Good Story at First, But...
341217
"Little Beach Street Bakery" by Jenny Colgan ...

It started out as a sweet little story with some interesting and fun characters.  I have to say in all honesty that I thoroughly enjoyed the first fifty or sixty percent of the novel.  At that point, I would have given the novel a 5-star rating.  ...but I kept reading!

The author soon began to tilt "dangerously close" to that type of writing that I consider pornography (or slut fiction).  She didn't quite tilt all the way, but it was enough to keep me from buying and reading any more of her novels.  It also keeps me from giving any kind of recommendation.  That's too bad, too, because I liked her writing skill.  Sorry, but there's too many good novels to take unwarranted chances on novels that contain ..."almost-porno" portions.

Patrick
3191415
The story started out so well -- H lusts after h. The characters were interesting -- h has trust issues; H is typical male who likes to solve problems and think they know best. Story developed quickly enough -- h gets pregnant; H comes in to the rescue; villain shows up; drama continues; H turns caveman. Even the side characters were interesting -- future lead in next book on the series.
And then the author must have (1) fallen asleep, (2) got distracted with life, (3) got bored with her own book, or (4) let somebody else finish writing this novel. Seriously. It's all good until you get to the last couple of chapters. The author ran out of dialogue. The ending is rushed. Such a waste of a good premise. And I so miss my $2.99.
While I'm curious if the author will redeem herself in the next book in the series, I find myself reluctant to part with more of my hard-earned money.
I suggest you wait until this book is free. Or if you are that curious, wait until price drops to $0.99.
4154895
Okay, this is an unusual book, the way it's written.  The story is good, variety of characters yes, and it had my interest...up until about 3/4 of the way in.  It seemed to have a theme of adding more complexity with each passing chapter..to the point where it got so complex (without serving a purpose), it started not to make sense anymore...or was no longer believable.
I prefer Robert Jordan, or Frank Herbert (Dune series), or Lord of the Rings series, or Lorna Freeman, or Greg Keyes (Briar King).
2038003
I liked the story, but I was unable to get past the glaring grammatical mistakes. The text is filled with run-ons, fragments, and incorrect word usage (examples: repeatedly calling a mans suit a suite and a plane ticket a plain ticket).  The storyline was good, but I found it hard to tune out the 3-5 mistakes on every page.
3344538
Loved the first two or three chapters. The story and characters were new and fresh and interesting, and the occupation of the Witcher was intriguing and fun to read about. As I continued through the rest of the book, however, I found that the dialogue and the story grew stilted and predictable. Rather than seeing the characters evolve, they remained static for the most part, and  I found myself not caring about the conflicts that emerged. And I couldn't understand why the heck Geralt was so taken with Yennefer, who is featured prominently towards the end of the book. While she is supposed to be alluring in some way, I could not see any redeeming qualities in her personality. Since I'm a fan of the video games, I pressed on to the end, but I'm sad to say this is the last book about the Witcher that I'll be reading.
914005
I started reading and enjoyed the story, but eventually I just could not go on. The characters started to grate on my senses and their dialogue was just too unrefined. I understand that they are kids in a dire situation, but their jumping to conclusions constantly did not help to move the plot along and in general the story began to devolve into a big mess. Needless to say, I did not finish it.
2444877
The first 2 or 3 chapters were really good.  Then, came the "f" words.  That ruined it for me but I kept reading.  It still seemed like a story was there.  As I kept reading (which I don't know why I did) the story turned into homewreckers, sluts, arguing, and whatever else.  Millicent Bracebridge and Eartha Yardley were nice added touches.  I can't get my time back from reading this.  I'm through with this author.
1221025
This story started well. It had a lot of potential, and it had an interesting, and unusual theme. But after a while I felt that it went in the wrong direction and took on way too much. Going after some law breakers would have made for a far stronger story than trying to tackle terrorists, let alone major terrorist planned assassinations.  Because of this the story lost all credibility, which is a shame because it could have, and should have been very good.
3650386
Started out interesting; however, it got a bit inconsistent and  tedious.  The growth of Hannah was inconsistent in that she was unable to appreciate her husband taking care of problem of finding her son in a time that a person of color would be killed or lynched or having their  marriage invalidated.  The character behaved as though that aspect of life was beyond her understanding? Really?  The author tends to get preach, even if what is being said is legitimate, makes the reading tedious and boring.  The author has to find a way to break up the soliloquy and keep the reader engaged. This story needs much work.
3754782
Well, I wanted to really like this book...but the story was just ok...

A few things are wrong with this book. Loved the storyline of Emma and Clint; She's a single mother working several jobs just to keep a home for her twin boys and her mother. When Clint, the interim doctor for the time while his uncle is away on vacation, brings the twin boys home after their fall which left their arms in casts, sparks fly between Clint and Emma. Not always good sparks, but sparks just the same. This was the part that I like...their love blooms right before your eyes.

What I didn't like was all the spelling/missing words of this story. Please, if you're going to publish something, get it professionally edited...and if you did get it professionally edited, and this is what you were left with, get your money back. Pronto. When you're reading something, and the sentence doesn't sound right, then you have to go back and re-read it again to figure out what it said. I hate that. Plus, the author couldn't keep the ex-husbands name right...for the most part, it was Dwayne...but at least three times I saw it spelled at Duane. So, which is it?

Also, there's one part where Clint, Emma, and Wade (Clint's brother) were going over what they could use against Dwayne (or is it Duane?) and Clint asks Wade if he found any outstanding malpractice suits against him. Wade says, "Oh, we found a few, but they conveniently never made it to court." Wade flipped through a note pad in his file. "My guess is his father-in-law's money took care of those, too." I thought it was Dwayne's uncle that had a stipulation in his will that Dwayne wouldn't get any of his money unless he produced an heir...not his father-in-law...! His FIL was Emma's father, and I'm sure whatever money he had wouldn't have gone to Dwayne...or is it Duane?...

Another problem I have is towards the end when they get Dwayne to say on a wire that he wants his ex-wife and one son killed...so he's caught on tape and arrested...yet, instead of sending him to prison for conspiracy to commit murder, they give him a plea bargain...He can stay out of jail as long as he gives up all rights to the two boys...ok, maybe I don't know anything about the justice/legal system, but I'd say conspiracy to commit murder (whether by his own hands, or someone else's) would not only let him give up his rights to anything from those two boys, but she would know for certain that he was going to be behind bars for a good long time! But instead, he just has to pay back child support. For him, that's chump-change...so he gets off Scott-free...I think this is where this story loses credibility.

I read some of the other reviews about not knowing "anything about nursing"...I'm a nurse...and really, I think that's just nit-picking. There wasn't anything that suggested that this author doesn't know what she's talking about in that regard. What the author needs to do is edit. That's my main complaint. Fix that, and the ending, and you'd have a great story.
4639575
The story line was great, I thoroughly enjoyed it...right up until it a complete 360 and turned into a murder mystery book. The writer shows promise, but needs to give his characters a little more "character". At first I was turned off because the main character seemed shallow and selfish. Once I got over that, I really liked the story, until the end of course.
1482901
Ok, so this story started out promising, and I really got into it......until the main characters decide to have sex, get married and practically name all their future children in about 3 paragraphs......the end. Yea, that's really how it ended. So I'm pretty sure I started out reading a normal book, and very quickly I found myself scratching my head in bewilderment when the relationship went into warp speed. Yup it was too fast.....Definitely too fast.
119243
The core story of this book is an interesting one. The author's journey 1/2-way across the country with her ex-boyfriend and sometimes-best friend to take his dying father and his mother, suffering from Alzheimers, to their new home in Washington state is an intriguing one that is at times heartbreaking and at other times quite humorous. Unfortunately, this story is lost in the numerous flaws of this book.

First, the author tries to weave the story of her relationship with her ex-boyfriend/sometimes-best friend to the story of the journey. She fails. Instead, she jumps back and forth between the two abruptly and, often, when the reason to do so isn't clear. The constant changes in story line are jarring at best.

Also negatively affecting the flow of the story is the almost-constant repetition of even minor information. Does the reader really need to be told a dozen times or more, for example, that the father must keep his wallet in the center console during the trip, and that at ever stop he hands his son the credit card, waits to have it returned to him, and then puts it back in the wallet and the wallet back in the console? The point could have been made without the constant repetition. Numerous times I thought I had turned back a page or two instead of forward as I found myself reading the exact same information yet again.

The author's use of the same sentence style over and over and over and over also creates a very choppy, disjointed text. Almost every single sentence is written with a "subject-verb" beginning, and often several sentences in a row begin with the exact same few words. There is no flow, no rhythm to the writing.

it's hard to really care about the characters beyond the surface sorrow that someone is dying, someone has lost their memory, a son is dealing with both situations, and an ex-girlfriend is reluctantly along for the ride. None of the characters are fully developed.

Had this story been revised more carefully to replace the repetitious material with information that created more richly-drawn characters, and had someone suggested the use of sentences of varying styles and lengths, this book would have been more worthy of a reader's time. As it is, though, it simply is not.

And that's a shame!
820543
First the good, the story is so original and very, very interesting. I liked all of the discovery points,the elements of history along with the interplay between characters. I hated, and yet felt an odd sense of understanding, for the 'bad' guy. The author presented just enough of a back story on this character so you could understand why he acted the way he did and yet at the same time he gave him no 'get out of jail free' card. It was clear that the character bore total responsibility for his actions no matter the horrible things done to him.  The love story was presented in a way that was interesting without being sappy. I could go on and on about the story.

Now, the writing ... I am not a writer but I have been an avid reader all of my life. I am not a book snob. I don't require the author be Ernest Hemingway or one of the greats. What I do want though is basic proofreading and please don't give me recaps of what is going on every 10 pages. I found myself getting extremely irritated with the author rehashing the same things over and over and over. I thought maybe it was because I was reading all three books at once; but disregarded that after it started happening mid book with things that had happened in the same book - sometimes even just a few pages before. It's almost as if the author left off writing for a few weeks (several times) and when he came back he had to remind himself where he was. Also, I had a very hard time getting through the first book. I am glad I stuck with it but I thought the first book was very slow and boring (with the exception of a couple of very memorable scenes). It jumped from event to event without much depth. I also did not find Will to be a sympathetic character in the beginning; however, that changed for me throughout the series.

Cutting out all of the repetitiveness would have cut down the length quite a bit - probably too much. I thought a lot about what I would have liked to see instead and determined that I would really like to delve more into most of the main characters (other than Will and Hope). Tell me what they were experiencing in the same  events from their point of view, what were their stories. He would tell us after a big event why it happened but there was no lead-up to the event and so the explanation, and even the event, was kind of a let down. The characters I can think of right off would be James and Elise, Hope's mom, Adam, Eva, William and several others.

As frustrating as the writing was - again, the story was engrossing. One of those series where you felt like you lived in the world and it was real. I bought the next three books. So, in spite of my review of the writing - I recommend purchasing the series.
131872
The good: I was beginning to like this story. The characters were pretty strong, the plot was intriguing. I liked them together, loved her having to be a maid.

The bad: Parts of the book were ridiculous. The families knew each other, they met as children, their mothers were best friends......but they didn't know she was a red head  and not a pale blonde? The author dragged parts of the book out and then decided to end it abruptly, skipping over the details and throwing everything into a few pages. No concrete happy ending, no punishment for one of the main villains, just a glossed over recap of the hero's actions told to us.

Overall: Could have been a great book. I got this for free, but was still disappointed. The author blew the ending, blew the last chapter.
1779455
What started out as a wonderful, interesting, well-written story turned into a horrible disappointment.  SPOILER ALERT  Grayson is carefully depicted throughout the book as an honorable, moral man while Flem is considered pretty much his opposite.  Then all of a sudden, the first chance that Fiona and Grayson have to declare their feelings, he seduces her.  (A little graphically for future readers)  I was shocked because I believed the author when she painted Gray to be a moral person.  Gray would not have done something like that.  It ruined the story.  Ruth Langan, you have talent as an author.  The next time you write a book stay true to the characters.  Perhaps your problem is that you didn't know that sleeping with someone outside of marriage is considered immoral by pretty much every Christian religion and even non-Christian religions like Buddhism!
3314065
The story in and of itself was a good concept, but it could have been so much better. The story needs to be filled out and added to. I definitely think more should be added to the end. There are a lot of errors and areas that are repeated, and sentenes that are missing connecting words or not even completely finished. It needs to be rewritten and re-released.