Disappointing, Disappointed
359357
I rarely begin a book without finishing it. This one went back to the library within a day. I really wanted to like it; the flyleaf description sounded heavenly - right up my alley. The characters were walking cliches.
1716022
Really a disappointment after the first two of the series.  I was sooo looking forward to it, and sooo disappointed.
1800635
To say that this book is a disappointment is a huge understatement. If you're looking for information on Jaxon's condition and how it affects the Buells' lives on a daily basis, you will be sorely disappointed. I started this book thinking that it would provide a more intimate account of Jaxon's daily life - what kind of therapies he receives, what medications are helping him, abilities, possible future treatments, etc. - but none of this is covered. It almost seems like the Buells hide information for fear that they'll lose their many admirers.

Maybe I'm too cynical, but instead of being inspired, I feel as if the Buells wrote this book simply for the money and nothing more.
4285382
I heard and read great reviews about this book and was so excited when it arrived... overseas import to Australia, so not exactly inexpensive... then I opened it and read it... in all of a few seconds... and was so, so very disappointed. I was hoping for many more examples to support my childrens' belief in Santa Claus, but quite frankly, I think I have given them better explanations myself... recounting the life of St Nicholas, talking to them about the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ and the symbolism in true Christian Christmas celebration. What I didn't expect was a few words per page and a story my nine year old could put together... apologies to those who obviously love this book, but as I try to find ways to let my children still be children in a world that confronts and wants them to grow up too quickly, I was kind of hoping (based on the reviews) that this book might provide me with a few more examples and stories and angles on why believing in Santa is not a joke and how wonderful it is to be Christian.
1681678
Disappointing, not nearly as good as the earlier books in this series. It was as if the author was relying on the charm and plots of the previous characters and their stories to uphold this one. The end was a series of drawn out cameos of the old characters. There was not an intriguing enough plot or sympatico for the new characters in this book to flesh it out. I bought it expecting as good a read as the others books and was severely let down.
545233
After eagerly waiting a year for her next book, I am sorry to say that it was a big letdown.  I have found her other books to be fun and sweet (especially the trilogy), but this book kept me wondering if it was really written by her.  The romance label on the spine is misleading, since there is very little romance at all in this book--it is more a behind-the-scenes look at a start-up airline.  I found myself skipping pages--the explanations of the airline were dull, and far too detailed.  The characters were one-dimensional and cliched.  The suspense at the end was only slightly interesting, and the 'and they all lived happily ever after' ending felt trite.
2766675
I was really excited for this book to come out. I preordered it and was beyond disappointed with the whole book. I will not be buying the next one of the series (although I thought this WAS the last one)! HUGE disappointment! Also, I felt like it was the same thing said over and over again. It became really redundant!
1198387
This book disappointed me.  I am a huge fan of the Vorkosigan series and Cordelia is one of my favorite characters so I was really looking forward to a book featuring her.  There were some mildly interesting situations but here never seemed to be much of a plot - which was a huge letdown since one of the things I love most is the convoluted plots.  Not only that but the characters seemed flat - even Miles was boring!  I kept waiting for the twist that would make everything interesting - but it never happened.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!  Read past here at your own risk!

I absolutely hated the reveal that Count Aral Vorkosigan had been involved in a long term romantic relationship with Jole.  Aral and Cordelia were such a great couple - two strong individuals that actually made each other stronger. The idea that he was cheating on her (even if she apparently didn't mind) was revolting.
4800334
I was really looking forward to the newest book in the Dark series, and was left feeling truly disappointed.

Teagan Joanes is a young African-American woman with a white father who abandoned her mother when he learned she was pregnant. Raised by her beloved grandmother, she has joined up with a male college friend to hike in the Carpathian Mountains to search for a crystal she is certain will help her grandmother's failing mind. She is attuned to crystals, and is certain she will "feel" it when she nears it. Unfortunately, her "friend" is a serial rapist and murderer who is actually planning on enjoying her with his friends before killing her. After making her escape, she takes refuge in a cave where Andre, a nearly mortally injured ancient Carpathian is recovering from a battle with a Master vampire. Sadly, the rest of the book is mostly sex scenes and corny dialogue between Andre and Teagan, without all the dramatic plots and fight scenes I was looking forward to. I found myself skipping page after page trying to find a plot or some action somewhere! I hate to say it, but I almost feel like this was just a boiler-plate book with a lot of sex for filler, and not at all as enjoyable as some of the author's other Carpathian books have been.
4270782
What a disappointment.  I was really looking forward to this book, having enjoyed the other 3 so much, but honestly I think they cut corners on editing or something.

First of all, I honestly can't figure out what the main plot line was.  There was just so much going on, all at once sometimes.  There was no one thread to hang on to that the others wove through, it was a hot mess of subplots fighting for domination.  I guess the Leo subplot won, but it didn't dominate most of the book.

Second, since this book focused on Emma's job as with the celestials, you see them a lot.  since they all have more than one name that got very confusing and she did nothing to help you out- no visual assistance or anything, and sometimes she would switch from one name to another.  Often she introduced new characters with very little explanation and to the English speaker the names are similar enough you'd wonder whether it was someone you were supposed to know.  I spent a lot if time lost even having Chinese family and having read the first trilogy.

Third, it was boring.  Seriously, I didn't care about a lot of it.

And lastly, Emma came off as a terrible guardian and as a total doormat.  People would say cruel, nasty things or try to kill her or whatever and she would say "I don't blame them."  What?  That isn't the sassy warrior bride we got to know in the first trilogy!  And Simone is 15 and Emma is saying "she needs to make that decision, I can't push her" and is too busy to help her with school- not sure if this is a cultural difference, but I have a 15 year old daughter and she still needs a parent. It made me dislike her and want to slap her silly.

 So overall not good.  Undecided whether to give the next book a try.  I am not sure why a book without John was even done.  He made the books.
1838997
I just finished reading Twelve Days of Christmas an hour ago, and immediately went back to Amazon to look through ALL the comments, as I was sure someone must share my opinion! I bought this book after seeing so many good and positive reviews, but I was very disappointed as it left me feeling very very bored and frustrated. It seems that I am categorized with the minority.

1. there are WAY too many details in this book for the reader to fully be able to enjoy him/herself and get lost in the story, cooking, cleaning, planning, etc and 2. the writer seems to have no idea how to create realistic dialogues between the characters as it all sounds very contrived, and it seems as though all the characters are excitedly shouting at each other as Ms. Ashley seems to OVERUSE her exclamation marks.

Also, I bought this book hoping to get that warm, fuzzy feeling you usually get when reading a Christmas book but also a ROMANCE novel. And I felt neither. The romance rated lower than 0 for me. And the book lacked SO much on every emotional level. I finished this book feeling as though I've read this boring narrative about how to cook and clean and take care of animals!

As my title implies, this book needs to have life breathed into it, because as of now, it is very dead - dead boring.
1397288
I was looking forward to this book, as I do with all of EP's works. I was so disappointed with this book, I had to read it again just to make sure I hadn't imagined it. It felt as if she had written most of this book some time ago, got stuck, and decided later to slap an ending onto it and release it for publication. As another reader noted, there was no reference to the events in this book in any of the other books that followed this one chronologically. I thought that odd, since surely Amelia would have told Emerson at some point later that Sethos was the 'friend'.
The idea to return to the Lost Oasis was a good one, but the execution left something to be desired. Unlike other readers, I was not shocked nor disppointed with Ramses' involvement with Daria (he is human, after all) but I thought her character was not developed enough for me to care about her one way or the other. A little more information on her history would have helped there. I also thought Nefret acted out of character; she is more strong-willed than this book would indicate.
Go ahead and buy this book if you have the rest of the Amelia Peabody series. If you pick and choose only the best of Elizabeth Peters, you can safely skip this one, as it adds nothing to the overall series.
969315
I was so disappointed after reading this book. I have been reading Nora Roberts forever. The  concept of the Inn, the bookstore and  the restaurant worked for me.  I love the small town atmosphere, and I used to live in Maryland, so maybe I'm  a little biased there.  I'm not a bed and breakfast type girl, but the rooms based on characters,  as in her own Inn, provide some interest. I especially like  the Eve and Roarke room, since I'm a big fan of that series she writes as J.D. Robb. Unfortunately, it only got a few mentions, at least so far. But that's  about as far as my enjoyment went. The characters are mildly interesting, but not nearly as much depth as I  know she is capable of.  Perhaps I am not being exactly fair, as it may be that I'm not as interested in the formula anymore and I may be expecting too much. I only know that I found the first two books in this trilogy pretty boring with little to no character development. I actually really enjoy the formula; she's done it well so many times.  And although I did  like Avery and Owen, there was just something missing that's been there before .  Clare does absolutely nothing for me, it's like she's transparent.  I will read the third book; it will probably  be the best of the three. But for now, I'll go back to my J.D. Robb (which I listen to rather than read,) and be content.

Just a quick note about the Wedding/Bride series.  If you liked that series, don't be afraid to give this one a try. I didn't like that series and couldn't even finish it. But there were plenty of people who loved it, and this one might work for you. It's all a matter of opinion and taste anyway. And I'll never give up on Nora though, she's still one of my go to authors and probably always will be, I hope.
4377948
Very disappointing after the first book in this series. The books surrounds 3 main characters; the chapters take turns focusing on each character which is confusing since for the first half of the book none of the characters interact with each other. I expected more from this series and was left feeling disappointed.

Roughly 50% of the book was read before I ultimately had to put it down.  I just couldn't get into it with the constant change in characters.  I had high hopes for Audra and Jax after the first book; I couldn't understand why the author wouldn't have continued the story with those two.  And if Jax truly loved Audra, why would he want a mail order bride?  None of it made any sense to me.

** ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review **
2103760
This book was a big disappointment to me - I had really been looking forward to and enjoyed other books by this author. I will admit I set a lower bar for this genre, but this didn't even measure up to that.  I thought it was quite boring, which was worsened by the lazy, inconsistent writing.  I would skip this but still recommend her other books.
1862985
Truly disappointed, not inspirational at all, a rehash of previous books & a waste of time & money, I was expecting so much more
2907473
I've read the entire series and was eager to dive into this one.  What a disappointment.  Without giving any spoilers, let me say that the last 20% of the book is the only part that was interesting.  The rest seemed like filler -- or something the author phoned in.  The book could have easily be cut down from the existing 590 pages to about 150, without losing a thing.  A few of my quibbles with the book:

First, too many minor characters with no apparent purpose in the book, and too many minor plot lines involving those characters that never get resolved.  In other words, filler.  Even a new female character is introduced who has no apparent purpose at all -- except maybe to be introduced here for a feature role in a future book.  Unlike others, I didn't mind so much the plot twists involving the major characters to the book -- at least something happened with them.

Second, is it impossible to ask that someone proofread books?  Although the errors were not so bad as I see in self-published books, it is still irksome to run across missing words in sentences or words that were clearly meant to be stricken when a sentence was edited, but were not.  Add to that sentences that are questions that end in periods, not question marks.  A minor quibble, but c'mon guys.

Lastly -- and this isn't the book's fault -- I'm not very  happy that I pre-ordered the book some months ago and was charged $11.99 for the Kindle version.  Today when I logged on to write this review I see it is selling for $6.73 less than two weeks after launch.  Guess I won't be pre-ordering any more.  Thanks, Amazon.