I Can't Believe I Finished Reading It
593444
I have a collection of Laura Ingalls Wilder books that I wouldn't ever sell, but I can't wait to sell "Prairie Fires".  It's depressing, negative, and there isn't anything uplifting about it.

So much of the book's like a text book, and more of a personal agenda of the authors, than it was a book about Laura and Rose. The only reason that I was able to finish reading "Prairie Fires", was because I skipped so much of the text book parts. It wasn't an easy book to read, and it was so much longer than it needed to have been. Caroline Fraser's a very talented writer, but I felt that "Prairie Fires", would have been a much better book, if it had been written by somebody else.

The only thing in the book that made me happy, was reading about the terrapin turtles that Laura fed.

It was like being teased throughout the book, by how Fraser would describe photographs that weren't in "Prairie Fires".
4715873
I never expected to read this book.  I heard what it was about, and I was incredibly skeptical about even cracking the cover.  But I gave in.  I read Twilight and it's three equally disappointing successors.  I can't honestly answer WHY I continued reading after the first one.
  One immediate thing that I noticed about the book is that I couldn't really find a purpose to the book.  The characters were wonderfully described, but they had no depth.  When Meyer provided her first description of Edward Cullen, I laughed out loud and thought to myself, "who IS this guy?"  Whoever he is, he sold MILLIONS of copies of this book.  The book also had no real plot line.  They're in love, but no REAL structure popped out at me.
  Another thing that I dislike is that the love story in the book is absolutely unbelievable.  It also seems so random.  In the beginning of the book, Edward Cullen can't even stand Bella Swan.  Yet he can never look away from her.  You would say it's because he was too tempted to drink her blood, but that doesn't keep him from dating her in the future.  I can't see why some people don't see that this relationship is false, and as for Edward, he isn't real.  It's not romantic, it's creepy.
  Altogether, I can't say that this book wasn't a complete waste of my time, it just didn't leave me the same way it left millions of teenage girls: lovestruck and thirsty for more.  I congratulate Stephenie Meyer on her obvious bestseller, but this book just isn't for me.
1425939
I understand that this is a book about Evelyn's challenges in life and how she handles them better than most, but at the end of the day I have to say that I just didn't see the point in the whole book.  It left me feeling like "wow, I really can't believe I just spent my time reading this."
2598733
I was so excited for a light summer chick-lit read so I choose Falling for my Book Club pick this month. Sadly, this is one of the worst books I have ever read I could hardly bring myself to finish it. Here's some reasons why:

1. Emma is 30 something but behaves like she's 15; working herself up about the most non trivial things
2. Emma trying to discipline Dominick's son after they've only been together for a week.
3. There is no romance build up between Emma and Dominick, which IS THE BEST PART OF CHICK LIT: the suspense of the characters falling in love. There is absolutely NONE of that in this book. They go from neighbors to "he's cute, I guess i could see myself with him", to being in love. It was so unbelievable and made Emma just seem desperate.
4. There is so much unnecessary detail in this book. Don't get me wrong, I love detail and watching a book play out in my head, but this detail serves absolutely no purpose and it felt like the author was just writing paragraph after paragraph to show some "creative writing skills". I eventually ended up skipping pages once I realized this was happening.
5. What is so great about Dominick? We never see any other side to him besides that he is good looking and a decent father. After finishing the book I still don't understand what made her fall for him.
6. It's annoying to me that the book is written in past tense, but that's a personal preference
1043926
I'm not sure how I feel about this. I was really excited to read it because I love Marni Mann, and I really liked Animal and Prisoned. I just had a really hard time getting into it, I didn't really connect with Arin and Huck, like honestly, I hardly cared about their relationship at all until the very end. I really didn't get into the book until like the last 10%, but then it sucked me in and spit me back out. So that's where the confusion is, I barely made it through the first 90% of the book and the last 10% was like a 5 star read.

Anyway I'll be in the corner crying while I wait for the next one, because seriously that ending!
2202577
Part one in this book just did not hold my interest . I would have just shelved it and forgotten about it if it wasn't for all the reviews saying it was one of the best books of all time.
I'm glad I stuck with it because as long and slow as part one was for me, the introduction of Lexi ushered in the polar opposite reaction in me. I loved her.
This book is a gambit of emotional triggers and wtf moments. Just get to the end. Trust me. It all comes together and justifies every action and each scene that didn't seem to fit in at the time finally makes perfect sense.
I pride myself on being able to solve mysteries in the first few chapters, predict plot twists, and solve puzzles. This ending was unimaginable. I never saw it coming. Neither will you.
3504776
this is a rant so here it goes. I have read so many books usually that I really don't remember the authors at times but I know I've read a few by DS. after this one, I don't plan on reading any more. the first time I saw this book I was going to buy it because the cover was cool and the inside summary was interesting (I will get to THAT in a moment) but then I discovered it in the library and I was really exicted!....but was extremely let down. a lot of books make me angry, but this one took the cake so to speak. the main character actually sounds beautiful to me, I cannot fathom why men don't pay attention to her (or maybe she doesn't notice the attention because she hates herself so much. being an overweight woman myself, I was expecting to sympathize with Victoria but I couldn't bring myself to. she has a good heart but she is rather pathetic.  the inside cover promised a "family confrontation" (there was none), an "act of stunning betrayal" (where the hell was that located?) a "turning point" (nonexistent), and a "chance encounter" (I have no clue what they're talking about, unless it was a chance encounter with a slice of pizza). the repetition made me want to rip my hair out, nothing happened in the entire story, nothing is resolved, I actually felt stupid at the end for wasting my time. It took all my strength to actually finish the book. I totally regret it now, but thank God it was free. the last thing I have to say is, I really have never, ever read a book quite like this one. and I mean this in the worse way possible.
3795402
I expected so much more from this book.  It was so highly recommended online, especially on Goodreads, where I get a lot of my book recommendations, that I got it from the library and started it immediately after JR Ward's Lover Mine.  Now, there are several possible reasons as to why I couldn't finish it.  I got to page 119 and just couldn't get any further.

Possible causes why I couldn't finish it:

I'd just finished Lover Mine and my expectations were too high
I know that Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse #10) is released today and I couldn't give Beautiful Creatures all of my attention
The book, which I borrowed from my library, inexplicably smelled like dipping tobacco.
I don't like books where two people are drawn to each other for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON.
I don't like paranormal romances written from a first person sixteen year old male point of view.  Furthermore, I don't like when said sixteen year old male has the personality and thought processes of a 75 year old grandmother.

The basis for my giving up on Beautiful Creatures could be any or all of these reasons.  I HATE leaving anything unfinished, but I just couldn't get through this one.
2302296
I could not believe what I had just read!! I had to go back and make sure that what I was reading was correct. The author actually had one of the characters call the SON OF GOD an SOB!!! I will never read another book that she writes ever again!! I just don't understand why she felt the need to ruin an otherwise good book by saying such a thing!! Why why why??? I can't seem to get it out of my head. Please do not read this book and let this happen to you.
3391405
I cannot disagree that this book was written in a very compelling style but as well written as it was I painfully read the book dreading to think what horrible human foible awaited me on the next page. As I approached the middle of the book and I found myself avoiding it I sadly closed the book and began my quest for the next victim to read it. I have not for one minute regretted putting the book down unfinished and I cannot recommend it to anyone I know and love.
848460
Talk about Old Skool romance, this is it. I pity my mother's generation if this is all they had to read. It is mind-numbing boring, and I only finished it because I find it hard to stop reading once I start at book.

This is a story of young woman, Hetty Brown, born on the wrong side of the blanket, who gets a job as a lady's maid to Clemency Jervis. She is a rich, spoiled young women who is engaged to a Englishman with a title in need of money. She is also the young maid's half sister, and they look enough alike to be twins.

As fate would have it, they travel to England, where Lord Hazzard of Loburn is waiting to marry Clemency. The only family Clemency has is her mother and an old uncle, the rest being dead, so a lavish marriage in England appeals to her. Unfortunately, they decide to travel on the Lusitania and get torpedoed. As they are proceeding to the lifeboats, Mrs Jervis insists they load themselves with jewelry to save what they can. Somehow they get separated, and when Hetty is picked up, she is wearing a bracelet with Clemency's initials.

Once she determines that neither Mrs. Jervis nor Clemency has survived the ordeal, she takes the identity of her half-sister and goes through with the marriage. She realizes that one meeting in New York is not enough to impress her looks or personality on Lord Hazzard. Just to show how stupid everyone is, including herself, she insists on keeping her own name and insists on everyone calling her Hetty instead of Clemency.

Her husband is called away to war shortly after the wedding, but her money comes through all right, and she proceeds to repair the ancestral estate at Loburn. She manages to keep up the masquerade in spite of the suspicions of Lord Hazzard's penniless prior love, Julia, who is invited to stay at Loburn at the expense of Lady Loburn, Lord Hazzard's mother. Lady Loburn is smart enough to realize what she her bread is buttered on and eventually sends the trouble-making Julia away. The rest of the book is about Hetty's fear of being found out, and Julia's attempts to reveal her deception.

If this is your cup of tea, you will love all 480 pages of it. Me, I just went along to find out whether she gets away with it.
1482210
I decided to read this book based on it's amazing reviews. I feel like the odd man out here, did I read the same book as everyone else? I felt nothing from this book, even though there were moments in which I'm suppose to feel anguish, betrayal, happiness ...you name it, I didn't feel it because it seem so fake to me. Mackenzie only had one serious boyfriend when she was 18 y/o, that lasted for 6 months and she thought he was her "turtledove". After he betrayed her trust, she became this girl who micromanages every aspect of her life so, she'll know what she gets. In comes Tyler and her guarded walls just flew out the window. What happen to this girl who felt so betrayed and she lost all trust in men, yet she gave Tyler all her trust including not being protected!! Keep in mind, while reading this it almost appears that this relationship was in like a month span, but that's not true because all this happen in just one week! yes, one week!! This book drag on for days for me, I can finish a book start to finish within 1-2 days span and with this I couldn't. At 50% I was still begging for something interesting to happen, to feel something but I just didn't feel it. By the time I got to 75%, I was so relived that it was almost over but ... I ending skimming through until the end, I just couldn't finish it no matter how hard I tried. I just didn't like this book at all.
3115953
I just didn't get it either. It's almost impossible for me to not finish a book and I tried to hang in there with this one but by page 300 - I think after Alfred's hallucinations with the turd - I just thought, you know what? Life is short. There are too many good books out there for me to waste my time with this one that is trying so hard to be smart.
Dear Jonathan, yes you have an amazing vocabulary and you know a great deal (of details) about a great many subjects and yes, there are even glimmers of brilliance in this novel but please don't try so hard to wow us next time. Just write something we can hang our hats on with some redeeming, likeable qualities in at least one of your characters and a plot that is cohesive and human. Your intelligence is getting in the way of a good story.
I returned my book to a used book store for credit. The owner told me a woman had just come in and returned hers after stopping at about the same place I did and promptly throwing the book across the room. I didn't throw my copy but there were times that I actually yelled at it. No other book has ellicited such a strong reaction which tells me that there may be something there for me. I just don't have the time or patience to find it.
3228101
I'm surprised at how much I DIDN'T like this book. To hear All About Romance tell it, this book was #1 of the Top 100 Romances EVER. In fact, I should have expected it to be better than Gabaldon's Outlander and Austen's Pride and Prejudice. That assertion alone should have made me suspicious.

Yes, I should have laughed, cried, been enchanted, amazed and surprised. I should have wanted to read it over and over. I should have been thinking about who might successfully play the lead roles in the movie. And, until I got to the last chapters, I kept thinking this might be one of those books that just starts slow but ultimately pays off.

None of those things happened.

I got through the book and...well, I got through it. This was nothing special at all- it was a garden variety romance novel. Honestly, I've read better books THIS WEEK. I became bored and set it down countless times.
Oh, please don't get me wrong...the writing was lovely and witty, and the characters were charming and pleasant. The plot premise was acceptable, too. I'm sad to report those factors- which normally make for an excellent book- didn't meld into a satisfying and engaging story. Call it the missing X-factor, but this book was an overall disappointment.
2810903
I sat down to read about this after hearing about it for years, and I want my week back. It only took that long because I had to push myself to finish it.

SPOILERS AHEAD: Meggie and Father Ralph (who everyone always seems to refer to as Ralph de Bricassart, even when they're talking to him) meet when he is twenty-six and Meggie is...ten. She speaks, acts and thinks like a 5-year-old, though. As the years go by, Father Ralph de Bricassart becomes sort of a father figure to little Meggie, and she develops a girlish crush on him. As Meggie is also "developing a very feminine figure," Ralph comes to love her in return but realizes that their love can never be. They discuss this in approximately fifteen thousand "Don't love me, my darling, for I love you but you know our love is forbidden and can never be" conversations throughout the book. Finally, after years of smothering their passion, they do it. In a really very boring scene that's all inner ruminating and blurred descriptions. And wouldn't ya know it, she gets pregnant. Ralph de Bricassart realizes (again) that their love can never be, and leaves. Meggie has his baby, and capers about gleefully that she's "stolen" something back from God. But wouldn't ya know it, the kid (who's as angelic and one-dimensional a boy I've ever encountered in literature) decides to be a priest. So she sends him to Father Ralph de Bricassart for training, who--get this--is so totally brain dead that IT NEVER ONCE OCCURS TO HIM THAT THIS MIGHT BE HIS CHILD!!!!!!! Apparently arithmetic is not a compulsory part of training for the priesthood; this guy also misses an incredibly broad hint from Meggie, when even the other priests figure it out. The Big Secret finally does come out (again in a very brief, anticlimactic scene) toward the end, but by then we're too busy skimming to really care.

All this leaves out a great many things--including immortal dialogue that makes Meggie sound perpetually ten years old ("I'll tell you something else about your roses, Ralph de Bricassart--they've got nasty, hooky thorns!"), endless, heavyhanded symbolism (ashes of roses, thorn birds...we get it! we get it!), some dumb subplot concerning a brother who is absent for 90% of the book, and one of the most unintentionally hilarious "tragic" scenes I've ever read (death by pig). Yet the Ralph-and-Meggie storyline really is the only major thing going on. And we never really get to see what it is that draws these two people together. I was expecting other subplots and development of other characters, and this never really happened. Many of the other relationships were sketchy and/or very confusing: Meggie's cruel judgment of her daughter Justine as a "monster" and a "b* tch," for example, seemed to have no basis. The last third or so involves Meggie making peace with her mother and daughter, and it just doesn't matter. The quick "the end" wrap-up would have been an even greater letdown if I'd still cared by that point. Even the most developed characters are flat and lifeless, and thoroughly unlikable. Scarlett O'Hara was selfish, but she was fun; these people are selfish and boring. Sickly-sweet quasi-romantic trash.
284715
Well, that was not what I was expecting at all. Wow. I think I need a coffee. Or a nap. I deserve a nap after 460-pages of a book I didn't understand, right??

The "not what I expected" part is my fault because, a) my eyes zeroed in on the "criminal underworld" part of the blurb and skipped the "clairvoyant" part. And b) Paige is 19 so I thought it was a Young Adult book. Ah, no. Maybe it could be YA, but it reads like Adult. (On Goodreads it's shelved as both...because that's not confusing at all.)

My brain died! I just...I just didn't get it. At all. And my bookish soul is weeping because I wanted to like this book so badly. It was so complicated (and huge) and detailed (and huge) and intense (and huge). Right now I feel like banishing myself to the picture book section, because I just felt like a preschooler trying to read an Encyclopaedia. I feel dumb. And I don't like reading books that make me feel dumb.

Part of my problem was we're thrown into a world that basically has it's own language. Even after 100-pages they were tossing words and phrases that I had noooo idea what meant. And then they started abbreviating everything! No! NO. Like this:

"So they're not really numa."
"Still dangerous," Liss said. "Rotties can use them. The last thing we need is an ethereal weapon Scion can use."
Julian shook his head. "Scion would never use numa. They're repulsed by clairvoyance."
"Not by the Rephaim."
"I doubt they like the Rephs," I said. "They're clairvoyant. They just don't have a choice but to obey, with the Emim at their doorstep." THE BONE SEASON (pg. 124)

Okay, sorry, can you run that by me again IN ENGLISH?

But this could very well just be me! I have a looot of friends on Goodreads, and most of them have rated this book 5 and 4-stars! Wow! It's also sold in 20 countries and shortlisted for awards. Sooo...for now, I'm just going to assume it's my brain that rejects this book.

But it did have cool aspects! Like it was sort of dystopian (I like dystopian) and it was set in England (sort of). And...and...it was...different.

Characters? Paige was pretty tough. Okay, everyone was tough in this book. Because if they weren't, they died. Blood splatters, okay? Once they've been flattened with a fist, they get up and are flattened because they've been dream walking, and then they're flattened because they're slaves to sadistic angel/vampire...things. (They're not called angels or vampires...but they appear to drink blood at times and fallen angels are mentioned.) Basically it's gritty. I admire the characters just for surviving.

But you know what? This is a series of...wait for it...seven books! It's pretty heavy on the description and backstory and interior monologuing. If that was pruned a little, maybe it could be two books? Forgive me, I'm in editing mode at the moment.

Okay, self-five for me. I did it. I got through it. I'm just going to take that nap now.
4463876
I do a lot of reading and I have to admit that I do not get the hype about this author.  I only got about 100 pages into Gone Girl and I sent it back.  I understand that some authors start about a lot of seemingly irrelevant details and they all come together to form the basis for the story.  But this author did it in such a way that I was so confused that I didn't want to continue so I didn't.  I know that she is a popular writer right now, but I don't think I will get any more of her books.