Elizabeth Tai
3.5 stars. I didn't connect with the main character much, but I have to say the writing is above average - excellent in fact. The author has convinced me to look into her other books.
Ah, Eloisa James. Sometimes I be like, “Oh wow, I'm in lurve” with her novels, and sometimes I'm like, “WTF just happened here?”. This is one of the latter times. As usual, an interesting premise - brother in law falls in love with sister-in-law-to-be. Not exactly original, but I do like Quill, a man who was crippled by a nasty injury but who despite debilitating migraines and pain, did not let it get to him. Gabrielle, however, annoyed the hell out of me. She seemed too flighty and ditzy for dear Quinn, whom I felt needed a gal with a sturdier head above her shoulders (and possibly, a bigger brain). Still, I rolled with it. I forgave EJ for that weird, extra subplot of romance between a couple that I didn't care less about. And that whole thing with the Indian prince flew past my head. It was all unnecessary padding. Take that out and it wouldn't make a difference to the story.
It's towards the tail end of the book that it began to unravel at the seams. By then Gabrielle's ditziness - which I patiently thought was cute - had gotten tiresome.
SPOILERS
There was this HUGE betrayal, and yet THAT was swept under the carpet as if it was a minor fracas. And how was that betrayal forgotten? By a convenient near-death moment that was so deus ex machina I had to roll my eyes. It was as if EJ didn't know how to solve the tangle created by the Betrayal and decided to toss it in there and then wiped her hands clean of the novel.
Only it didn't quite solve it because the characters were not repentant of what they did! Their love, in the end, feels like it stands on very shaky foundations. I don't have much faith they'd last more than a week in the 20th century!
Oh well, not EJ's best, that's for sure.
It's always quite a delight to discover a new author that ticks all the right boxes. Ashlyn Macnamara's hero and heroine in this novel are flawed but very strong personalities. Their attraction was very believable, and boy when they finally declare themselves to each other, it was scorching! Going to add McNamara to my pantheon of favourite romance authors, Lisa Kleypas, Jess Michaels and Mary Jo Putney :)
This book kept me guessing till the very end. It also opens my eyes to the painful reality of mental illness and how it can destroy a person and the people around them. Thankful that the author has written quite a bit as I'm going to explore his other books after this.
One extra star for the good writing but...look, the book had a good idea but I am just not into the guy's controlling bdsm bedroom antics. So what do you do when you realise a girl in the past is about to die of a horrible murder. You tell her about it right? Or at least stop it from happening, correct? No, instead our hero deigns to have sex with her at every opportunity. How gallant and honourable. rolls eyes. Still, for an erotica - and I really have to remember sometimes real world common sense just doesn't apply in this genre - its better than most, but for me as a reader...I guess I was expecting something more ... logical.
I have a 25 page rule - if a book doesn't impress me by then, I'd DNF it and put it in the donate box. I was pretty sure this book would be part of the pile, but once in a while, my prediction will be wrong and I'd be swept up by the power of the book. this was the book! I read Homer and Langley in one sitting - that's saying a lot.
The book is based on the real-life story of the Collyer brothers who came from a wealthy family in New York sometime in the early 20th century. However, at the end of their lives, they were scant signs of their privileged upbringing.
Told from Homer's perspective, the reader will witness the slow, painful deterioration of the brothers' lives. Langley, scarred mentally and physically from his time at war, fell apart when he returned from the trenches. Their parents' untimely deaths sped up Langley's breakdown and sealed their fates. Homer, the gentler and wiser of the two, feels trapped by his blindness, unable to take charge of his, let alone Langley's life. And while Langley determinedly took on the role of Homer's caretaker, it was obvious he was too broken from the war to do so. Over time, overcome by his PTSD, Langley became a shadow of the man he was.
It's heartbreaking to witness all this through Homer's eyes. While he feels hampered by his disability, his mind was still painfully sharp and clear. But Homer felt utterly dependent on Langley, whom he suspected was losing his mind, and was too afraid to venture out of safety of their once-beautiful mansion.
People come into their lives, most of the time without their say so, and the brothers witness time go by, culture shift, and history change, as they (or rather, Langley, with Homer as the reluctant participant) try to wall out the outside world with their stuff and by securing their home.
Once I finished the novel, I looked up the story of the real-life Collyer brothers. It adds even more bitterness to an already tragic tale...
Patterson's books always make great audiobooks. Not bogged down with heavy prose to lull you into sleep (not great when you're driving), and always fast-paced and tightly plotted, making you excited about the next chapter. Still, this isn't an awesome book to say the least. The plot was intriguing enough but the characters were all one dimensional. And then, there was this weird plot involving a plane crash towards the end. It was pointless and totally weird.
This book isn't one that will make you think at all; the kind of audiobook that you put on while you're tidying up the house.
This is such a weird book, and suffers from “too many plots spoil the book”. You can have too much of a good thing, you know. Because if the reader has to deal with serial killers, mad sisters, secret plots, betrayals, tortured childhoods, and sexual dysfunctions all at once, it can be too much. And then add the improbability of having three gorgeous doctors interested in our plain Mary Sue character ... well, one can suspend disbelief just this far!
The writing was just so bad I couldn't continue beyond the first chapter. Clumsy construction, weird metaphors, melodramatic prose. No thanks.
When I tell people I'm reading this book, their face would wrinkle in disgust. This, apparently, has to do with a primordial survival instinct to stay the f*** away from excreta as it carries diseases that could probably kill you dead. Yet, most of us modern folks - especially those of us blessed with indoor plumbing and flush toilets - take for granted how hardworking our sewage system is, and how it plays a HUGE role in keeping us healthy, long-lived and comfortable. We'd rather forget about it like the poo we flush down the loo and sniff at the workers keeping the often overworked and overtaxed underground sewage system running.
This book throws the lid off, so to speak. What happens to our shit when we flush it down the loo? What does it take to keep the sewage system running (more than you think, and a little frightening to think that it's almost always close to collapse), and what happens if it stops working (bad stuff. Bad, bad stuff). It's also disconcerting to realise that modern civilisation still has no idea what to do with the tonnes of shit human beings we produce. (The poor sea. Should I even eat fish anymore, really?)
Still, I have to thank the Lord that I live in a country where there are flush toilets. The chapters about India's sanitation problems made my eyes bleed and my tummy hurt. No offence, but I'm not going to India anytime soon as my very sensitive stomach would probably not survive the trip.
So, next time when you flush that toilet, say thank you. It's literally saving your life.
After poring through countless dry books about mindfulness, it's a relief, really, to listen to a book that doesn't take the subject too seriously. Still, Wax's witty repartee may not suit more impatient readers who want “just the facts, thank you very much”. On top of that this book has a tiny identity crisis of sorts in that it's not a straightforward how-to guide, but is also a memoir and comedy reel. I adore it though, Wax's Noo Yawk accent and wry delivery just made me LOL. I'm not sure if the written version would've been as funny.
I didn't think I'd like this, especially since I thought the ‘US president has vampire agent' thing a little corny. But Farnsworth's writing just kept me turning the pages! In the end, I really hope they'll turn this into a series one day, and I keep picture Alex O'Loughlin in the role. Yum.
Why I read this:
Ok, that wasn't the truth. What happened was the title popped into my library's Overdrive collection and the title and cover made me go, WTF, and I just had to see what's inside. Yes, so I found the book creepy. But I'm not sure which was worse: the demon-like aliens mating with hapless female slave scenario or the over-the-top porny language.I wasn't sure if that was deliberate or ... well, who knows? As one reviewer said, it's a “slam, bang, thank you ma'am” tale. Ended very quickly. Liked my stories with er, more substance, you know? Scurrying back to my Regency Romance safe zone.
There's a lot of wisdom in this little book. And what joy it is really to find someone to love the way Gorz did. This book has an especially bittersweet poignancy, especially when you realise the couple's fate.
There's suspension of disbelief ... and then there's this.
So, an FBI who has a thing for a suspect of a case decided to kidnap said suspect and have his way with her in a remote cabin to make her talk.
Said suspects secret is not much of a secret and frankly not worth all that trouble concealing.
The heat and sex (which was hot, admittedly) seemed wrong because it felt very non-Consensual-ish.
Dom was an arrogant arse.
All this turned me off the plot. Nothing felt romantic.
I tried. I really did. But this feels like a peek into a whiny, self-entitled teen's diary. Not my cup of tea.
3.5 stars. This is not a “how to” manual but a thesis of sorts about the benefits of frugal living - on your psyche, emotions, and for the world. It's, in a way, a combination of minimalist living and good financial sense. Good read.
This was okay, though I found myself a tad bored by all that back and forth the couple had with each other about how badly they treated each other in the past. Still, it's nice that the book tackled a rather heavy subject well: The loss of a child.
3.5 stars. This is actually much better than the long-winded, tedious, love-triangle bogged Pillow Book I. Though a reader will probably come away from this wondering, “Can't we just communicate?” Half the problems here would've been avoided if our main couple explained things to each other. But hey, that's half the fun of romance novels, I suppose!
Tang Qi still has the annoying habit of info dumping, so we have characters spouting exposition at the most convenient places. Also, finally Feng Jiu has a backbone, and does something which throws a spanner in the works, but it was actually a relief after multiple chapters of her just whining and pining after Dong Hua. A HEA ending which leaves me dying to know more about their life together after that. How cruel of TQ to leave us like that.
I'm actually looking forward to the third book, which is reportedly about Liansong and Cheng Yu, one of my favourite characters in the series. It'll probably take FOREVER to come out, especially after the plagiarism scandal that implicated The Sky Kingdom book.
PS: I read an English, fan-translated version of the novel.
This was a quick read, a slightly above average erotica I suppose but I don't understand how it could garner the string of five star reviews honestly. I don't feel any emotional between the couple at all. It's a book made up of a string of sex scenes to me.
Darn it I should have been a hotelier! it seems like so much fun - from dead bodies, con artists to drunken guests. Still, I had to give it a star less because the quality of the stories were uneven - some (fortunately a minority) felt like press releases. Still, it was a very easy book to read and I now have tonnes of respect for hotel staff!
As usual, a winner from Lincoln Child! Jeremy Logan, enigmalogist, braniac and sleuth of the unexpected is summoned to a mysterious mansion where he is tasked to solve the strange death of a scientist there. A think tank is using this mansion, but it would seem that they have stumbled on something - a pandora's box that could destroy humankind: A forgotten room that holds many strange secrets.
I think the reason why I love Child's books so much is because it reminds me of The X-Files. Jeremy Logan is sort of like Fox Mulder, but with a more academic bent (the term is enigmalogist). Though, I have to admit, Logan's “empath” abilities always throw me off. It seems out of place, far too convenient and ability to have; it sometimes feels like a deus ex machina to me. Everytime it appears in a Jeremy Logan novel, I think to myself: “Spooky Mulder, much?”
Still, Child is a good thriller writer; he knows how to ratchet up the tension. Also, he does surprise me with the plot. Initially I thought the plot would go one way, but ended up in a totally unexpected area.
That's an ability I appreciate in any writer.
Surprisingly, Tiger Babies Strike Back was rated lowly by some folks on Goodreads, and I think it's unfair. And I suspect that it is because they have imposed their expectations on this book. This book is not a rebuttal to Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. There won't be long treatises on why HER version of parenting would be better than Chua's.
Instead, this is a book that de-glamourises the Tiger Mom form of parenting. Think that you should be a drill sergeant mum in order to ensure that your kid becomes a success? Read this book before flicking out that whip. You may not like what you see here. Also, this book speaks best to Tiger Babies - people who were children of Tiger parents. They will be affirmed and validated with this book.
Tiger Babies Strike Back is best read as a memoir of a woman's experience as Tiger Baby, and how Tiger Mom parenting has affected her. In many ways I am amazed at how the author's experiences echoed mine - down to the ritual fat shaming by the relatives during the holidays!
For one, Kim's book has helped me deconstruct and understand so many things - Chinese family dynamics that had frustrated me for ages (and that I now realise is shared by many in the Chinese community) and best of all - the root of my Drive.
It's the Drive that makes so many Chinese kids star students. By many standards I was a star student. I had a scholarship to study in university, was a straight-A student in college, became a freelance writer for the No.1 newspaper in Malaysia when I was 18. Yet, the Tiger parenting that enabled me to be a ‘success' warped me in ways that surprise me till this day.
Being a Tiger baby is both good and bad. Good if you happen to thrive on competition. Bad if you happen not to. Good if you revel in the pedestal the family puts you onto if you happen to be No.1. Bad if you're can't meet the sky-high Expectations.
What resonated most with me is Kim's discussion about stoicism, and how many Chinese people valued that characteristic and try to pummel a kid so that they have this “quality”. Again, good if you happen to be naturally stoic. VERY BAD if you are a passionate and sensitive person.
Basically, traditional Chinese parenting only favours a certain type of personality. But even that personality may buckle under the stress. The author writes poignantly about the suicide of super-successful-by-anyone's-standards Iris Chang, and how she suspects that the constant Drive to be No.1 played a part in her undoing.
Because, after a while, you get really, really, really exhausted trying to run that up never-ending mountain, and you just want to QUIT. Unfortunately, in a culture where it's all about “face” and external success, quitting isn't desirable.
Back to the memoir - she does ramble in the last 1/4 of the book, and I found myself skimming the pages. But she comes back with a blast with the epilogue, where she tells Tiger Babies how to “turn to the dark light” like she did. That epilogue alone is worth the price of the book.
An amazing book that has been unfairly judged by folks who wanted it to be something else.