Maybe less than 3 stars
346847
My main issue is it's major purpose, checking tire pressure. The shape makes it annoying to check the tire pressure of my Honda Civic. It does not fit well so I have to turn it so the screen is facing away from me as that's the only way it fits. This gets annoying. I had bought two for my household's vehicles but ended up giving one away. I have not tried the cutter or hammer so I did not rate it lower.
949480
Between three or four stars. I enjoyed it, but it felt like it was lacking something. I never fell in love with the characters,  and most of them even Evilina, who was beyond haughty, were near unlikeable.  The plot itself, however, was descent, and there were some funny moments as well.
4081337
I would give it 3.5 stars. It's better than OK, but I wouldn't say Good. I enjoyed it, but I'm not rushing to recommend it to my friends.
4564145
This collection is probably worthy of three and a half stars; however, among my several Tavener discs, this is the weakest. There is some decent material here and even some moments of great beauty, and it all seems well performed, but this disc falls short of my normal Tavener expectations. There's just too much droll chanting of little consequence and a lack of Tavener's signature moments of ecstasy. I certainly wouldn't want to introduce the music of Tavener to anyone using the music on this disc, which is a shame, because I really like Tavener's music. Best to look elsewhere, I think.
1513783
This is a good example of Ballard's minimalist style of novel he was cranking out in the 70s. It's a simple story of a man who crashes his car off of the highway and gets stuck on the small traffic island underneath the causeway, a bit of an aping of Robinson Crusoe, with plenty of Ballardian modern-utopia-horror thrown in. It's a quick read, and essentially a one-trick pony, without as much depth or character development as one might expect.

This isn't a bad book, but to me, it's just meh. He used the same writing style with much more disturbing premises in _Crash_ and _High Rise_, both of which are sick and twisted in just the right way. And this is nowhere near the absurdism of something like _Atrocity Exhibition_. It's a part of the Ballard canon worth reading, but I'd hit any of the aforementioned books first.
104113
I, like other reviewers, found Sleepless the weakest of Huston's novels, most of which I have read and enjoyed in the past.

The setting is the near future, a time when much of population has become infected with a disease that leaves them sleepless. Their bodies and minds deteriorate slowly, until the finally die a miserable death.

And while I love the concept, in execution Huston falls down. Perhaps he tried to do too much conceptually, perhaps he's just a bit sleepless himself, but a good portion of Sleepless is a confusing mess.  For the first third of the book, at least, it's not clear who the narrator is - and while that in and of itself isn't a bad thing (some experimentation with voice can be fun), this was just too odd to be enjoyable.  And trying to sort it out just lead to continuity errors that couldn't be reconciled.

But Huston hasn't lost the ability to paint a dark picture, and passages of the book are outstanding.  Unfortunately, by the end of the thing I had gotten irritated enough with the murkiness that I just didn't care that much about anyone.

It's a bad sign if I can get into bed with a book and be falling asleep in less than 50 pages.  Sadly, this was the case with Sleepless, which, due to it's jumbled plot, left me anything but.
1308956
While this one was a little better than the few stinkers that turned me away from Mr. Grisham's recent courtroom stories, it was still mediocre for me.  It's a follow up to A Time to Kill in that the attorney and some characters are the same but the previous trial from ATTK is only mentioned as his past claim to fame.  The new story line is totally different and the litigation should be a little too complex for this country bumpkin of an attorney to handle in the real world.  But, Mr. Grisham turns him into an unlikely hero among lawyers and for me it was just an okay story with a pretty much predictable outcome. I much prefer when Mr. Grisham writes books like The Painted House and Calico Joe and will hopefully see more of them in the future.  Until then I do solemnly swear to not be tempted by a four and a half star review again.
4615361
If half stars were an option, I would have rated this book at three and a half--a better than average read but not quite what I would consider good.  Also it was depressing.
2259823
Honestly, I liked the book in and of itself, and would probably give it 4 stars on that alone. But, taken in context with the rest of the series I have read so far (Books 1 through 4) it sits at about 3 stars.  It boils down to these factors: 1 - Not enough Holden and his crew (especially Amos). The crew of the Roci were relegated to tertiary characters in this book, really; 2 - the religious monologues were boring and really added little to the story as it related to the series as a whole; 3 - Unrealistic, even for sci-fi, superhero timing (despite no apparent training, Anna was just in the nick of time to save the day).
1985734
Alright, Daughtry is definitely not as good as I thought he was. In fact, he might be the most unoriginal guy in modern rock to come around in quite awhile, and that's saying something. However, this time he doesn't sound like another artist, he sounds like his bad self, or more specifically, "Over You" which was his previous single. Anybody else see something wrong with this picture? And yet, he rules rock radio.

The verses are mediocre at best, and the chorus on its short run on radio is already annoying the heck out of me. It just doesn't seem real, like it's a half-hearted effort or something; something to please the record labels. Chris's vocals are stellar as always, but contrary to popular belief, the song itself makes for most of its success, and this one is made, but it's in pieces taped together in a quick effort to please a record executive.

So overall, on if, if not Daughtry's worse in a rather short career so far. Hopefully he'll come out his sophomore album rather soon, so the rest of the musical skeletons in his compact disc closet will stay where they belong: hidden.
958716
This book was decent, but it doesn't really live up to the hype that everyone else is building. I was invested enough to finish it, and the characters were likable. There is a sense of open-endedness and poetic nature to the writing, which is fun if you like literature that offers symbolism and room for interpreting characters. The introduction of darker themes like prostitution, anorexia, homelessness, and mental issues were what saved the book from its mediocrity. The romance in general though feels flimsy and without real substance though. Maybe it's due to the shorter nature of the book. I like them together and its still sweet, but its not mind-blowing and I didn't get a real connection to any of the characters in the book. It's lukewarm but not awful.

Idk I was redirected to this book after finishing the All For The Game series and the characters just weren't as good and so if you are like me in that regard, you won't be satisfied.
2924563
In Deep Shitake had it's moments but I can't say it would rank among my favorites.  There is some humor, a simplistic mystery, action, romance and I liked Ross and Mo okay.  However, the writing was somewhat stilted and Mo's substitution of food refrences for profainity soon became a bit irritating. The sex scenes, if you can honestly call them that, were rather sophomoric nothing provocative.  The characters were rather one dimensional, and there wasn't much suspense.  I know this was suppose to be humorous, but the "bad guys" were simply pathetic.

After the aforementioned criticisms, you may wonder why I gave it 3 stars.  Well, overall it was an okay read and I'm a sucker for a HEA ending.  However, if you are lookingg for a GREAT humorous romantic suspense mystery I would suggest that you keep looking.  Thise title indicates that this is the first book in a series.  I would read a second book just to afford the author an opportunity to hopefully perfect, or at the very least improve, her craft.
4543408
The Premise
The heroine, Sinclair Jeffries, agrees to play girlfriend for her gay friend Jesse during his parent's anniversary party. She then meets Reed, Jesse's brother, and of course, they have an instant attraction, which is immediately complicated by his witchy supermodel fiance.  There's a couple of other things going on that but that's the main story. I think.

The Good
Pretty sure I got this for free, which was nice.

*blinks* yeah, some funny parts, and frustrated almost sex scenes.....hmmm. Oh and I read through it pretty quickly. There's a thread of a decent idea here, but the execution is definitely lacking.

The Bad
Honestly having an issue thinking of what is good about this.  It's like 3 different stories, all intersecting at this party, but it's really, just a holy hot mess.

There's a secondary (or is it the third plot?) where Sin's being stalked by crazy man that climaxes earlier than I thought and in a very unsatisfying way. It almost made me wonder why it was even thrown into this story, since there was enough going on between Sin and Reed's attraction, Jesse hiding his sexual orientation, Reed's skanky, cokewh*re of a fiance and his messed up mom and stepdad.  The characters are so stereotypical, and there's a desperate need for some focus.

The Bottom Line
I didn't hate it. But I wouldn't recommend it.
4608090
I bought this based on some other reviews on amazon that were stellar.  I, however, found this CD to be just OK.  It has a couple of good tracks and the rest is sort of mediocre.
4132342
Jessica Simpson does have a solid voice.  But it's not particularly special, either.  Most of the songs on this latest CD are mediocre at best.  There just aren't a lot of songs that really grab you and leave a lasting impression.  However, there are some exceptions.  "Angels" is a powerful ballad that Simpson sings with great talent.  Her cover of "Take My Breath Away" is also solid.  On the more upbeat side, "Loving You" and "In This Skin" are both catchy tunes with strong background beats.  Unfortunately, these four songs aren't enough to boost this album above a 3 star rating.  Unless you are a big Jessica Simpson fan, the bonus DVD will likely provide little enjoyment, either.  It has some sappy wedding moments and some infamous Simpson quotes.  Overall, this is a very mediocre set.
3547543
It's not a bad book, but it's not a great book.  Had I paid for it I would probably be annoyed.  It's a quick read, but the story is muddied by the constant references to the main character's illness and a few improbable things that happen throughout the story.  I finished it in 3 days.  I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it.  I rate it a solid "meh."
986117
I am neurotic. I really want to give this less than three stars but above two-and-a-half. I don't mean to nitpick, but something about this album makes it worthy, and on the other hand doesn't make it worthy. Of course I review this album objectively. Personally I don't care for it much (although I still like it enough to keep it around). If you've seen the way I do other reviews you know I cover all albums by a band in one review (saves tons of time and really there is no need to do otherwise). But concerning this particular band, I have only heard "Salvation" all the way through. I never waste my time reviewing something I hate (pretty much anything on the radio)because the fans of maroon five will be fans no matter what-and that's fine. But I chose to review this band so the potential buyer knows it's not quite worth the hype. I do this because COL have been getting a lot of press (underground of course) in magazines, etc. Now obviously since reading about this band, you know to expect something different, melodic, and experimental (but you also know it's heavy b/c the band has had huge articles/interviews in metal mags). So you know you're not getting some death metal album. My guess is you're thinking Radiohead meets heavy metal. Sounds sweet right? Well, I think in putting the band in this category of something new and experimental (even though Neurosis was doing similar things earlier), they lose some musical credibility. When, listening to COL you expect to hear a lot of soundscapes, effetcs, programming and just overall interesting sound engineering. Maybe something like Incubus's new stuff. But the thing is, Mike Eizenger can pull it off and make it innovative (cuz he's a [...]). They have two guitar players, keyboard player, and a guy who just does like programming/samples and stuff like that. They hardly use any of these members for anything worthwhile. The slow, supposedly innovative, experimental side of their music is extremely simplistic and lethargic in it's approach. It's redundant and abuses its time extension. The heavy side is doom-ladden and repetitive. The production is clear, but the eq and effects makes the guitars and aural soundscapes somewhat dirty and buried under mirk. It's almost is if they tried to make that album I mentioned but fell a bit short. However the heavy parts are catchy and the eq makes it interesting. I find Isis more interesting as something similar musically. Good, but not worth all the new attention.