Wtf did I (almost finish) listening to? Even the god that is Stephen fry couldn’t save this one for me. Don’t understand the cult following this gets Wtf did I (almost finish) listening to? Even the god that is Stephen fry couldn’t save this one for me. Don’t understand the cult following this gets in the slightest....more
Pure soap opera. Unlikeable characters, unbelievable plot. Wanted to strangle the female lead on more than one occasion too for her pure stupidity. RoPure soap opera. Unlikeable characters, unbelievable plot. Wanted to strangle the female lead on more than one occasion too for her pure stupidity. Romanticised toxic relationships too. Hard hard hard pass...more
**spoiler alert** Meh. Wasn’t enamoured with this story; perhaps the audio format was part of the issue (to me, West made all the characters sound ali**spoiler alert** Meh. Wasn’t enamoured with this story; perhaps the audio format was part of the issue (to me, West made all the characters sound alike). Parts were done well, others not so much. The ending was a shocker; it felt like the author couldn’t be bothered to fabricate a clever twist or explanation about who the river man actually was but instead just decided to stop telling the story all together and called it an ending. Cliffhangers are one thing; not bothering to tie up loose ends are entirely another. Hard pass....more
**spoiler alert** This was an ordeal. I’m gonna lump this book with its predecessor The Heir in terms of my review. Like so many others have said, jus**spoiler alert** This was an ordeal. I’m gonna lump this book with its predecessor The Heir in terms of my review. Like so many others have said, just because you can write a sequel, it doesn’t mean that you should.
For me, the original selection trilogy was ok; not bad, but not amazing either. What was most puzzling to me was just how unlikeable Kass made her lead in these two follow ups. For the most part, Eadlyn was utterly insufferable; spoilt, bratty, pretty much every undesirable trait you want in your protagonist. It’s hard to believe that Eadlyn was the offspring was America and Maxon, who, while flawed, were still likeable for the most part. My only conclusion is that they were so busy dissolving the caste system that they forgot to raise a well adjusted human being.
The narrative across both books was so rushed and so much of the plot didn’t make any kind of sense; why in the hell Maxon would hand his crown to his unlikeable daughter during a period of civil unrest makes no political sense. Makes me wonder if Kass ever read a single book on monarchies. Then to top it all off, right after Eadlyn ascended, she then says, “well it’s been a blast but you can rule yourselves now! Bye!”. After everything she’d said in both books?? I refer to her oft repeated mantra “you are Eadlyn schreave; no one is as powerful as you”. Narcissus had nothing on this girl. As for her choice of husband, god help the guy! While the selection was clearly America and Maxon’s love story, both these books were very much all about Eadlyn; her love interest barely got a look in.
All in all, these last 2 books were painful to get through: given how I only found the selection an ok read, I doubt I’ll return to Kiera Kass in the future either…...more
**spoiler alert** Glad this was free; sufficed to say, I won’t be checking out anything else by this author as this short read can only be described a**spoiler alert** Glad this was free; sufficed to say, I won’t be checking out anything else by this author as this short read can only be described as an hour and a half of my life I wish I could get back.
I get that in short reads, there’s not a lot of time to develop characters fully but I HATED the protagonist, Sophia; she was superficial, judgmental and ridiculously moronic, despite being set up as a “smart girl”. Honestly, the majority of the story read like a thought stream for a screen play, rather than a novel (and an average at best one at that). Horribly predictable story; you could see the ending coming a mile off before the characters had even left for the Galapagos. What else I found weird were all the random details that the author put in which were totally unnecessary- all the stuff about her sisters and her future husband (which was slung in in the closing lines for anyone wondering what Sophia got up to when she went home; IDGAF about her to start with); none of these things had any bearing on the plot at all so why include them. The author clearly didn’t research the British couple coz nothing they said rang true to me as a Brit; would have made more sense to write a character she knew. The prose was also weird AF; the way Sophia referred to herself in the third person? Maybe that’s just because I associate third person narratives with narcissism.
Overall (as I think anyone reading this will be able to guess), I wouldn’t recommend reading this. It was unbelievably dull and left me wondering what the point of the story was at all. Only a vague reference was made to the title in relation to Sophia; almost like the author suddenly thought at the end “oh yeah! I should probably explain the title!” and then half-arsed anyway.
No disrespect to Prunella Scales; she narrated this brilliantly.
Has to be the most boring “classic” I’ve read so far. It’s about a village of snobby, No disrespect to Prunella Scales; she narrated this brilliantly.
Has to be the most boring “classic” I’ve read so far. It’s about a village of snobby, busy body women who never change. That’s it. Nothing else happens in this novel.
Another “meh” book for me. It had its moments for me but like the previous historical fiction title I’ve read recently, the same story could have beenAnother “meh” book for me. It had its moments for me but like the previous historical fiction title I’ve read recently, the same story could have been told with much less faffing. I went from liking Grace, the protagonist, in the beginning to wanting to shake the life out of her by the end of the book. The ending wasn’t very neat for me either; it’s like someone pressed the “cancel” button on the author and he just stopped writing, wish left me thinking “so what happened? Did peach survive or not?” I didn’t care for some of the choices the author had Grace make either- even if it was the 1940s, I struggle to buy an intelligent woman making some of the highly questionable decisions she did regarding the man in her life. The narrative was also highly disjointed for me; you could have removed chapters of the story and the outcome would have been the same. Various characters had entire chapters of info dedicated to them and it didn’t add anything to the story or the character development which I felt on the whole was lacking. We’re told repeatedly that there are 60 odd children travelling on this journey and yet we only really learn about 4 of them. Would probably have been better as a biography; incidentally, just like the last book of this kind I read. The characters just didn’t ring true to me. Unlikely to return to this author in the future....more
Meh. I didn’t even realise that this was based on a true story until the end as I bought it a really long time ago on Kindle and I’ve recently startedMeh. I didn’t even realise that this was based on a true story until the end as I bought it a really long time ago on Kindle and I’ve recently started to go back through my library from the beginning.
Frankly, I was bored reading this for the most part; you can sum up this entire story with a single sentence and that’s that a bunch of Italian POWs build a church in their camp. That’s literally it. The same story could have been told in half the words and it would have been the same outcome. You could have taken out half the characters and it wouldn’t have mattered because I didn’t feel like I gave a damn about any of them.
For me, there was barely any character development at all and on more than one occasion, I found myself wondering “so who’s this guy now?” Given that it was meant to be based on a true story, it probably would have been better writing it as a biography rather than semi-fiction or whatever the hell this is. I’ve read a lot of war literature (it was a key part of my English literature A level) so my personal view for anyone wondering what they should read in this sub-genre is that there are titles head and shoulders above this book. Another hard pass for me in 2024....more
**spoiler alert** I rolled my eyes SO FUCKING HARD during my reading of this book, it was actually ridiculous! Ok so I’m clearly an outlier based on t**spoiler alert** I rolled my eyes SO FUCKING HARD during my reading of this book, it was actually ridiculous! Ok so I’m clearly an outlier based on the overall ratings and as my thing is bad reviews only, I should probably say why I hated this book.
1) pretty much everything about this story was utterly predictable. OF COURSE the husband was an utter shit bag- that much was clear all the way through to everyone, except Laura which brings me to…
2) Laura was such an unlikeable protagonist! So many times I wanted to shake her for being so pathetic it was unreal! She was an alcoholic for (to my eyes) no really valid reason; yes she was attacked but she was also in complete denial about everything and her default response TO EVERYTHING was to “pour a glass of vodka” (yuck yuck yuck; she didn’t even add anything to it- I might’ve given her some credit if she’d added a mixer but straight vodka is NASTY!!) She constantly went on about how bad her life was and yet did NOTHING to change it until Jim went missing- and even then, she “couldn’t do it on her own”; she had to be dragged by her best friend Debbie. For me, she also realised way too late in the game that Jim was the cause of most of her problems and yet she still had this weird hero like worship of him- love, he was never home! He was clearly lying to you and you couldn’t see it when it was quite literally staring you in the face!
I guess I like my females strong and with substance and Laura was utterly pathetic throughout 90% of the novel. At no point until Jim went missing did she question anything about her life with him. We’re led to believe she isn’t a moron, yet nothing about her shit bag husband was a red flag to her? She knew nothing about him in 7 years of marriage?! I grew up in the 90s and women were not as stupid as her! (Also you would never guess that it was set in the 90s as there’s no periodic type references anywhere)
Trigger warning: Her assault is barely described, but to be honest, the details we do get made me seriously question the degree of her traumatic response- it seemed unbelievable to me just how much of a wreck it left her; I mean she just quit her job, became the neediest woman in the world and spent her days drinking nonstop. She even had to be sedated when they moved?? I mean come on; people go through far worse and don’t have that kind of response so I just didn’t buy any of it. On the whole, it just made me dislike Laura even more for not getting her shit together like the grown ass woman she was; there’s nothing to indicate that she was weak before she met Jim but the author seems to forget that later on.
3) the ending; once Laura finds out what happened to Jim, we’re just supposed to believe that a woman who was confined to her house, FOR MONTHS, turned it all around in a matter of days because she found a new guy to f***? Another premise that I totally didn’t buy; based on what I’ve studied about PTSD and traumatic responses, you don’t make that sort of transition that quickly in reality, even if you have support, which leads me to conclude that Laura was playing for sympathy most of the time but masquerading as a trauma victim.
4) all the neighbours were utterly pointless; you could have removed any and all of them and it would not have affected the outcome of the story. The only purpose they served was to give Laura a clue to the puzzle of where Jim was and to be honest, she could have worked that all out without any of them so why were they there at all? Carol I actively wanted to punch for just how inappropriate she was during that neighbours meeting and the only reason I remember her is because she was mentioned more than once. I can’t recall anything about the rest of them yet the novel’s synopsis implies that they all have a much bigger role in the story. Spoiler alert; they don’t.
There’s so many other things I hated; the prose/narrative was so confusing to me- jumped between first and third persons for no clear reason except to indicate the past and the present (the author could have accomplished the same result in either one so why switch?). I can’t fathom why Ben (I’m not even sure that’s his name- it’s the neighbour she ends up with) was attracted to Laura because to me, there was nothing attractive about her so my only conclusion is that he likes his women weak and submissive. Debbie who was the only character I sort of liked ended up being a massive disappointment as well; she knew Laura was an alcoholic and yet there’s one scene where she and Laura get drunk!? Great best friend you are enabling a drunk!
Anyway, for me, this book is such a hard pass; I hated most things about it and suffice to say, I won’t be checking out anything else by this author as several reviews have said this is her best work- if that’s the case, then I’ll go back to my usual crime thrillers.
What the hell was this book; novel, non fiction? For me the narrative was so disjointed that I gave up on it at 50%. I think the authorDid not finish.
What the hell was this book; novel, non fiction? For me the narrative was so disjointed that I gave up on it at 50%. I think the author would have been better off deciding whether she wanted to tell a made up story or write up her family history because mixing both did not work for me at all- the random cuts to the 70s really disrupted the flow of the story for me.
Not sure for whose benefit the random italian words and phrases were for in amongst all the English; why not just write in Italian period? I get that there were Italian characters but why make them speak in 2 languages when they’re only speaking to other Italians. ?… just found it really confusing.
Didn’t much like the characters either; giovanna was just meh for me as a protagonist. I just couldn’t figure out what the point of the story was. When I start to sigh at the thought of picking up a book, it’s time to stop reading. Perhaps it’s because I’m English and am unfamiliar with the historical period but to be honest, a decently written narrative would have clarified things. I think the author was trying to do too many things- it’s called Elizabeth street and yet it’s barely mentioned. Only at 50% did we start hearing about the black hand; is it a mafia story or a story about coming to America? For me, it’s pick a theme and stick to it. Hard pass....more
So before reading this, I glanced a few reviews and as crime/thrillers tend to be what I go for most, I thought I’d g**spoiler alert** So far fetched!
So before reading this, I glanced a few reviews and as crime/thrillers tend to be what I go for most, I thought I’d give this a shot. Crime dramas tend to be what I pick most in my TV shows as well so let’s say it’s an area I’m familiar with.
This was far from thriller for me; instead I found myself annoyed and repeatedly wanting to bang my head against the wall with just how BAD parts of this “thriller” were. I spent most of the book wanting to shake the life out of Ava; while I like my heroines strong and complex, Ava was more damsel in distress and weakling than I usually like and worst of all, she complained about her own shortcomings constantly and yet did nothing to change them. She had a few redeeming qualities but mostly, I felt she was a terrible person who surrounded herself with equally terrible people; her “best friend” Poppy treated her like crap and yet Ava had this odd hero-like worship of her when she ended up in hospital, saying, when Ava stayed with her through the night, that “Poppy would do the same for me”. You know what love, I don’t think she would considering how she’d literally blown you off for a man she’d just met a few chapters before when you desperately needed her support. She was also gaslit by her constantly about being a drama queen which, as it turns out, wasn’t true at all! Another thing Ava conveniently forgot when she was singing Poppy’s praises.
The overall climax to the book wasn’t much of a surprise either; it was glaringly obvious that it was all about the “event” from 10 years ago coz it was mentioned in pretty much every chapter to the point where I actually rolled my eyes. It made the story and Ava sound like broken records and took any suspense out the narrative. It was also glaringly obvious that Dustin was not who he said he was when he had those violent outbursts; something which Ava brushed off very easily for someone who’d been so on edge through out the entire book. It frustrated me how someone as smart as Ava clearly was, was also so dumb in that situation. As someone who dabbles in forensic psychology outside of their academic studies, I found the motivation of the two men who ended up being the perpetrators of everything far from convincing. Yes, psychopaths do do things described in the book for less but it was all so inconsistent. They had enough forensic awareness to leave no prints on the syringe but left them on the drug foils. Nah, I’m not buying it. I also highly doubt that a murderer like Dustin would have met a petty criminal like Noah in the same institution. It was also mentioned that Dustin had just got out; I don’t believe that he wouldn’t have been under some kind of surveillance given his crime. The time line also doesn’t match up as it’s implied that he’s around Ava’s age and if he’d just done 18 years, he’d have been a kid when he was jailed. As I said at the start of this review, it was all so far fetched.
Writing wise, this book was problematic for me. Simon’s surname went from Loden to Loder and then back again on multiple occasions. The artist mentioned in the Tate also had a name change. Some of the writing of the prose felt like something I’d read in a GCSE English Literature essay rather and a published novel. Far from thrill you, this novel only fizzled at best for me, and that’s being extremely generous. Hard pass on reading from this author again I’m afraid....more