Really enjoyed this book , however
355519
not exactly what I was expecting from previous reviews basically had the plot down  before one third of book. interesting story but no real surprise for me.
4872116
A book I really enjoyed, although it's not up there with my favorite Ulitskaya novels.  As usual, the writing is excellent.  I was chuckling aloud, pausing to consider and even tearing up in spots.

I will say I was disappointed that after the three boys were grown, Ilya became the main focus for far too long.  Sanya and, my favorite, Mikha were all but forgotten until page 400.  Also, some excerpts read like short stories plunked into the middle of the novel although, in fairness to the author, there is always a connection to one of the main characters, no matter how tenuous.

I do believe the book might have benefitted from more generous editing.  In fact, the first paragraph of the chapter "The Imago" was almost exactly the same, word for word, as a paragraph in the previous chapter.  All in all, however, a wonderful read.
3737054
So, I like the plot and the characters, and it is definitely worth reading. However, there multiple distracting grammar, punctuation, switching from first to third person errors that somewhat disrupted the flow of the book. I would have probably given this book four stars otherwise. It was still sweet, fun, and had a good back story.
3903992
i really liked  this book, it could have done without a lot of the sex scenes/foreplay scenes...but that is a minor criticism
1258055
ATTENTION: SPOILER ALERT
I very much enjoyed the book, much as I did the first one.  However, there were a couple of 'annoyances':

- I can deal with the reading colors thing, but the dead women being in the background talking to Dominika are a bit much
- I initially enjoyed the food item per chapter thing, but now it seems like the author has cornered himself into having to include some food item in every chapter just so he can have the recipe at the end.
- There was too much sex and romance in this particular novel.  I came close to dropping reading it during one particularly endless sequence of love and romance.

The author writes extremely well about operational matters.  To me, that is the bread and butter of his novels.  He should lean more on that skill and talent, and less on the type of stuff I mentioned above.
3021517
I really did enjoy this book and felt it was well written, entertaining, and well edited. My "but" has to do with the old "misunderstanding" plot point, of which there are two simultaneously. A book loses credibility for me when entire lives are changed by "misunderstandings" that don't stand up to a reality check. Still, if you can suspend some of your disbelief, it's a nice read, especially at the .99$ price.
563019
I really enjoyed this. It's well written, creative, and beautifully presented.

That said, I had some issues with the plotting. The middle section felt like it belonged to a different book than the first and third acts, and the changes to the characterizations in that section did not feel they meshed with the existing characterizations. Plus, in the third act, there was a plot point that could only be attained by ignoring an obvious solution. It felt like there were a few bumpy areas in the way the worldbuilding intersected with the plot and the characters. I'd be on the edge of giving the book five stars, if it wasn't for those concerns. They really threw me as a reader.

You'll want to go look for book 2 right away. This ends with a solid lead-in. The characters are engaging, the magic system encourages a volatility and action-focused style of conflict, and it's a lot of fun. Aside from the weaker second act, it's a great story!
1361732
I liked the book, but there was a bunch of jumping around in time in the book. Overall though it was a really good book. I look forward to reading the next book.
2748049
I really enjoyed this book, I like and appreciate the 'hide your crazy' POV. It was well written, humorous and had a nice twist at the end. I gave it a three star rating vs higher because of a glaring oversight with the key/locks to Ellison's home, she has the locks changed early on the book to keep her husband out but later in the book, the thief uses a key from under the flower pot that's been there for years to unlock and walk right in the back door. Please, Ms. Mulhern, find a good content editor, you have so much promise as an author.
2077135
I won't bother repeating what's been said in the other billion reviews of this book, but my one comment is that I adored this book and might have potentially rated it a 5* (rare for me) if not for the last two chapters, which dragged and ruined the great reading experience I was having.  I'd still highly recommend it just for the pleasure of the storyline, the charming and interesting characters, and the flowing writing style.  Then rush through the ending just to finish what is otherwise a great book.
2600336
I really enjoyed reading this book, and the point of view was interesting (as it's from the view of a five year old). I felt so bad for the characters as the book continued. I really got a good sense of the Room and how odd it would be to grow up in there then go out to the outside world. I think Emma Donoghue did a great job with this book.

The only reason I gave this book four stars instead of five was because I felt that the ending was lacking somewhat. I mean, I understand that the little boy wouldn't have a total, complete understanding of what was going on, but it was definitely the one part in the whole book I would've loved to read it in the mother's view!

Beyond that, I would recommend reading this book at least once, if not for the uniqueness of the story.
4929472
I really enjoyed this book. Absolutely charming, and the plot kept me really engaged. I also have the impression that it's a very accurate picture of the television industry, and in particular, a thinly veiled account of how things went for Weiner's television show State of Georgia. (That must have been very cathartic.)

I was actually 100% adoring it until the third act. Suddenly an interaction between the main character and the love interest was really, really frustrating to me - a sort of cliche miscommunication that seemed wildly out of character for the protagonist.

But even then, I still found the rest of the book charming, and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the inner workings of making a television show.
4631632
While I really enjoyed this book, the behavior and situations presented in it seem unlikely to be possible during the Regency era.  The situation the h and h find themselves in seems very unlikely historically, and the outcome even more so.  Being skeptical of the reality of the book didn't stop me from enjoying it; I am just warning others who want more truth in their historical fiction.
3214363
This is a really good book, and I wanted to give it five stars.  I paused on a top rating because I got so distracted by the decline in grammar near the end of the book.  I think it might be interesting to count the number of times the word "ain't" was used in the last third of the book.  Still, a really good story!
3615818
Really enjoyed the book. Kept me involved and guessing the whole time. My only problem is that the author is a bit off a masochist!  The book was one little chapter short of being five stars. I can't say anymore without spoiling the book....hmm...I wonder if there is a follow up to this book....if not there should be!
1887942
First off, let me start by saying I really enjoyed this book; for a first book, the author did a really good job delivering her story. The cover is absolutely GORGEOUS and while the concept is a popular one, it gave a different insight to the inner workings of a rockband, which I enjoyed the heck out of. I really enjoyed that (not really a spoiler) Seth wasn't this coked out sex fiend that Devi had to 'fix'; which is SO popular these days in rock-star romances. But there were some things that prevented me from giving this book a higher rating.

I'm not normally one to play the 'typo' card; If the plot and characters are good enough, it's easy to overlook simple grammatical and spelling errors. However, I think the author uploaded the version that one of her editors went through with a digital 'red pen'. It's a simple mistake to make; and I'm sure it has (hopefully) already been brought to her attention and she's working on it...hopefully.
There are these weird 2 letter indications that, at the end, i see is someone's commentary? They're is like a page dedicated to it, which is why I believe the real 'final product' wasn't uploaded.  Also, because of this eyesore in random parts of the book, I started to notice about 40 grammatical/typos. Two, 2, too, to (Most use the rule of thumb that numbers are only used for address, and phone numbers) The author should look into replacing '2' with two, and pay attention to the difference between 'too' and 'to'. "If you want me too" is not an appropriate usage of 'too'. Also, it's best to write out the word for numbers vs using the number because using a number like '2' and '5', etc, really mucks up the flow that readers get into while reading a good book. Next, 'were' and 'we're'. I saw this used a handful of times, as well. Next, 'intact' does not equal 'in tack'.(In the scene where our h/H are at an arcade and she beats him at a game he says 'I want to leave with my pride 'in tack'; please correct this..PLEASE.) There are some that I'm sure that I've missed, but I would definitely recommend to the author to re-edit and update, because the book IS good, and I would hate for others (much more rude than I; they're known as the grammar police and we all  know how much they love to rip on new authors lol) to give this book a one star rating and tell all their friends that this book sucks because of poor grammar. It doesn't suck; it just needs to be edited/corrected and 'updated' on Amazon. Since this book is pretty much brand new, with corrections none would be the wiser (except for this review, which i would be more than happy to update to a higher rating once these corrections have been made). Oh, also, if you're going to make up words like 'ghandiesque' (which took me a second to figure out what you were trying to convey), it would be better to say zen, or (if you absolutely have to use that word) put 'Ghandi-esque' so people understand the description you've made for one of your characters.

In it's current format, I would probably only recommend it to friends who really don't care about grammar, but since I'm an English major (I bet you could tell already) as well as a writer myself, I have a lot of friends who are the 'grammar police' I was referring to. AGAIN - I really loved the story, but because of the fact that I think the author uploaded one of the copies used for editing, it was really hard to get into at times.

Final Rating:
Plot - 5 stars
Character development - 5 stars
Cover - 5 stars
Grammar/spelling - 1 star
Steam Factor - 4 stars.
4561476
Really enjoyed this book.  The format was a bit unique...I felt that it could've been two books in one, but the plot was interesting, the characters were engaging, and it was just generally enjoyable.  I would recommend it!