560 pages of pure nonsense - this is SO bad it's embarrassing that it's compared to The Nightingale or All the Light We Cannot See.
the most glaring is560 pages of pure nonsense - this is SO bad it's embarrassing that it's compared to The Nightingale or All the Light We Cannot See.
the most glaring issues:
the protagonist's constant imagined conversations with mustache man. As a child who was uber-conscious of politics, the idea of apologizing to a picture of a politician, asking his permission to date someone, and worried that he was cursing me for disappointing him, is just unreal. The book highlights in other ways how controlling fascist Germany was in the 1930s - we don't need a non-sensical addition of a teenager concerned adolf hitler was reading her thoughts.
the cartoonishly evil characters and off-the-page ending her dad is a horrible person but he also felt like a whole cartoon? nothing felt grounded in actual reality. the book spends 500 pages trying to get us invested in other characters - only to brush over the fact they died in concentration camps in a letter written in 1995.
the writing this book can't decide if it's YA or adult historical fiction. there was no reason to start the story with the main character so young - the story could have very adequately filled us in on her very boring childhood in other ways. instead, we have 500+ pages of the most immature child-teen-adult boring us all to tears. and there were more interesting characters! we didn't need to see inside the head of a barely developed child-character who spends half the book trying to justify nazism. I promise, we know the nazis used propaganda. we didn't need to see someone actively believing it to know the propaganda worked.
this book is supposedly based on the author's own family. i feel bad that it's so poorly written and hard to read. but if you're looking for engaging historical fiction, look elsewhere....more
I totally, 10000% understand why people are VERY uncomfortable with this book.
that said, I read books with similar content in "Christiaquick thoughts:
I totally, 10000% understand why people are VERY uncomfortable with this book.
that said, I read books with similar content in "Christian literature" (mark of the lion francine rivers??) - the setting reminds me a lot of greco-roman history and I think that's what the author was aiming for.
i would not recommend this book and for the life of me, how is anyone calling this a romance???? ...more
yes, let's applaud breaking the cycle by letting our abusive ex-husband take his daughter on the weekends !!! and excuse the abuse because he was ✨trayes, let's applaud breaking the cycle by letting our abusive ex-husband take his daughter on the weekends !!! and excuse the abuse because he was ✨traumatized✨...more
once colleen hoover characters figure out a) how to drive and b) reproductive healthcare, it's over once colleen hoover characters figure out a) how to drive and b) reproductive healthcare, it's over ...more
oh, you're insecure about your scars? let's talk about your ass instead oh, you're insecure about your scars? let's talk about your ass instead ...more
Why would you start writing a webcomic on your fake relationship when the fake relationship has legal ramifications? Do I wish that was the dumbest thWhy would you start writing a webcomic on your fake relationship when the fake relationship has legal ramifications? Do I wish that was the dumbest thing that happened in this book? Yes. Unfortanietlly the characters pushed the boundaries of conceivability.
SUMMARRRRY Ellie Oliver moves to Portland for her dream job as an animator. On her first Christmas Eve she meets Jack at a book store and they spend a magical day (and night) together. Nine months later she is working as a barista, rent is rising and she is barely getting by. Wealthy customer Andrew drunkenly suggests a one-year marriage of convenience so he can get an inheritance from his grandfather. In return, he will pay her 10 percent. Now she just needs to survive a family Christmas gathering with his family. She is stressed even before she meets Andrew's sister and realizes it is her Jack.
Several folks pitched this as a comp to The Fiance Farce - so much so, that I hoped any plot annoyance I felt in the Fiance Farce would be missing from this read. A million times no. Also, how is this the SAME author who wrote The Charm Offensive, one of my favorite books yet???
Basically don't have your main character saying, "this isn't me, i don't do shit like this" CONSTANTLY and immediately show them absolutely doing the exact same behavior they claim to abhor.
Also honest to god if you're that mopey over a person you met for HOURS A WHOLE YEAR AGO and can't get over them, idk consider your attachment issues are the problem and NOT that you were actually in love. honest to god, this is a recipe for abuse. (which considering how the main gal has spent a lifetime in an abusive relationship with her parents, that totally checks out)
anyway, never have I ever hated a character more, and never have I ever wanted a relationship to NOT happen so dang much.
also, the fiance farce deserves better. it was cute in the most over-the-top hallmark style while this book is just not --- that....more
This was so bad I did not know it could get worse with each page and yet it did. The characters were so flat that were practically caricatures, the moThis was so bad I did not know it could get worse with each page and yet it did. The characters were so flat that were practically caricatures, the motivations for everyone was insta love, insta hate, insta bravery. The plot was littered with plot holes and characters appeared without making any sense at various points. The main character had tuberculosis one day and woke up completely healed the next.
Not to mention the novel included the "not like other nazis" stereotype of a good nazi pitted against an evil gestapo officers. It was so bad I'd be laughing if it wasn't so horrific to keep writing sympathetic nazis. Ugh. ...more
I really do love history that centers LGBTQ+ people - however The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin fell flat for me. The actual historical events were gloI really do love history that centers LGBTQ+ people - however The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin fell flat for me. The actual historical events were glossed over as though far too familiar to the reader. They seemed to happen to characters who knew these events would happen, and not in the natural shock and unprecedented nature that was 1930s Berlin.
I also found the main character not very compelling and her relationships seemed very one-dimensional. The villains were clear from a mile away - in the tone and descriptors you could guess the plot. Also, the miraculous good luck of this main character, it was just a lol moment when everything just works out for her.
Overall, a quick read that left much to be desired. It read more like middle-grade than YA, and seemed to just gloss over reacting to actual history. ...more