Disappointed by the first half
581820
Disappointed by the first half. Got going in the second half. The plot felt like it was just getting started. I missed Dani.
435386
The first half is great. Kept me engaged and wanting more. The second half was lackluster. Almost didn't finish it.
4069024
I really enjoyed the first 40% of this book, but much like the main character, it turned into a monstrosity. The first half was brimming with mystery, sensuality and tension.  Once the mystery of Ruby is partially revealed, though, this book loses it's heart.  The rest of the book reads like a tennis match as characters continually go from inappropriate laughter to angry shouting.  That's really the second half of the book in a nutshell--forced humor and shouting.  There's lots of ALL CAPS and exclamation points.  This could potentially work as clever back-and-forth, but that isn't how it reads.  The words and actions of the characters become unbelievable and inappropriate to their circumstances.  I thought the plot was well-mapped, but characters that were strong to begin with become unbelievable in their words and actions, and I was no longer connected to what was occurring. I found myself reading through events instead of experiencing what was happening.  Unfortunately, when characters become disconnected, so does the reader, and while this author had me in the beginning, she lost me along the way.  Maybe she picks up the pieces in the subsequent books, but I won't be reading them.
4797111
Despite the fact that this book starts with action in the form of a chase scene, the first half of this book really dragged for me.

The first half of the book focuses on the two main characters in mostly one location. When I say one location, I do not mean a town or state, but actually one building that they never leave. This approach was probably used to help develop and show the relationship and related tension between the two main characters, but it got boring after a while. I kept waiting for something to happen.

However, about halfway through the book, things pick up again once they resume the active search for the treasure. While I could never really grasp the idea of people frantically searching for stolen treasure as if it was rightfully theirs, this did turn out to be an interesting and worthwhile read overall.

Note: This review was originally posted on Goodreads.com
4913401
The first half of the book was great.  When he was in awe of the past.  When he sees what we've lost and develops an appreciation for it.  I would have rather just read a book about a person who is sent through time and can't return.  How they try to make a new life and fit in.  That would have been great.  So much of the first half of the book was just great.

Then we go to Texas and it just becomes a mean spirited book.  I'll sum it up for you.  Texas was a hate filled gutter(historically inaccurate), Everything SINCE 1958 was Bush's fault(it's really gotten tiresome hasn't it?), and you should always vote Democrat.

Ugh.
323503
This one was kind of all over the place for me. I thought Macio was really arrogant and so while I didn't dislike him I wasn't a big fan either. However, I did really enjoy the first half of the book. However, once past the half way point it just got ridiculous. The villain was obvious, the whole beard concept didn't make sense because why now? It was just a hot mess for the last half. Still I powered through and finished it. So great first half, not so much with the second half.
2384398
I started reading this not knowing what it was about and was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked the characters. I thought it was an interesting plot, but to my disappointment half way through the book I just got bored. I finished it, but it was an effort which was unfortunate since the first half was so good! oh well.
3938782
I really enjoyed the first half of the story. I think it deserves the 3 stars. It is original and exciting... Sandy is all on her own, and has to survive as such. I was captivated  and eager to find out what would happen next. Not boring at all.
If you could give the second half 1 star, I would....: she meets up with the group, and its pretty much downhill from there: all this agonizing emotion, and pages and (boring)pages of love interest with Micheal... and how much she had been hurt, and should she trust again..... blah blah blah...ugh! and the story just kinds of grinds to a halt.
It would have been great if the author had just moved the story along.
I have read the sample of the second book, and as I expected it is all emotion (regarding her sister) and pages of Micheal, the love interest. I will be giving it a skip.
1369796
The first 60% of this book is riveting, unique and opens a whole plotline that the reader wants to explore.  The second half of the book effectively ignores ALL of the questions in the first half and takes a 90 degree tangent into a whole new plotline that the author NEVER explores or even effectively covers enough to warrant any interest in a sequel.
1348520
I would have given this book five stars without question for the first half, maybe two thirds. I enjoyed the first half so much that it was kind of irritating to feel like I just wanted to get to the end. I was bored and actually skimmed the last few chapters. I will definitely try this author again, but hope the plot will not be so drawn out.
1284644
When the book came (finally) out, I couldn't wait to start. The beginning was good, but middle and end of the book really disappointed me.
The characters changed to much from the earlier books (not developed, but really changed). Furthermore, there are too much characters, it is hardly duable to keep track of everybody.  In the first two books I really liked the heroin of the book, Diana, but in this book I thought she started to be obnoxious and arrogant. The end is acceptable but not really satisfying, I expected more of it. Nevertheless I enjoyed the "All souls trilogy", especially the first two books. I am curious to see the next books of Deborah Harkness.
168638
I laughed so hard during the first half of the book.  It felt like the 2nd half was just "filler."  It seemed like she had a great time writing the 1st half about her childhood and high school.  But the second half felt forced.  When I hit 90% on the Kindle progress meter, I kept finding myself watching the percentage like a hawk, turning each page, hoping to reach 100%.  It wasn't like that for the first half of the book.  That part flew by, almost too quickly.  All in all, I would still recommend the book.
3583576
I enjoyed the first half of the book quite a bit more than I expected. About halfway through, however, I hit a serious problem with suspension of disbelief - not about the mermen but with the behavior of certain quasi-villainous human organizations. The behavior of one of the human principles also became a bit murky for me. I was hoping Jayson's behavior, at least, would come clear as the story progressed, but the book ended without much resolution there. Worse, the action plot, if you will, resolved magically without any input from the principles. Together those two factors left me rather unhappy with the ending. And my final criticism: there's no sex. Some kissing and one non-descriptive leg-humping scene, but no sex. I expected sex.
2090601
It was ok. The first half was nice, but second half just went downhill. After all the secrets in the past and hurt that came with them, the MC's still continued keep secrets and it just did not feel right. And then there is this arson thing happening that involves character that is not really part of the book and one of the MC's just takes blame and is ready to go to jail. He does not explain anything to the other MC, he hurts the other MC, breaks the law.......but for what?! And the criminal would just get off without any punishment, promising never to do it again....WTF?! :( Disappointing after the good start.
1681620
I really had a hard time deciding how to rate this book.  I enjoyed the first half of the book, and then noticed I kept putting it down more and more after that.  I liked Jack from the get go, and all the way through the book. On the other hand Dani started out as such a strong character and then just grew weaker and weaker through out the book. I wanted to really like the book, but the plot was very slow and I was frustrated with Dani's inability to just tell the truth about what happened to her as a young child.  I didn't buy the whole "he has had so much death in his life, so I don't want to make him feel even worse" line.  I wanted to scream at her "hey you want a serious relationship with this man, tell him the truth and quit being a wimp".  Also, I don't think that Dani could forgive her father as fast as she did, it just was not realistic to me.
2631720
I was 3/4 of the way through the book and was feeling very disappointed. The first half was a rehash of Shane's injury with a little more background on Lacey thrown in. I was expecting more emotion on Shane's part dealing with the loss of his leg.

The last 1/4 of the book felt rushed and glossed over. Trying To wrap up the story to meet a deadline? The other books in the series contained much more depth to the characters emotions and this one was a total letdown.
653914
You are kept in the dark for nearly the first half of the book as to why Silvia is the choose one (which is good). What is it that Roman's uncle want with her and why? I thought the first half was ok, but the gothic elements were good. I think Roman and Silvia lacked chemistry though and didn't really see them as a couple and their coming together was way too fast, he barely made any moves to woo her and she was already in his arms. I saw no difference in Roman and his brother Morgan as to understand what made Roman stand out more to Silvia. And since the second half of the book leaves them mostly against the other in doubt, this seriously lacks any romance. Though the touch of "ghosts" were nice, it wasn't enough. When we finally find out the mystery with the uncle, I was lead by a great big disappointment by the way Silvia handled it. The book became a soap opera after that.

MINOR SPOILER - Silvia should have told Roman the truth, in fact everyone, sure she was manipulated but once put on the spotlight, she should have been honest and said that their uncle was threatening her if she didn't cooperate as I felt the threat he had over her head was weak. When she finally told Roman a big part of the truth, I was mad he doubted her - knowing how is uncle is! It was obvious though that Roman finally caught on to the truth but the fact that he too didn't try to clear things up with Silvia, frustrated me even more.

The second half was predictable and it obvious who was also as evil as their uncle. Dark Prelude held more promise and it was the reason I purchased this. This, however, had the potential to be good but its disappointing and with a rushed unsatisfying ending, I cant honestly recommend this book.