Pretty disappointing for me
354893
Pretty disappointing for me. I'm intrigued enough to read the next one just because of the way this one ended but I did not enjoy it anywhere near as much as the original trilogy.

I really enjoyed the original Selection Trilogy, I loved the story between Maxon and America and I loved how quick I flew through the books. The writing was fun and I loved the light nature of the books. So when Kiera Cass announced two more books in the series following the next generation, I was really excited. However, while I was really excited, I was also very apprehensive about it because I had a feeling this was one of those, let's make more money out of this series even though it already ended sort of thing.

And I have to say, I was really disappointed in this installment. It felt like Kiera Cass was making drama for no reason other than to take away from the fluffy aspect of the first three books. I found Eadlyn to be annoying (and yes, America was annoying, but Eadlyn was worse). The romance between Eadlyn and the suitors was cute, but I feel like in this book she is so against The Selection as a whole that we do not even get to see her truly try to get to know the guys. I also feel like the main three (not going to give names, because spoilers) are all cliche picks and I do not like that. I definitely have a favorite, but at the same time I do not think picking him is the best move, either.

So while I was disappointed with this book, the plot and some of the characters, I still love the world and idea of The Selection. With how the book ended however, I'm going to be forced to pick up the fifth one.

Overall, I was really disappointed with this book. While I still enjoyed the writing and the premise, I do not think continuing this series was necessary. I may be in the minority by saying this though, and I totally get if you really loved this book, but for me it was a let down after the original trilogy. While this book irked me to no end, it was still enjoyable and I love the world.
397386
I found it relatively uninteresting and not to expectations.
3943671
I thought the synopsis of the book sounded very interesting and was looking forward to reading this but it missed the mark for me. I didn't like the main character at all and his choices were not great to say the least. The book mocked religion a lot which is ok because everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but at a certain point it was like getting hit over the head with it and I didn't like that. I guess I didn't like the overall tone of the book and the slow pace either. Not a whole lot actually happens and what does is kind of silly to be honest. I feel like maybe this was just too "young" of a book for me so it felt kind of like a movie on the Disney channel or something very similar. Anyway, it wasn't for me but I'm sure some younger readers may enjoy it.
3733360
I am normally a very forgiving reader and tend to have a compulsion to, "see how it ends." It takes a pretty sad book for me to actually abandon a story AND remember to write a review. I didn't feel a connection to any of the myriad of characters nor was I made to care how the story would continue, much less end. I'm just glad I only spent 99 cents.
4504820
I have to admit I was quite disappointed, for the same reasons many others were.  It was hard for me to visualize some of the places the author was talking about without maps or diagrams instead of "head over to....".  I also wasn't very impressed with most of the photos.  For me, this book really wasn't that inspiring.  I'll keep looking.
3260076
I was pretty disappointed with this book. I didn't outright hate it, but I didn't find much to like, either. I found it a bit cheesy and unrealistic, especially the first third or so of the book. My annoyance with both of those items faded the further I read, but definitely still lingered.

I felt like the author wanted to have all these different quirky elements in the book, and so she added them, whether they actually fit or not. For example, the Dog thing. I've never read a book with the Dog's point of view. While I'm not opposed to this, I don't feel like it was well done. In fact, it seemed entirely pointless. The Dog wasn't even with the hero for 9/10ths of the book anyway. When it finally DID make it to the hero, it was a happy--and completely unexplained--homecoming. Why was the Dog magically able to know where his master was? Was was the Dog so tied to the hero? Why did the hero "need" the Dog, and vice versa? This was very disappointing; I at least expected there to be some sort of significance to this story line.

Maddie is quite weak and that is something I detest in a heroine. She doesn't even really have this underlying strength that needs to be found. She's just a pushover who made a few really stupid decisions in her life and it happened to somewhat work out. The whole debacle with her job was entirely overdone and ridiculous. There wasn't really a resolution, either. Everyone tells her to do the cutthroat thing, but she refuses, and then it's over and she's supposedly won because someone else wants to hire her?

Logan, as a hero, is all over the place. He has this gruff side, but he never really seems to soften, even for the hero. He's a fool and he claims he's in love with another woman for almost the entire book. I didn't find much about him to be redeemable. I don't think he had much character development throughout the book like he should have.

I didn't see any chemistry between the hero and the heroine. The only thing I believed was that they were there due to convenience.

Olivia is evil and all that, but I didn't understand her point. She didn't really DO anything in the story except put Logan in a situation where a mirror could break. This was the most convoluted scene I've ever read and I'm not even 100% sure I understood what was going on. I just kept trying to get through it.

I don't think I'll be reading anything else by this author.
4021446
I had such high hopes for this book when I first came across it. Then I didn't read it for over a year after getting it for review. Once I started it, I just could not get into it. The first three sections were supposed to be an introduction. It was so drawn out and scatterbrained I just could not connect with anyone.

The voice of this story is definitely a unique one. I'm not sure if there is more than one POV, but the one that starts the story off is definitely different. For me, it was a bit TOO all over the place for me to really follow. The focus at the beginning is about this reality show, but it doesn't really seem fleshed out or really part of the story. Of course, I didn't finish the novel so that could have changed by the end.

I think what I was expecting was something more than whiny-ness. I wanted something a bit deeper, but that's not really what I got. I'm not sure. There was just something about this that did not really connect with me. I may try again in the future, but I wouldn't count on it.
3582516
The List By Siobhan Vivian was the first book i've read by her although I do have a few others on my TBR shelfs. I don't really know what I was expecting from this story as far as expectations go, but it fell a bit flat for me. I think I wanted more drama if that's possible, but felt that the drama that did ensue because of the list was very predictable.

I understand why everyone was saying that it was hard to follow along with all the different perspectives that flipped back and forth. It took me a good 1/3 of the book to be able to figure out who was who without flipping back to the actual list in the start of the book, without that I think I would have even been more fustrated and probably would have put the book down, if I didn't have that reference to check back on.

The characters were just ok, and most of them were borderline annoying and even the ones I thought I liked in the beginning of the book annoyed me by the end (Jennifer). I also felt like the story was a bit far-fetched in the respect that the list went on for as long as it did without having school authorities or parents intervene. I believe they said it's been at least six years with the list being a tradition, so I found it hard to believe that the new principal was the only one who tried (and I say that loosely) to figure out who was behind the infamous list.

This book was just ok for me, I wouldn't say definitely don't read it, but it wasn't anything i'll be jumping up and down about to tell everyone to run out and grab a copy either. I still want to give Siobhan Vivian another chance becase I have heard great things about her, but this one just fell a bit short for me.
267719
I wanted to love this based on the premise and I don't like giving such low-star reviews, but because of the hype and my overreaching hope of falling in love with a brand new world, I think it made my disappointment that much more. I realise books need hype to get in front of eyes, but sometimes the buildup sets a reader up for a bigger let-down. Schwab can clearly write and has an army of fans, but I'm afraid this just wasn't for me. I was never sure if it was meant to be YA or adult, as it leaned more toward YA as far as some of the more ... derivative elements, and character development (or lack thereof, until at least 2/3 of the way through the book). As I say, she's an excellent writer, but this was just not for me. I grew bored at various stages and when I find myself skimming, with a towering TBR pile of books on my nightstand, it's time to finish it and move on. Sorry to say, I'm not one of the legions of fans!
638982
When I first read the reviews on this book, I was pretty excited to read it, but shortly after I began to read I began to regret that I got this book. This story felt very amateurish. The writing had no real flow and then at some points there was too much detail. The dialogue was not very realistic and the characters weren't very relatable. I honestly tried to finish this book but I only got 28% (according to my kindle) of the way there. I think the concept was very intriguing and would love to read something like this but with a better writer. I believe this story needs better development. For example, they fall into bed together minutes after she was nearly raped. Then they spend one night together and are pining for each other and are practically in love for months. Everyone knows each other in some sort of way and it seems that everyone knows that they know each other yet there is nothing to it? I don't know how to explain it other than it just wasn't very good.
2201240
This does have some sensationally drawn illustrations but I was attracted to this because I just got a Kindle Fire HD and I loved the Choose Your Own Adventure junior novels when I was a kid so really wanted to be seen what could be done with today's technology in that regard. I must say I was disappointed with this one, firstly I made it all the way to the end (achieved goal for character to get the Dragon's treasure) without meeting my demise, being sold into slavery, locked away in a dungeon, or whatever else could have happened to me back in a medieval time fantasy world. I thought gees that must have been lucky so went back and tried again picking the opposite options and again get to the same ending. The second time round I was still ending up on a lot of the same pages that I did the first time even though this time round even though I was picking the opposite option. For example on my second read I was supposedly choosing to fight a couple of giants who had seen me or try sneak away. When I was expecting to see the result of those actions on the next page I ended up at the same bridge I got to by deciding if I wanted to walk down the left path or continue straight when I was walking through a forest during my first read. Not much point of choosing your own path if all paths end up in the same place. The challenge of the old junior paperbacks was surviving (or avoiding the story finishing with some good outcome happening) for as long as you can or if there was a stated goal in the title to make all the correct decisions and achieve that. There's no challenge with this.

As a straightforward beginning to end story, which this ends up being it was pretty basic and uneventful.
4554335
Pretty much a waste of my money.  Sorry, I wanted to like it and I hate writing poor reviews, but I wish I had heard this before I bought it.
4409975
I know I am going to be in the minority here, but this one just didn't do it for me.  I LOVED Colleen's Slammed series and Hopeless and was really looking forward to this one.  For me Ugly Love just took forever for something to happen.  It seemed to drag on and on and I just didn't get the same feeling as I did reading her other books.  For me, it was more of the same old, same old as a lot of other books in the new adult category.
3322689
I've been seeing this book on my Amazon recommended for you list for years it seems. something always stopped me. I gave in the other night and I'm not impressed. I feel like it should have been good, it had a good idea but it just wasn't. Most of it was predictable and repetitive.  even the shocker at the end I saw coming. I'm just disappointed. I might buy book 2 if it's on sale and I'm desperate but that's the only way i see me reading it.
2510749
I feel the synopsis of what the book is about makes it sound a lot better than what it is.  I wanted to like this book, I really did. I had high hopes for it.  Unfortunately, it didn't do much for me.  I was expecting more of a ghost story. Instead I got more of a sci-fi story, and one that wasn't very good.

Jacob's grandfather tells him of a magical island of which he spent his childhood. He shows him photos and tells him stories about the peculiar children he grew up with. As Jacob becomes a teenager, he stops believing in his grandfather's ridiculous stories until something awful happens. Jacob travels to the mysterious island to find out about his grandfather.  Little does he know that by going to that island he's put himself and many others in danger.

First off, I thought the word building/setting were fantastic.  The author made me feel as if I was on the island. I'll give him props there.  The description of the world was beautifully described.

I couldn't relate very much to the characters. I can't really place why that is.  I just couldn't connect.  I found myself not caring what happened to any of them.  Perhaps the author should've spent a bit more time character building to make me relate to at least one the characters.  The characters just felt a bit one dimensional.  There wasn't even one that I could remotely say that I favourited. Okay, that's a lie. I liked Fiona, the Irish girl, but I only liked her because she was Irish, and I love all things Irish. That's it.

I found the pacing to be a bit slow. I'd read a chapter, then I'd get bored with it and go off to do something else. I really struggled with this book.  There are a couple of chapters that the pacing is great in, but it's not until the last two chapters that the pacing definitely picks up.

The dialogue was easy to understand although some Americans may not get all the slang British terms.  There was one scene where a character says "I was taking a piss" where he meant that he was joking around. The phrase he meant was "taking the piss" which is a British slang phrase for joking.  "Taking a piss" isn't a typo either as it's mentioned a few more times.  This annoyed me because taking a piss, is just that, it means urinating. "Taking the piss" means to be joking around.  Other than that, the dialogue was good.

The best part of the book was the photographs found within the book. I loved that little touch! I found myself studying the photos and enjoying them a million times better than the actual book.

The cover is also something I loved about the book.  How freaky does that little girl look??? The German cover looks even better.  It's the same photo, just with a green hue.  If I was marking the book based on the cover alone, it'd get 5 out of 5 for me.

The title of the book doesn't really leave anything to make you wonder what the books about. It says exactly what the book is about - a home for peculiar children.

All in all, this book left me feeling empty. I didn't really feel much of anything reading it until I got to the last two chapters where it got exciting.  However, I will not put myself through the torture of reading the second book in the series especially as I don't care about the characters or what happens to them.  I'm just glad I won this book in a competition and didn't buy it.

I was going to give this book a 2 - 2.5 star rating but the ending saved it a bit.

My overall score of this book would be 3 stars out of 5 at the best. It's okay, but not great.

(This review can be found on my blog).
4070863
I was overall disappointed by this read. I have read many of Emily's books and was really looking forward this one but it left me unsatisfied. Without giving away the story to anyone who hasn't read it, I felt like the timing of events was too quick after a major life event. I also felt like I couldn't relate to the main characters. I would be incredibly angry, hurt and just plain "grossed out" if I were in Lucy's shoes. It's hard for me to imagine that she would be able to put aside her feelings so quickly and be "ok" with things that unfolded. I often like to reread books after some time has passed, but I have already made a mental note to archive this one in my kindle vault. Really hope Emily's next book is a better read, much like her other books. I am looking forward to finding out!
829601
I feel bad because I really wanted to like this story for multiple reasons; I love the Sisters, it shows not just the Sisters of Battle, but the Sisters Hosplitar as well (!), it's got female protagonists, it's a look into a faction that's hinted at in a lot of other material but never seems to be the star. However, overall I was let down. There may be minor spoilers ahead, but I'll try to keep them to a minimum.

On the writing and story: I felt like the Sisters were constantly getting used by the two men that were fighting one another in the story, and that they were just pawns in other peoples games. This would have made me more upset, but for the fact that honestly most of the sisters weren't that notable or likeable as the characterization just failed or was really meh. Also the way that they all talk is super prose-y and over blown. No one talks like they do. That's just symptomatic of the writing though, which, as said before, isn't that great.

On the characters: they're just bland or unlikable. A good example was a part where the Sister Hosplitar was told to carry a gun after being miraculously saved from death multiple times. She says no a few times because obviously the Emperor is providing for her and she doesn't need a weapon as it's not her place to kill. The Sister of Battle just tells her to take it 3 times and the Sister Hosplitar just says okay. I guess 3 times is the magic number? It was a let down, and never came to anything. It felt like a betrayal of the Hosplitars character and didn't make much sense with her. Also the Sisters as a whole are portrayed as just blood thirsty maniacs with no regard for life or compassion for anyone. I understand that they're fanatic and they're zealous, but there's room for compassion and care for the pious within those ranges. They came across as raging sociopaths that cared only for the people in their squad, and even then only just.

So a story that was supposed to celebrate the sisters of battle game across more as them being deus exed from place to place, having men take them from plot point to plot point and explaining everything to them cause they were too stupid, surviving magma to the face cause faith (? I guess as a call to the Dark Heresy Faith talents but it just came off as stupid.), kind of taking out a bad guy after someone else kills the main bad guy, and stopping a crazy grandiose scheme all in language so purple and prosey as to be distracting.

I still gave it 2 stars cause it's a sisters book and you can't find much with them at the center, but they deserve better and could carry a series all their own if it was better written.

At least they're not being killed so their blood can be used to make wards I guess.