times it read more like a tacky romance than the story of one of the most truly pious, well-educated and level-headed queens that England ever had.
3490021
It saddens me to see one of my all-time favorite writers sink so low. In Sunlight and in Shadow reads like some parody of Mark Helprin, submitted to some literary contest somewhere to highlight an author's eccentricities at the expense of his strengths. I say this as someone who holds A Soldier in the Great War with a sacred reverence and who thinks that Freddy and Fredericka outshines anything any American humorist (including Twain) ever even attempted. It gives me pain to report that this new Helprin work is so bloated with its own self-importance that it makes me embarrassed for him. Even the plot itself, underneath the weight of all that overblown verbiage, fails to satisfy the expectations that it promises. I'm so disappointed!
4151497
Totally inane rubbish ...what has happened to this once wonderful writer.
1249882
This author's books are quite frustrating.  She has a good eye for detail, character, and plot, but she consistently fails in two ways:

(1) Her heroes are nasty pieces of work.  In this book, the "hero" sexually assaults the heroine because he thinks she is a spy.

(2) Midway through the books, with no foundation whatsoever, the heroine falls in love with the "hero."

What's annoying about this is if the author would fix those problems, she'd have first rate books of this genre.  It would not take a lot to accomplish this.
1932076
Normally I am a huge fan of this author's books.  I found the plot so unrealistic in this novel that I was actually laughing at how much I had to suspend disbelief to keep reading it. Can anyone imagine any scenario where fifty wealthy world leaders are held hostage for five months? Absolutely not. To ask the reader to suspend disbelief as this novel dragged on was ludicrous.  I am reminded of Kurt Vonnegut's advice for writers: Pity the Reader.  Even so, I ordered four more of her novels, as I find this one to be an aberration of Patchett's fine work.  I recommend Commonwealth and  State of Wonder, in particular.
1340175
I have read and enjoyed all of the author's YA books (you can see Ive reviewed another of her books with a high rating) so I was excited and couldn't wait to purchase this one when I heard she was adapting fairytales for an adult audience. To say I was disappointed is putting it lightly. A snail would beat this book in a plot pace race. It is painful. Beyond that, I never felt like I was ever given a reason to even sort of start to care about the characterswhich is kind of a problem when you're reading.

The heroine, Odette, is supposed to represent Robin Hood (which happens to be one of my favorite stories), but she's an incredibly poor imitation of the famed thieving hero. In the story of Robin Hood he has no choice in his criminal ways. Zero. If he wants the people to live, he must steal. He is a vigilante standing against incredible evil. Odette? Not so much. Odette makes poor choices. Odette is cowardly in her criminal activity. She could have easily gone and spoken on behalf of the orphans (which would have been brave) and that would have been that. She wasn't facing incredible evil, just bumbling, almost laughable villains. Don't get me started on these one-dimensional villains  if they would have started to twirl their mustaches I wouldnt have been at all surprised.

All and all, this read to the level of and has the plot points of a mid-grade book (although, most mid-grades have a faster pace). The CBA industry cant seem to keep up with ABA, especially in the realms of fantasy, fairytales, and science fiction. I applaud the industry for trying, but if this is their best offering they should stick with producing bonnet fiction.
1740515
I paid full price for this book believing the hype Attached to the author.  "Magnificent" hardly.  I love character driven fiction and this author can certainly write- but he has a sick and immoral view of everyday people that we spend the majority of our life with- our co-workers. Clearly he has an ax to pick with every poor character he creates.  each vignette was more sorrowful and disturbing than the next. Twisted and not in a good way.  This author seems to have a personality disorder in his writing style. I hated this book and am disgusted I read it through to the end to see if he someone could redeem himself. Not!!
1319046
I have been a long-time fan of the author--since Fingersmith, in fact. I have liked some of her books better than others, with Fingersmith remaining my favorite. So The Paying Guests comes as a deep disappointment. It is overwrought and lugubrious, with central characters it is very hard to care about. Ironically, I found the secondary characters more alive, more viable than Frances and Lilian, the primaries. Leonard, the husband, and Lilian's family, all breathe deeply, bubbling with energy, and step off the pages. But Frances and Lilian are a tiresome duo and 560 pages of their few ups and many, many downs make for difficult reading.

The Paying Guests are at Frances's home because there is a great need for the income they bring to her and her widowed mother. But aside from an early mention of what that cash represents, and given that the money is so badly needed, it seems a most serious omission to go close to 500 pages before it is mentioned again.

Frances's endless internal anguishing becomes hard to take. This is a woman who lacks very little degree of lightness or humor. She just can't get outside of her own head. And Lilian is something of a cipher. The view of her character seems to change depending on Frances's whims and moods. There are moments when things jolt to life, most notably the confrontation scene between Lilian, her husband Len, and Frances. There is great tension in this encounter but it is soon overwhelmed by the massive weight of pages and pages of interior description.

Having looked at the other reviews, I'm kind of amazed to see this book referred to as a "thriller," and as possessed of the makings of a Masterpiece Mystery. We can't have read the same 560-odd pages. This novel would have been better served by more stringent editing, cutting away some of the endless tours through Frances's mental maundering so that the narrative drive was stronger and sharper. As it stands, this book is slow-going--truly a slog to get to the end.
2615784
This author must have had a very sad, troubled life!  Very negative portraiy of humanity.  I would not recommend this book for anyone.
1864321
I suspect that the vast majority of this books is a work of
"wishful thinking" and the results of reading too many "True Crime" stories while the author was in high school.  Be that as it may, if only one tenth is indeed true, then the author has some major problems, on many different levels, the lack of ability to write leading them. Most of the book consists telling us just what a bright fellow he, the author, is, and just how brutal he was/is.  The chronology of events is often completly
incorrect and the author's thoughts and deeds simply do not jive with those previously recorded.  All in all, the books comes across as being written by a seventeen year old city kid who has watched the God Father movies one too many times.  If only one tenth of the books is true, then I truely feel sorry for this kid and do wish him well.  On the other hand, at least he did make an effort to write, and if the story be truely true, then he probably needs the cash.  I am rather surprised he found a publisher though. NOTE: If the author reads this,and really takes offense,  please blow up my old pick-up, not the newer cars - they are not mine, they belong to my wife. The truck is mine, and I could use the insurance money. Please be kind enough to make sure I or my dog are not in it. Thanks.