Cátia

The main problem I found with Assassin's Apprentice was the pace. The first part took me about a week to get through (I remind you this book is 435 pages long!). The only reason why I was picking it back up was to get to the point where I could understand people's praises about this book. Needless to say, this novel is highly regarded by readers, but I was, at first, not impressed with it. There was just a bunch of not much happening, and the plot had yet to be established - one of the reasons why I didn't feel compelled to continue reading. I also want to add: for a book with “assassin” in the title, there's not a lot of assassination going on, or even deaths. If you pick up the book expecting and wanting this, know you will be disappointed. The same can be said about magic, there's just not much of it. Regardless, I managed to pull through, and as I said previously, this book started to get my attention in the second half. Not only was the plot finally moving forward, but you got to know the characters better, as well as feel for them. I especially loved the last third, which was filled with political intrigue. We were introduced - without spoiling too much - to a new land and a new set of characters. I immediately liked them and was looking forward to seeing more of them and pondered on the impact they would have on the ending. It did not disappoint. I cannot explain how good of an ending it was. It completely made reading the book worthwhile. I've also heard people say the second book is better so I definitely plan on reading it!

The Alice Network is told through 2 POVs: Eve's and Charlie's. When reading reviews of this book I noticed a great number of people stating they preferred Eve's and, after having read it, I would 100% agree. In fact, Charlie could have been removed from the story and not much would have changed. Personally, I don't find her character added much, I don't see what her purpose in the grand scheme of things was. Adding to that, her part of the story was too predictable. Within her first few chapters, if not the first, you can guess how things are going to end for her and her part of the plot. At last, I just want to make a little comment on how unnecessary the romance was; the need people feel of adding romance to every single thing  (not just books) is annoying.

So far I've only seen positive reviews for Stillhouse Lake, unfortunately I seem to be in the minority. There are two reasons:

• I've read this story before. As in, I've previosly read this one book (to be fair, I think it may have been published after this one, but I read it first, so...) where the main character (female) is taking care of her brother and has moved to this new place. There, she meets this guy who becomes her love interest. Some murdery thing happens, she becomes a suspect, etc. In Stillhouse Lake, our MC is also female and is now a single parent to two kids. They too change to a new place - stillhouse lake -, trying to escape people who threaten her and her family and want to make her pay for her husband's crimes. In this new place, she meets a guy, who also becomes a love interest. Even the endings have similarities, specifically  the kidnapping of someone close to the MCs. All in all, there were way too many plot resemblances for me to be able to enjoy this.

• As you can tell by the synopsys, there's a killer, who seems to be imitating our MC's husband crimes. Rachel Caine is not subtle about who it is since you can guess it from the first time they show up. I mean, it was pretty obvious from their first lines that they're up to something. As such, when the reveal time came I wasn't surprised. Some people don't necessarily need an unpredictable plot to appreciate a mystery/thriller, and I agree to a certain extent. But between this and the fact that I have read another book with an identical plot...

I decided to read this book after seeing it being recommended several times for the comfort it gives to its readers.

Overall, I liked the narrative style - the story is told through letters and telegrams. However, I always have a "problem" when stories are told this way: for me, it creates a certain distance between the reader and the characters. (I recognise that this is a me problem though).

I also was unaware of the romance. It was not exactly an unwelcome surprise, but it wasn't that well developed, I needed more scenes with them.

The end felt a little unfinished and abrupt which most likely the result of the primary author's declining health that led her niece, Annie Barrows, to do some rewriting and editing.

What I best liked about it: I hadn't even ever heard about the Channel Islands and the german occupation during World War II. I'm appreciative of the knowledge it brought me and the curiosity to know more. For this reason alone, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and its memorable characters was worth the read.

Wasn't for me. Honestly, I just didn't care much about anything. Didn't click with the writing from the beginning, it is too descriptive. Not every single sentence has to have a flowery writing and similes, methaphors and the like. In fact, it's about knowing when to do it and stir the reader's emotions. Some people have said the book is one of those angsty novels where the author makes the main character go through the worse things imaginable just for the sake of it or for the shock value. Having read 30% of White Oleander I see how that may be true.