Not what I was expecting from all the FB & Instagram posts
595158
It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't what it seemed to be.  In all of their posts on social media sites, it appeared as if this movie was about the full history of tattooing in America.  It was really only about the latino influence on tattooing in America.  Was still interesting, but again not what it seemed to be.
1678076
Oh boy. First let me say that I read Shay's blog occasionally. She seems like a normal mom, doing normal on stuff. So I (mistakenly) thought this cookbook would give me some new ideas for feeding my family. I should've saved my money. I can get better recipes on Pinterest.
1955155
Expected more for some reason. Information is there but little is really new or so I felt.

Maybe I've read too many "free" ebooks from folks that essentially want my email in xchange, but there seems to be quite a lot of free "bland" being delivered over wifi. Anyway,

Here's my take: Josh has some points and you may find some gem or 2, but I recommend you contain your free-glee until you get into it. Still I support his efforts for reaching-out.
555853
With- all the -hype on- facebook about this book- I expected better. I guess- the Author is lucky that- all these woman that follow -"them" think they are hot men- because who ever wrote- this is a -terrible writer. And- the -- editing wasn't great either. My spelling and grammar are terrible, but I -- am awesome compared to this---  I have a hard time not liking a book and I really didn't like this one. And--- if you don't like cliffhangers this is totally not the book for you. If-- you are wondering why there is a bunch --- of random dashes in this review. The book is full of them. I-- didn't get why they were there.
2785047
My kids are interesting people and I love the H of NY FB page but apparently the photographer doesn't think children are interesting.  This is pics only, I am really disappointed, it is like looking at a friend's newsfeed or photo album which you can do online for free. I was hoping my kids would learn about what NYC life was like for kids.
1484711
I was very excited about getting this book. I follow the blog and I had been eagerly anticipating it, but I was kind of disappointed. It's small and thin, although it does have nice photographs.  I just don't think it's worth what they're charging.
2050844
I went into this hoping for images of the stores, advertising, layouts - across time. While there is some of that, quite a bit is taken up with images of individuals who were part of the story, people at dinners and events where official pictures would be taken. There are even a few family get-togethers! They're only good if it's *your* family.

I was really hoping for more of a focus on the stores themselves, their products, and the ephemera associated with it. This one isn't a purchase - see if your library has a copy to flip through.
4551167
**I was provided the final copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.**

*I have a longer and more detailed review on Goodreads. Due to Amazon's policy, I'll be giving a short version of my review here.

This book did not live up to expectations. Expectations that were already low to begin with. But I can't even begin to imagine my visceral reaction to this book. It made me so mad because I couldn't understand why a story that's supposed to be about soul mates ended up like this.

AFKOL started where ABKOL left off with Lily learning about Jax's engagement to Stella. The first 30% or so of the book was a rehash of what happened in ABKoL albeit in Jax's POV. We also get to read about Jax and Stella getting closer and closer to each other despite Jax pining for Lily. Right up until 60% or so, we get to witness Jax fall in love with another woman, married her, lost her and then felt guilty about losing her. 67% until almost 92% was spent in Jax's head while he pushes away Lily again and again all the while feeling guilty for betraying Stella. At this point, I couldn't care less if they end up together anymore. To add insult to injury, Jax didn't want to move on from Stella until after he found her letter basically giving her permission to move on.

Listen, that would have been okay with me if this was sold as a story about a widower named Jax finally moving on with his life with the other woman, Lily. But no!! This was supposed to Jax and Lily's story but it ended up being a Stella love fest. Maybe the author fell in love so much with Stella's character that she decided to crap on Lily's to make Stella look good. After awhile I got sick and nauseous reading about how good, and kind and beautiful, and wonderful and amazinghow perfect Stella is. Or how much good she's done in her short life compared to others. Or how much she makes everyone around her happy. Or that her sh*t doesn't stink and how she poops rainbow on a daily basis.

Srsly. Stahp. You can't make me like her. In fact, the more Jax or Lily or every other person tried to convince me otherwise, the more I hated her. And newsflash: giving her cancer doesn't automatically make her a sympathetic person to me. NOPE. She's a selfish person knowing that she was keeping Jax away from Lily. If she's really a good person like the author would have us believe, she would have made it her mission to get Jax and Lily together. She didn't do that. Nope. But according to the narrative the author tried to sell, Stella was this good, sweet and AMAZING person. Please.

Maybe the Stella love-fest wouldn't have been so bad had the author gave justice to Lily's character. Maybe if she'd given Lily a new love, a backbone or some pride and dignity, it wouldn't have been so bad but that didn't happen. Lily was the biggest doormat throughout the book. Jax keeps saying she's his everything but his actions--starting from that moment he broke up with her--says otherwise. It says, he doesn't love Lily enough. No matter how he says he does, he didn't fight for her. When his father started pressuring him to break up with Lily, Jax caved in so easily. And yet, when it came to marrying Stella, Jax stood up to his father. Why? Stella wasn't his everything. He said so himself and yet his actions says otherwise. He was utterly devoted to Steall. Meanwhile, he easily was able to DISCARD his SOULMATE, Lily. Unbelievable.

So it's really no wonder why this book got a one star from me. I mean how can I when even the character in question didn't do enough to convince me of his love for his soul mate.
4925949
Every year we get the latest Portfolio.  This one disappointed a little.  I did like the 'awareness' photos that highlighted issues ranging from animal cruelty from poaching to global warming.  The remainder of the winners this year, while all were exceptional compared to my photos (I'm not very good), I was not in agreement with who won and the breadth of creatively was just not there this year.  Perhaps more entries and more to be expected next year?
3050051
I was enjoying it...not laughing out loud as often as i'd anticipated, but enjoying it nonetheless. However, i just got to the chapter about her People magazine photoshoot where she cries, yes cries, because she is a size 8!!!!! I'm flabbergasted. I don't like her as much now.  I am darkly looking forward to reading about her divorce from her "pal" in US weekly in a few years.
1525645
I was skeptical of this book from the outset because of their pre-homesteading jobs (both were making six-figure salaries in NYC) but gave it a shot in the hopes that some practical information would be within. Nope! A few Southwest-specific recipes are scattered in the back but the rest of the book reads like a series of shallow blog posts - offhanded mention of GMOs, two paragraphs about renovating their house with repurposed materials, a page here about foraging along the river. I appreciate what they are doing but it is not replicable in any way for most of us - just the list of equipment and tools that they bought after cashing out (before 2008, mind) 401ks is outrageous.
1979028
SK should answer for this. I feel like I've been robbed. This was bis of other stories pasted together to form a horrible jumble of junk!
3207177
I must admit, that I bought this book because it had glowing reviews and was of a good length, but sadly, the book did not meet my expectations.
Firstly, I did not like that the MC Keegan, said/thought out to himself that he liked a man of 'color' what was that about? I am not not a black man ,but it annoyed me.
Secondly, his roomate pushes him to connect with the other MC Noah and he manages to go on a first date and they hook up and next words out of Keegan's mouth is 'do you want to be my boyfriend', like seriously? especially when he is so closeted.
Then Noah who immediately agrees to the offer and terms, but thank god he had some misgivings, tries to push Keegan out of his closet.
I still ploughed through the book, hoping it would get better, but then came nurse Jackie, she has recently out of the closet and behaves like a rabid dog out to get gossip on the 'gay fireman' and then keeps making provocative statements. Then Keegan's partner Dwight acts like its the end of the world, that Keegan won't out himself. This was really like a bunch of kindergarden kids, who want to be best friends and share all the secrets.
I would have still read it and completed the book, but then Keegan vehementally denys he is gay and I was, stuff it, I cant read this anymore at 76% on my kindle.
Sorry if this review is against most of the other commentors, but the whole writing was not my cup of tea and the sex was also not really hot :(
1666656
This book is terrible. I had always enjoyed her instagraM account until recently as I felt she has become so self absorbed and very focused on herself and the media attention. After reading this book it just solidified everything I felt. It has some
Recipes that look good but the book is very boring.
1291207
I was expecting real Facebook statuses from real people that the author knows or has seen.  This book has a bit of general Facebook humor at the beginning, followed by a bunch of tired, re-done one-liners that you might hear from a stand-up comic.  I couldn't actually picture reading any of them as someone's real status.  I picked up the e-book when it was free, and still couldn't finish it.  If you want a little generic comedy, fine, but if you're looking for real Facebook statuses, pass this one by.
4409726
I'm a bit bummed. I was expecting at least a little bit of text, but alas, pretty much just photos. Good ones, but I would have liked to read about my good ol' days.
1645624
I was very pleased to get to choose this book to review as I was fairly new to Facebook and Twitter and I was looking for ways to use them  to help me promote my small on line business. Unfortunately, to my thinking, this book fell down on the job. While reading it, it felt like the entire first third of the book was a promotion to the reader as to why they should read the book and put the book into practice. Sorry folks. If I pick up a book that says `How to make money with social media', I already assume that I can or should be able to make money with social media and do not need the book to spend pages on why I want to read the book. Most people would have bought the book so they would supposedly want to read it for exactly the content that the title assured them they would get. It was kind of like getting a book on `How to change a babies diaper' and have the first third of the book telling you why you might want to change a babies diaper. Let's just say anyone who picks up a book about changing a babies diaper desperately wants to know how and wants to get to the heart of the matter ASAP!

Then there were the short little chapters. Almost as soon as you start getting an inkling that you might be learning something, the chapter abruptly ends with some key concepts and action steps. I never felt like the book ever got to the heart of the matter of how to make money with social media. This book is supposedly for all size businesses yet as the book proceeds you hear more and more about the marketing department, public relations, sales team, etc. This book was really written for a CEO of a large corporation that his team knows he needs to get up to speed and has slipped it into his stack of stuff to read.

When I finished the book, I didn't feel like I had learned much of anything at all. Certainly everything seemed to be presented as theories without concrete steps. For concrete steps for instance, I mean; how to sign up for Facebook, how to start a business fan page at Facebook, how to get friends/likes on your business page, how to spread the word about your page and how to MAKE money while doing this. I realize that each type of social media is different and different in the way it is set up, but what would have been the harm of choosing the top 10 sites and telling the reader how to make money at each of these sites.

I realize that some of the information given in the book such as measuring your return on investment in social media is valid information, but many small business people need actual step-by-step ways to go about things. We are continually being inundated with information about things that we should be doing to help our businesses grown, yet so rarely do we get the actual steps that we have to do to accomplish this. As I recall, the book never even mentioned using social media for your strictly on line business which is a whole other ballgame when it comes to advertising and promoting.