let me first start off by stating that I enjoyed reading this book and I thought it was worth ...
358136
Okay, let me first start off by stating that I enjoyed reading this book and I thought it was worth the money, at least.  I also immensely enjoyed the first divine conspiracy, and I gave that one 5 stars, even though that book isn't perfect either.

Here's the best way I can explain how I feel about this book:  There were many times reading where I just kind of went, "Huh?  I appreciate or agree with the argument you're making, but I don't really understand why you're making it."

That wasn't all the time, but it happened a lot.  I have a couple of key takeaways from this book, but much of the book felt unimpactful.  The original book forced me to read it very slowly, and I really appreciated every word that was written.  I can appreciate *why* this book is the way it is.  Being written by two people, in a rush (due to Willard's failing health) will do that.  But that doesn't mean it deserves 5 stars.
402346
I was not really sure what to expect when I picked up this book. This was a relatively good book, had some great thoughts, great insights, but had several major flaws:

One of the things that I dislike the most is the "Focus on the Family" stamped on it. Does Focus on the Family really have to put their stamp on everything they think might make a buck? To me, the Focus on the Family endorsement almost put me off this book entirely.

I also don't like where at the end of a chapter they try to get you to go to their website to read something else, watch something, or listen to something. If I'm reading a book, I want to read the book, without having to go look up other stuff.

Also, I don't believe in formulaic Christianity. I'm against the 1,2,3 pray after me style of witnessing, and I'm against the idea that if you do "x" it will most certainly result in "y". Christianity is not a magic wand that you can wave, say the right words and "get in" or be guaranteed the right results.

Although the formulaic Christianity presented is a major flaw of this book, the five parts of the blessing itself are good points well worth considering on their own. However, you don't need to follow a formula to do these five things which are: meaningful touch, a spoken message, attaching high value, picturing a special future and an active commitment. These things are all good things, and the authors present some good ideas on how to carry out these ideas.

It does feel though as if the author excuses some people's behavior just because they did not feel like they got a blessing from their parents. I also feel that some of the people are a little shallow and emotional in the stories that he gives.

This was an ok read, not something that I am sure I'll read again though.
3656856
Writing on my Forehead was an enjoyable book, but it has some problems.  I really enjoyed the unfolding of family history, and the really relatable characters. Saira, Big Nanima, Mohsin, both of her grandfathers, all had incredible stories to tell and I read most of this book in one evening.

The book is primarily about American-born Desi, Saira, and her relationships with her family.  She uncovers her family history bit by bit, initially when she travels to Pakistan for a family wedding, and then again when staying with her father's relatives in London.  She's a bit of a rebel, defying her parents to act in the school play, turning down marriage proposals to attend college in Berkeley and have affairs.  She takes after her aunt Big Nanima, a social activist who studied teaching in London so that she could return to Pakistan to teach young women literature, and never married but lived independently all of her days.  It is another perspective on women in Pakistan, one that most Westerners do not get.  Even the traditional women portrayed in the book - the faithful wives and obedient daughters - have a strength of will that some people might find unexpected in what appears to be a male-dominated culture from the outside.  This book is a view both onto that traditional culture as well as into American culture.

One theme was about Saira as a budding journalist, about learning to Bear Witness from her cousin Mohsin, the photographer, and from her paternal grandfather, who worked alongside Gandhi for a free India.  I would have liked to read more about Saira's life as a journalist, but the book never really got into that.  Most of the book occurred before her life as a journalist, and the rest occurred afterwards.
However, about 80% through the book, the story jumps, far into the future, a series of events unfolds quickly - almost too quickly - almost too pat - and plot twists reveal secrets.  It's entertaining in its own way, but it somehow seems to lose the theme of the book.  Saira's actions didn't make sense, even when they were explained by the book's final twist.

So, while I enjoyed this book very much, it was disjointed enough that it has flaws - and it's can't be a prizewinner.  And I'm sad about that because the book has a lot of potential.  Many books and movies suffer from this problem - the problem of endings.  It is forgivable as long as the ending doesn't destroy the contents of what you've read, and if you enjoyed the journey.  I did.  I would still recommend it as a book for reading pleasure.

I should note that for me, a 3 star is a good rating.  It means a book is enjoyable.  Four stars is for an especially favorite  book, one I would re-read.  Five stars is for a classic, an absolute work of literature that will stand the test of time.  In the past, I would give 5 stars to any book I liked, but now that I am reviewing for Amazon Vine, I decided to have a more fair rating system that could distinguish between Good, Very Good, and Great.
240493
As I started "Killing Kennedy" I was expecting a different book and I was disappointed; I expected to rate the book no more than three stars.  But I changed my perspective entirely by the time I was halfway through.  Nevertheless, the book does have some negatives as well as a number of positives.  I think the title is misleading; this is much more than a look at the days just before and just after the assassination.  It begins with the oath of office and highlights the high and low moments of JFK's presidency for the first 70% of the book. It also blends in his family life and other very personal episodes and shows his transition from rich Daddy's playboy son to respected world leader.  It also tracks what was going on in Oswald's life during these same periods of time.  But the book devotes more time to his sexcapades than was necessary to make the point, and seems to delight in emphasizing that MLK and LBJ also spent considerable time in pursuit of extra-marital sex. But it harps and harps on how much time JFK has left - many chapters end with a reminder that he would be dead in two months, or following a meeting with Dr King that JFK would be dead in 5 months and MLK in 5 years.  The last 80 pages or so are devoted to the assassination and the days immediately following.  This was certainly the most impactful part of the book but somehow it still seemed skimpy.  Many photos and maps, all of which were helpful. But by the time I was finished I had two overwhelming and somewhat contradictory feelings about the book - one that it was pop history and written to entertain as much as to inform, and secondly that it was nevertheless moving and that I was glad I had read it.  I will read "Killing Lincoln".
4825678
I will start off by saying that I really enjoyed the book for the most part.  It was a fairly quick read that, even with my busy schedule, was finished in two days.  It could very easily be finished inside of one if you wanted to do so.  It starts fairly quickly and has a fair bit of action without many slow parts.

Unlike a lot of fantasy stories it doesn't really contain a love story underneath it all.  The main protagonist is not the "hero", but in a way he ends up being more of a hero than the actual "hero" of the story.  It ends up being a fairly interesting story overall and well worth the asking price.

As for the cons...  The author pulls a LOT from other books, video games, and movies.  A lot of times I found myself thinking the book felt familiar when I was reading about certain creatures or abilities just because I knew I had seen or read them in other places.  For instance, the story's focus is on "Travelers" who travel from one realm to another using powers from their home realm.  In some cases they can summon beasts from that realm that will fight along side them.  This feels eerily similar to Pokemon.  On top of that, during Simon's trial he encounters beasts that sound very similar to Pokemon in the wild.  Also, at the beginning where it explains what happens to Simon's parents... it felt like The Name of The Wind.

There are also points where some of the creatures or powers just seem unoriginal or uninspired.  Some characters even mention things that just seem extremely out of place for this setting and a lot of the fight scenes seem sort of like what you would expect a teenage boy to come up with when he is trying to sound "cool".  I feel like some of the sword fights were sort of pulled from Star Wars as well.

After those complaints you would assume that I would have given the book a far worse rating, but it is actually a good story.  It makes you want to continue reading, it is cheap, and it is interesting enough to make you want to buy the rest of the series.  For $2.99 it is definitely hard to beat.

So overall, I would say it is a good story and worth reading.  Just don't expect it to be on the same level as something written by the likes of Rothfuss, Sanderson, or GRRM.
1733790
This book has given me some mixed feelings. Lets start with the good. Overall, this story is captivating, interesting and gets you hooked. IF you can stand the main character, Katie, which I couldn't. She was a whiny, selfish shallow person. The overall writing was pretty good, except a few things I talk about below. I really liked Wes and Randy, and Hated Josh. It was a quick read for sure, with the biggest cliffhanger ever too. Just fair warning, boy I hate cliffhangers.

As for the bad: There are a few things that I didn't like, one of them is the tiresome inner dialogue that goes on and one, we are in very immature teenage girls head. She will go on and on about what ifs that seem to never stop. Even Katie, would think to herself that she could drive herself crazy with all the what ifs. Well if it didn't drive her crazy, it sure did me.

I also didn't like the nonsense filler info. Mostly on her actions, just too much. For example:

She turned to her bowl and shoveled the food into her mouth. Mom disappeared upstairs to finish getting ready. When Katie was done eating, she brushed her teeth and grabbed her backpack from her room. She unplugged her phone from the charger and turned it back on, placing it in her pocket as she headed out the door. After pulling the door closed, she turned and stopped on the porch.

That whole paragraph is so unnecessary. There are so many instances in that useless info, mostly of movements and actions etc.

Dont get me wrong, overall the story is still interesting, and will appeal the younger crowd. This all happens pretty early in the book, so its not too bad later on.

I am still giving this book 4 stars because what didn't appeal to me, will to others. I know the biggest issue for me is me disliking Katie, so it puts me off her from the start then I get a bit nit-picky, sorry for that, cant help it and want to be honest.

I realize that the title is the Appeal to Evil, but I guess I didn't really think that she would like evil, lol, I should pay more attention to titles and the meanings.

I still do recommend this book to those who like a quick easy evil against good type book, and do not mind the mind of a teenage girl, who thinks to much, lol

I was provided a copy of this book for my honest review.

Michelle @ Michelle's Paranormal Vault of Books
3071933
Folks, I'm scratching my head over this one.  There are definitely some wonderful things about this book, and I enjoyed the experience of reading it, but there were issues that I just can't overlook.

I'll start with the positive.  This is my second book by Pamela Schoenewaldt (Swimming in the Moon was the first) and, once again, I was drawn in by the language in this book.  It is not overly verbose, but the prose is still lovely and completely readable.

I was immediately attracted to Hazel as a character.  She is a young woman very much at a crossroads in her life.  As is typical among young people of that age, she is restless and then she discovers a family secret that leads her to question her life as she knows it.  I liked that while Hazel was a proactive character, Shoenewaldt still gave her time to process these things that go on in her life.

The real draw for me with this book is how well Schoenewaldt draws America during World War I.  I've read a fair amount of WWI fiction, but I think it was all from a European viewpoint.  The United States had a unique experience with the war--while we didn't join in until late in the game, the war was fought by citizens on the streets of America.  Schoenewaldt captures this expertly and, for that alone, I would recommend this book.

But, as I said, there were things that just didn't work.  My biggest problem is that it seemed like Schoenewaldt took 3 passes at this before settling on a plot, but the first 2 possible plots are still included, but never finished.  The first of these is Hazel's family secret, which is introduced, ignored for a bit, and then brought up briefly before being dropped for the rest of the book.  The second story line involves some magic realism.  It is not that I don't like magic realism--I actually quite like it when done well--but I do believe that it is something that an author needs to commit to and carry through the entire work.  Schoenewaldt does not do this.  It happens in only one part of the book and then is dropped again.  Throughout the rest of this book, I kept hoping I'd see a return, or at least an explanation, of the magic realism, but it never happened.  Because of this, I felt like I was reading 3 distinct stories (or 2 beginnings of stories and one complete story) instead of one cohesive novel.

I really think that a but more editing and the removal of "story stumps" would have greatly improved this novel.  But, I cannot discount the beautiful language and Schoenewaldt's description of WWI-era America.  Even with its flaws, I would still recommend this book.
1087973
I am writing this review with mixed feelings about the book. I personally anticipated the ending before I was halfway through the book, so I am surprised that many people reviewing the book felt cheated/upset/even angry at the ending. There were many little items in the story that pretty clearly led to one and only one conclusion, so my disappointment was more to do with the fact that I was not surprised by the ending. Having said that, the story line was very original and adopted a pattern I have not come across before. All in all, a book worth reading.
3135792
It seemed like if I sorta left my brain disengaged then this book was a pleasant read. But when I thought more critically, then sometimes it was not so satisfactory.

Maybe I'm exceptional. The author says people are bad at evaluating risk and reward; I do not think I am. While I typically don't gamble on longshots, I might just go for that $300,000,000 lottery ticket... but it is not with any foolish belief that God owes me a win. I recognize the odds perfectly well. It is the excitement of hoping against the known odds which is my guaranteed reward. Whenever I take any risk or make any decisions at all, I have reasons which make sense to ME. And the reasons continue to make sense to me even when the bet is lost.

The author tells the stories of many scientific studies. I sometimes felt she was getting the stories a bit muddled due to imprecise language or maybe not understanding the studies herself. An example is a Rottenstreich & Hsee study where people were asked to choose in the hypothetical would they rather have $50 cash or the opportunity to kiss the movie star of their choice, and the majority chose the cash. Somehow this book explains this as the natural result of "a guaranteed outcome of real cash in hand" vs. a "theoretical kiss." Well they were BOTH theoretical things, right?

(I'm not critiquing the study itself here, but BTW my interpretation of the result of that experiment is that the test subjects took their instructions very seriously and considered the effect kissing a movie star would have on their relationships with their existing spouses/boyfriends/girlfriends. In other words it was the theoretical certainty of the kiss that forced them to shy away from something they might have daydreamed about in the abstract. I mean, $50 bills come and go rapidly and unremembered, but what sane unattached person would pass up the opportunity to kiss basically the sexiest person they can name?)

Well I could go on, but it is this type of sloppiness that reduced my enthusiasm for this book.
122914
This book started out very interesting and really challenged my thinking about my own spending. There were so many interesting anecdotes to explore cultural views on money. On the other hand after a while the message was repetitive and anecdotal evidence was the only substance, which is why I rated it 4 instead of 5 stars.

I actually still want to reread it and have reread parts because I found it very inspirational that no matter what level you're at you can always contribute and do something with your money that shows where your values are. it was also helpful to rethink the idea of scarcity versus abundance not only in terms of money but also in terms of love and many other concepts we hold.
After reading this book I have already started some small actions to show that my inspiration can actually become a reality.
634518
Wasn't worth the trouble - read half and decided time to move on to a good book
1156611
I do enjoy books like this but only if they have something substantial to offer. I was on the fence with this one, hence the three stars.

The beginning could almost be taken completely from The Secret. It didn't offer up anything new and for that I was a bit disappointed. But then, in the later chapters, the author started getting into things I hadn't really been aware of that resonated deeply with me and I bookmarked several places to go back to,reread and even work through.

Just when I think this book earned a higher than 3-star rating, the author would throw in some pseudo-science kind of examples that have no facts to back them up and I am back down on the rating scale. (e.g., 'your thoughts DO become a reality and your vibration magnifies The Law of Attraction...This is not metaphysics, this is quantum physics and it's been proven on a scientific level.'  There is no footnote as to where it has been proven. Science still disagrees on quantum physics daily, so how can she say it as fact?
or, 'You will wake up with the same vibration you fall asleep with.'  And the proof is where???? She says if you go to bed angry, you will wake up angry. That's not always true. There are many more examples such as this peppered throughout this book and I found it distracting me from liking the book fully.)

This sounds like a mixed review because it is. I enjoyed the parts that were not a rehashing of the countless other books talking about manifesting a better life. But the other parts that screamed, NO WAY, were also playing out equally.

In the end, this is a book I will definitely go back to, to reread the highlighted areas, the ones that I feel were of greater benefit to me. For that it was a worthwhile read and for that, I would recommend this to you with the foreknowledge that portions of this book are priceless and other parts are worth skipping over completely. What those parts are will have to be defined by you.
239199
First, I enjoyed reading this book. Second, I liked the reason for the electricity not working. That was a new and interesting idea. However, there were several things about the book that bothered me. First, there were lots of glaring errors missed by the spell-check. (Note to author: Read your book before putting it out there for others to read.)  Second, the author spent too much time describing mundane things such as swimming and preparing meals over and over again. Third, I don't believe it is possible to deceive the entire U.S. army. Fourth, the characters were too perfect and things usually went their way. Also, if no electricity worked, then all of our modern cars with computers would not work. In this book, the only thing about the cars that didn't work was the lights. Not logical.  Nothing in this book seemed like the real world. That said, it was still fun to read. There are still two more books in the series.  I think the author just cut a longer book into three parts, because he just stopped in the middle of a battle.  If these books were cheaper, I definitely would read them just to find out how it all ends. The characters, especially the women, walked around in the nude a lot and nobody seemed to mind. The sex scenes were few and not very descriptive. One thing I liked about the book is that there are no zombies and no rapists.

Update: I just read the sequel and was very disappointed with the book. Read my review. It would be a waste of time to read just the first book and not the others. I do not recommend it.
51460
1. Have you ever read a book and thought: "Is this book so long because it repeats itself or does it have to repeat itself because it is so long?" This book gave me that feeling. It lept repeating the events of the book every few chapters. As an aspiring author myself, this is one of the first things I learned about and it's not a good thing to do.

2. I got sucked into this book. Another reviewer said is was like the Da Vinci Code for kids, and that is spot on. I was really enjoying the ride when it stopped suddenly and the book was over. The ending was a real letdown.

3. I had a hard time getting past the names in this book. I realize the time period the book is set in but really, Grimpow?

4. I think alot of the issues with the book are a result of translation, but I did like it. I think other people should read it and see how it works for them.
2893920
I have been haphazardly flipping through this book for three months, and while I thoroughly appreciate its wisdom and validity, I do not find myself compelled to curl up on the sofa with it and a cup of hot chocolate.  The book is well written.  It is fully elaborated and sound, but at the same time, it's hard hitting, a heavy chunk, textbook-ish more than reading-book-ish.  I do indeed endorse this interpretation of the Ten Commandments according to modern life... but I fear that most people may lack the stamina to support its no-holds-barred style.
Of course, the reason that I find the book daunting is because I expected something more along the lines of Dr. Laura's first book, The Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives, a book that combines a hard-hitting message with a upbeat, cheery, "you can do it" voice.  This book lacks that positivity.
Therefore, I gave the book three stars because of my disappointment... but I realize that it's a good book nonetheless, and it's worth reading.
1400011
I enjoyed the book and it's worth reading.  That said, I wondered about parts of it.  The author says up front that the names ere changed (which is common) and some of the characters are composites.  But in one case he has the characters from his barracks in the supply depot where he works along with the folks he worked with yet there was no other evidence the men he bunked with were men he worked with.  He talks about the test and the men's exposure to the radiation from the blast and I have no doubt the men on the island were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation in part because the folks in charge and the scientist didn't fully understand the dangers themselves.  And I don't doubt the hitch there was 12 months of boredom but I doubt that folks were generally as messed mentally after a few months on the island as they are portrayed to be in this book.  Overall, I feel the books gives an reasonable overview of life on the island during the time of testing but I wouldn't pay a lot of attention to the details.  But all that said it's entertaining and worth the read.
2562265
I enjoyed this book, but this is NOT a stand-alone book.  You really need to read the first book in the series before reading this.  I made the mistake of letting too much time lapse between books and found that I couldn't remember who each of the characters were, or what had happened to them.  If the photography is one of the main reasons you are reading this, I would like to suggest reading a hard copy instead of a digital copy.  I read this on my Kindle Paperwhite, and while I enjoyed the pictures, I didn't feel that I could view them as well, and I didn't see as much "weird" photography in this book as was in the first - that is, unless it was there but my reading format inhibited viewing it correctly.  Overall, it is an entertaining book, and I felt that it moved pretty quickly.