Jessica

Now that I've read this book twice (and obsessively watched and rewatched the BBC version with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens!) this is definitely one of my favorite books ever. I didn't really care for Jane's narration the first time around, but I can definitely appreciate the way the story is told now that I've reread the book a couple of years after reading it for the first time. Now if only I can find a book that tells the story through Mr. Rochester's point of view!

Besides knowing merely basic information about Henry VIII and his six wives, I was not familiar with the story of Jane Grey when I started to read this book. However, I think anyone, knowledge or not, can pick up this book and immediately be captivated by the story and pick up on the storyline as they read. A really engrossing book, highly recommended!

I wanted to like this book SO FREAKING BAD, but the writing made me want to vomit. Seriously. It was like a bunch of fifteen year old freshman sat down and wrote the most overly cliched book they could possibly imagine. I'm surprised I made it half way through before I called it quits. Do not recommend whatsoever.

I received this book from the Goodreads First Reads program

I was originally really excited to receive this book, as I have always had a deep-seated interest in learning about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. However, once I started to read the book I was disappointed to learn that it was less historical in nature than I had originally thought. While I realize this is a work of fiction (but still loosely based off of real people), I still had hoped for more historical depth to the story.

The book revolves around four main characters: Dora, Ruth, Hans, and Ernst, and the story is told from the alternating perspectives of Ruth and Ernst Toller. Two notes on this – I found Ruth's perspective much easier (and more interesting) than Toller's, but I completely hated that I could never quite tell at which point in time (year-wise) the story was taking place. I found it incredibly confusing to try and differentiate between two or three points in time, and for me I think it took away a lot of the enjoyment I might have received from reading this story.

That being said, I give Anna Funder a lot of credit for taking the story of people that actually existed and wrote them into a believable story. I just wish that the story might have been written a little differently!

I picked up this book because I won a copy of the sequel through Goodreads First Reads and I wanted to acquaint myself with the characters before I received my copy. I unfortunately had quite a bit of a hard time getting into the story, and it was only about three quarters of the way through the book that I became truly invested in the story and began to enjoy it. I could have done without some of Ari's outbursts, but I did enjoy the variety of characters/personalities, and once there was more action (aka once Athena appeared) I really wanted to know what was going to happen next. Looking forward to the sequel!

I received this book from the Goodreads First Reads program

Let's start with the positives and work our way from there. Ms. Engler – thank you for taking part in the first reads program to try and get your work out into the public to garnish reviews. I admire anyone who can go through the process of writing a book, managing to get it published, and then releasing it to the critical public. For that, I admire and thank you.

In my first library science class they taught us “every book its reader”, and with that in mind, I'll say that I was not the reader for this book. There are glaring spelling and grammatical errors, an excessive use of exclamation points, and sentence structure that makes me want to cry. I entered the giveaway because of my love of history and a fascination with Ireland, but unfortunately this book fell absolutely flat for me and I didn't make it past the first 40 pages. Not every book is meant for every reader, but thank you for the opportunity!

I received this book from the Goodreads First Reads program

I feel really bad that I didn't pick this book up sooner (stupid grad school), seeing as this is an incredibly quick read and draws you into the story right from the get go. I've always had an interest in non-mainstream religions (I mean this very neutrally, no offense intended). I believe, on the whole, that Markovits did a splendid job painting a picture of Satmar homes across generations, intimate details about Satmar family life, and the trials and tribulations that every human being has to go through, regardless of age, gender, religion, race, etc. I would have given this five stars, but I feel like I got lost in the plot line once or twice and that Markovits strayed, unintentionally, away from the plot. Overall though, I'm very glad to have read this!

As a general rule, I am usually quite fond of any Jane Austen fan-fiction (especially Pride & Prejudice!). However, I found this book incredibly slow and caught up in characters us Janeites are unfamiliar with and trial details that no one wanted to read about in such detail. I was really hoping for more interaction amongst the characters, and on the whole I found this book rather dull. Carrie Bebris' “Pride & Prescience” is a much better alternative than than “Death Comes to Pemberley”!

After the amazingness that was Austenland, I have to say that I ended up being rather disappointed with this book after all. One of the biggest reasons I adored the original Austenland so much was all the Regency interactions between all the guests (and Jane/Henry), I was really disappointed that the majority of the book ended up being Charlotte talking to herself about the murder. AND she ends up with her housemate “brother”? Eeew. I'm glad I read it, but I hope Shannon Hale goes back to a story like the original next time.

I'm a huge fan of Downton Abbey, so I was really excited to read this book. Powell has tons of incredible insights into life in domestic service, but it seems like the manuscript was never edited, and because of this the writing in the book is rather dodgy. I still learned a lot, though, and I'm glad I read it!

I really wanted to like this book, but the romance is incredibly rushed, forced, and unrealistic. The author's description of a Filipino family and the family dynamics are wonderful, but the romance totally sunk this book. There's no buildup and there's no ‘getting to know you' stage. In the course of one day, Claire meets a stranger, goes on a date, and suddenly they're dating like they've known each other for weeks? The author definitely has potential, but this romance unfortunately falls flat.