Anonymous

Highlight for me!

Reviewed: 08-06-18

I loved this book! I couldn't put it down. I am a huge fan of Liane Moriarty now!

Alice is so interesting as a character and her situation made me ponder the last 10 years of my own life.
While it is unbelievable that someone could hit their head and lose 10 years, the story tells a plausible tale of Alice asking the people around her the appropriate questions to figure things out. There was another book I read with memory loss The Girl from the Sea, which filled me with immense frustration because the character did not ask anyone the relevant questions one would ask in such circumstances! Yes, it added to the mystery and the twist at the end, but at the expense of utter logic!

Alice grows from her amnesia experience and the people she loves grow with her. I love how she keeps a bit of her old self to compliment her new self. Bravo

Anyway, this author pulls it off. I was spellbound while listening.

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Seemed unfinished...

Reviewed: 03-17-15

Well, this is my first Truman Capote and I have not seen the movie.

I understand that it was a novella, but I was left with a feeling of unfinished business after completing book. There is very little information given to us about the narrator, I don't think we ever learn his real name. He is in love with his downstairs neighbor Holly Golightly and the story tells of how they become friends. Their relationship deepens over a couple of years and then she leaves his life all together. That's it.
Maybe I am a complete romantic, or even a traditionalist but **SPOILER** [our narrator never gets with Holly at all, despite his intense infatuation with her. He never even makes a move! This added greatly to my sense of unfinished business in the story. We also never find out what happens to her. **End of SPOILER**]

Holly is entirely interesting yet entirely unlikable. I liked the story, but it seemed to me like I picked up a regular length novel and most of the pages were torn out except for a couple of chapters right in the middle.

I do intend to see the movie now.

I also want to mention that I listened to an audio version read by Michael C. Hall. He was very good.

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Giggling while reading

Reviewed: 03-17-15

I read this from my computer at work and could often be heard giggling. I truly had no idea how it was going to end, right up until it did. Highly recommend!

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1 person found this helpful

Can you say Paradox?

Reviewed: 03-17-15

Great time travel detail!! I fell in love with Time Travel after reading the Time Traveler's Wife because it involved so much complexity. This one was just as complex but in a different way. I found myself pondering the different time lines that Kate has to deal with in excruciating detail in my head. I, personally, find the idea of 2 of me in one place completely fascinating.
I gave 5 stars a tiny bit generous, however, NOT because this book isn't good! But because I don't care for young adult novels and I am quite tired of the "two guys, one girl" concept. But, that's just me.

Great read, Highly recommend!

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Another YA Fantasy...

Reviewed: 03-17-15

So, this is one of those books. We are teenagers on our way to the reaping in their district - wait no!
We are going to divide into factions - Wait!
No, we start seeing Shadowhunters! No, No!
We discover that we have a supernatural ability and it has been passed down through our family for centuries! Yeah! that one!

I don't know why I keep reading these books. You won't believe this, but there was also a vampire in the story. Yup, a vampire.

However, I will point out that while there WAS a sort of love triangle (barf) it was between our heroine and her vampire from the present and his counterpart from the past, sans the fangs and undeadness. Oh, and she can time travel. Did I mention that?

Ok, so honestly, my cynicism is not the books fault. The book wasn't that bad! It was longer than it needed to be, but I was entertained throughout (mostly). But, I don't know why I keep reading these YA fantasy books. They are all so entirely similar! Don't get me wrong, when the Twilight series was being released I was first in line. I devoured it. But, I guess, THAT can only be done once. You know?

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5 people found this helpful

Couldn't put it down - But not sure why?

Reviewed: 03-16-15

I needed a few days to write a review of this book. Frankly, I really liked it, but I am not entirely sure why. It is creepy, fun and sort of mysterious. I never wanted to stop reading and I was invested in Mary Cat and Constance's lives.

This is weird because I was actually disappointed overall with how the story played out. SPOILER!**[ I totally predicted who did the poisoning - Too easy! I was really expecting someone to have been a ghost or supernatural being - Nope! I wanted the sisters to have some sort of worldly experience or to grow and change in some way - No way! They were simply happy being shut-ins and starring in the local boogeyman stories. END SPOILER**]. Oh well.

So, I had to give 4 stars because, despite my ultimate disappointments listed in the spoiler, I couldn't put the book down!

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It is exactly what you think it is

Reviewed: 03-16-15

It's really not the books fault. I just don't care so much for romance novels. I gave this one a try because I cannot get enough Scottish Highlanders in my life! It was a quick easy read that required little to no thinking at all.

I admit that I enjoyed the ending and will likely read more by this author. Knowing what I am getting myself into of course!

PS: I experienced this book in audio. The man's voice was great for narration and for doing the Scottish men, but found him distracting when he did any of the women. I don't know how some narrators do it, but I have heard many men do women's voices very well and vice versa. Not for this book.

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Audible gift - Worth it!

Reviewed: 03-16-15

I, like many others here, received this story free on Audible.com.

I thought it was delightful! I can see where the basis for the movie Frozen was picked up. Obviously, a few changes made, but still, the similarities were there.

It was about as long as my commute to work and I really enjoyed it

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The narrators were EXCELLENT!

Reviewed: 03-16-15

Wow! Excellent! I loved the story and was captivated almost the entire length of the novel.

The narrators were EXCELLENT!
Morven Christie. especially. I have added Burial Rites to my audible wish list because it is the only other novel I could find that she has narrated. If you are as addicted to audiobooks as I am, you will understand how important the talent of the narrator is.

I don't have much more to say except that I LOVE WWII fiction and I know that there is almost an endless supply written about this war. But, I am positive that the story of these two women, that I loved, laughed and cried with, will be one I remember.

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Why do so many people like this book?

Reviewed: 03-16-15

I am frankly quite surprised that so many people like this book.

240,982 ratings and an average 4.55? That is one of the best ratings I think I have ever seen on Goodreads.

Well, let's start with what I liked. Um, I liked the fantastical idea of the magic being taught although the author here calls it "sympathy". Weird, but Ok.

Kvothe had potential.(Ridiculous name and spelling. This reminds me of the parents that come up with creative ways to spell simple children's names, you know what I mean, like Aighmey and Alicin and Jacin (he's Alicin's brother)). Annoying, but I got over this. Anyway, the character has guts and it may be interesting to see what he accomplishes as he becomes a man. The novel ends while he is still 15 or 16 years old.

I can't really think of anything else I liked. The whole novel reminded me of a deliberately more mature Harry Potter. Our protagonist is a poor vagabond boy who lost his parents but manages to attends a school to learn magic and he has an enemy student who is socially elite and makes his life difficult, as well as an enemy teacher who has it out for him. He has friends and teachers that guide him and help him through. He encounters a whole lot of obstacles along the way and learns from them, all the while, perfecting his magic. Of course he shows more potential than all the other students. He is "special". Bla, bla, bla Which book did I just describe?

Although I mentioned that the book holds more maturity than the Harry Potter books, I'm not sure how much. It just FELT juvenile. It was in the author's writing style, I think. Not sure.

Most of the book is told in the 1st person narrative. My least favorite, as there is very little perspective of the world your guy lives in except told from your guy. So, the author better hope you like the main character and want to be on this journey with him. I just never really cared that much about Kvothe, so I was bored much of the time.

I purchased this book through Audible.com and found numerous problems with it. There were at least 3 different times that the narrative sort of fast forwarded itself for a couple of seconds and it was not my listening device that was faulty! There were also several times that the narration replayed a duplicate sentence. Come on Audible!

Also, the narrator chosen for this book is all wrong. He has a voice for young adult teenager books like John Green may write. It did not fit with this book at all.

I do not think I will read any of the other books in the series unless someone insists that they get better. However, I do admit to some curiosity about what ends up happening.

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16 people found this helpful