This book was just not my cup of tea. The narrators changing mid-paragraph didn't seem clever to me ... more like the author was going for a stream-of-consciousness type of thing but it seemed to me rather amateurish.

Given the design of the cover and the summary description I guess I was expecting that the names of the characters would be entirely original, or more ethereal or something. So I felt oddly disappointed that the author chose entirely ordinary names: Mary, Edward, Annie, Richard etc.

It also seemed like there was so much effort put into establishing the setting, background, etc but not so much regarding the themes which were so disappointingly prosaic. All men are horrible one-note brutes and yet despite this all of the women were blessed and would succeed no matter what. It seemed as though the men had to fail in order for the women to triumph which is much too simplistic even for the Victorian era.

The editing needed to be tightened up. Some paragraphs seemed to go on and on and on without much happening at all. Overly wordy in some areas and insufficiently descriptive in others. It read as though it was a very rough first draft that hadn't yet been edited.

I usually don't have any problems racing through hefty novels. However, this particular tome left me rather blah. I didn't realize it was about a vampire when I initially requested it as I'm not a fan of that genre.
In order for a book of this length to truly succeed it has to capture and keep the reader's interest throughout so that when you put it down at night you can't wait to pick it up again the next day. I found my mind wandering a lot during this book. It definitely needed some serious culling ... was surprised that so much repetition wasn't edited out.
I got the feeling that this was the author's inaugural debut as it read like a freshman effort. I wondered if the author kept adding to her original outline thinking that more is more. I'm also unclear of what type of categorization or audience for which this book was intended? Meaning was it originally leaning more toward YA? Or maybe fantasy? There is almost a contradiction of sorts going on here ... to be this lengthy big ideas, big quandaries, big themes and big ideals are needed, but that said, these things need to be balanced with a careful distribution of details. Some passages are so long and overly detailed as to cause the reader to skim through while others are overly weighty yet unresolved. At times I almost felt like I was reading the first draft of a screenplay as if the author was envisioning the book as a mini-series or movie. Overall I thought the book started fairly strong but then took too many detours, some circuitous, before bringing the story and characters back around again. I wanted to like The God of Endings but never feel like I really connected with it.

Although I was looking forward to reading 'Fly Girl' by Ann Hood I found my attention wandered throughout and had to force myself to finish it.

I was surprised to see that this wasn't the author's inaugural effort as it read more like a high-school "Tell Me About a Time When" type of assignment. My disappointments and critiques are numerous. I found several factual errors, some statements copied almost word-for-word from Wikipedia, along with information that clearly wasn't fact-checked nor verified. (unless verification efforts aren't included until the final editing process?).

THE NARRATIVE LACKS CONTINUITY.
There aren't any segues or transitions from one event to another. EG: One minute the author is wistful that her hopes of bonding with the other trainees and going out for margheritas during layovers hasn't happened due to "all" of the others are too tired, then next she writes that they are all being evicted from their Boston rental because of the 'constant noise, loud music, doorbells and visitors in-and-out all the time'. I was taken aback when I read this thinking what visitors? Did she or they make new friends in the city? Or are these all Flight Attendants? Without any transition or additional information the reader feels almost whiplashed from one extreme to the other.

QUESTIONABLE MOTIVE:
When author writes about moving into the Boston apartment with 5 of the other trainees she devotes 18 sentences to 4 of the roommates. For one woman she includes her physical description, personality quirks and an aside about her car. For the next 2 women she uses 7 sentences to describe how they refer to and order pizza. For another trainee there are 6 sentences about her college major, previous employment and helpful information she's provided about the local Boston area. As for the 5th young woman? "Leslie was a stunning Black woman who had worked as a telephone operator in Los Angeles." (followed by 3 sentences about the then-useless hashtag and asterisk buttons). I am still trying to understand why the author found it necessary to provide Leslie's skin color. Lacking any external relevance such as quantifying Black Flight Attendants then vs now, or any accompanying information from Leslie's perspective, I find zero justification whatsoever for choosing to include Leslie's skin color. I also question the logic behind the detailed and lengthy descriptions of the other 4 yet selecting only ethnicity and occupation for Leslie.

DUPLICATE AND REPEATED INFORMATION THROUGHOUT.
Far too many occurrences of pre- and post-flight checklists and preparedness. While this information is repeated in almost every chapter the same information is listed each time. What is the relevance to include "checking tray tables are returned to their original upright and locked positions" over and over? The information seems to be copied from a Flight Attendant Manual from the 1970s/1980s and isn't presented in any type of interesting manner. The checklist is always perfunctory without any elaboration or further explanation and as such is interpreted as filler.

SELF-CONGRATULATORY STATEMENTS INTERSPERSED THROUGHOUT
Author provides information and experiences regarding the now-out-of-date weigh-ins and weight regulations and provides examples of the negative impact suffered by one Flight Attendant trainee in particular. While describing the unfortunate implications of these mandates Author makes it a point to mention that she kept her weight at exactly 120lbs, was a size 0, then notes that the 'weight charts show that a 5'7" female should weigh 135lbs". There are also many references to the fact that the author not only attended but also graduated from college. This information is repeatedly included usually in comparison to other Flight Attendants who either didn't go to college or dropped-out. Or 'to dream of doing something then doing it is hard to describe, like seeing my debut novel in a bookstore window'. Or 'I sat in an auditorium at TWA's Breech Training Academy with 120 new-hire Flight Attendants, and I was a just-turned-twenty-two-year-old recent college graduate.....'. And 'during one written test Paula my instructor calmed me down by reminding me 'You just graduated from college, you've taken tests a lot harder than this one'. And discussing homesickness 'Even in college I often dropped in to see my parents on weekends'. And again while describing an incident related to the mile-high club: 'I've told this story for years, and everyone who hears it immediately comes to the same conclusion - the men had hired a prostitute. But at 22, fresh out-of-college, I would never have concluded that.'
These repeated self-references, especially hitting the reader over the head that the author graduated college, are superfluous to the narrative.

SLOPPY FACT-CHECKING
By page 79 there were 3 errors regarding 2 plane crashes and 1 incorrect dating of historical information regarding O'Hare Airport.
EG: 'American Airlines Fight 191 crashed May 1979 at Chicago's O'Hare Airport killing all 273 on-board'. I referenced 3 separate news sources to verify this information and found that there were 271 people on-board Flight 191 including crew and passengers. All 271 on-board were killed. There were 2 mechanics working at a nearby garage that were also killed due to the fire caused by the impact of the crash. Note that the Wikipedia article states: "With 273 fatalities, it is the deadliest aviation accident to have occurred in the US."
Finding 3 inaccuracies in the first 30 of the book makes one wonder how many more mistakes exist. As this is classified as non-fiction hopefully all of the factual information will be cross-checked prior to publication.

LACKING IN INTROSPECTION
SUPERFICIAL ONE-DIMENSIONAL NARRATIVE
OVERALL TONE IS FLAT AND WITHOUT EMOTION

Since this book was written in 2021 looking back to events that occurred in the 1970s-and-1980s and labeled as a memoir I expected that it would be not only descriptive of past events but also written from a perspective of reflection and introspection. I couldn't be more disappointed in this book because it's entirely superficial, flat and one-dimensional. Events are described and cataloged and regurgitated as 'this happened. then that happened. then this other thing happened.' Facts are recited but not described. 'I did this. The other Flight Attendants did that'. I was really surprised to learn that this book wasn't the author's initial publication - learned because the author mentions her other books repeatedly throughout. The narrative lacks flow - over 100 pages (out of 265 pages) was listing flight-routes in the US. It really felt like the majority of the book was filler material. The author never tells us how she FELT during or after any of the events. She takes 3 pages telling us how she 'just knew' that the phone ringing in her room was going to be bad news, and how she answered then hung up repeatedly because she didn't want to hear it. Then in one sentence tells us her 30-year-old brother died after falling in the bathroom. She tells us her mind immediately goes to the bridesmaid dress she bought for his upcoming wedding. That's it. No description of how she felt in that moment or any time after. No mention of memories of Skip, or how his untimely passing affected her then or now. Every life event is recounted factually with no expansion on any feeling she had at the time or later on. She even tells us that she lost a child at just 5 years old but tells us nothing about this little girl, what she liked to do, what was her favorite toy, memories, feelings, anything. But no. The narrative remains entirely flat throughout. It's really hard to believe this effort is being published because wouldn't a publisher or editor or agent notice that 265 pages of facts, many without context, all missing any of the emotion that accompanies life events, life experiences, career ambitions, doesn't exactly make for interesting or fulfilling reading? This complete lack of cohesion between information recalled and the associated feelings that go along for the ride, causes this reader to feel entirely disconnected from the author's effort.

Maybe it's my choice of books lately but I haven't been anywhere near this challenged by a book, start to finish, in a very long time. My advice is to stick with it because it's hands-down one of The Best books I have ever read. This book challenged me in myriad ways....from the language (which is so beautifully lyrical) to the cultural references to the geography and history of Uganda....all of which forced me to read at a much slower and more careful rate than usual (including many pauses to do a quick bit of on-line research to further my understanding and appreciation of every aspect of this transformative story) which at first frustrated me but ultimately benefited my understanding and appreciation of the book as a whole. Absolutely everything is 180 degrees different from American life and culture. There's such a contradiction between the expectations and demands and treatment of Ugandan women (by the men of course) vs the raw internal strength and impenetrable will of these women when the men aren't around. Everything the men say and do is always and completely excused thanks to that tired tautology 'boys will be boys' so consequently the women are faulted. But yet again even though the men and the culture take what appears to be everything from the women (including losing both their first and last names upon marriage) the women always and beautifully persevere. It's ultimately an incredibly informative, educational and uplifting story that feels so very real. It would make a wonderful miniseries!

Mysteries and thrillers are some of my favorite books. It takes a deft hand and a bold imagination to not only conceive the idea but also a clever mind to patiently tease out the storyline while never losing sight of the journey that the reader is on. I thought the concept was quite original and especially liked that the pacing of the various plot lines never felt hurried. I very much liked the different timelines and appreciated that the author didn't bounce back and forth unnecessarily but only as it served the overall experience for the reader. The characters were well fleshed out and I found myself thinking about them afterwards which is, for me, one of the hallmarks of a talented author. I look forward to reading more from her.

After reading some of the pre-publication reviews from respected sources I looked forward to reading this book. However after the first few chapters I kept thinking this has to get better ... which unfortunately it never did. Minus the fertility issues this could've been a YA story ... which is not a compliment. The narrative, such that it was, lacked breadth and depth and purpose, as did the characters which felt flat and one-dimensional. There wasn't anything about or between Mia and Harrison that suggested a relationship much less a marriage. Except dreaming about each other there wasn't any chemistry or passion or sparks between Mia and Oliver. I didn't think that they seemed to be particularly interested or invested in getting to know each other and certainly nothing to justify Oliver leaving town to 'get over' Mia's 'rejection'. These broadly-drawn characters seemed to exist in their own self-made silos to the extent that any interest in or acknowledgment of one other felt cursory and failed to move the story forward. Also I found the ending to be trite and forced.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a bit of a slow start but there is a lot of groundwork to lay and ultimately well worth the time and effort. I love learning about different cultures and this is one of those books where you don't even realize how much you're learning as the narrative progresses. The story takes you in many directions as It's also about the overlay or integration of several different cultures. It really got me thinking about how despite all of the rich heritages that formed our country the fact is that we as a nation still remain quite disparate. I live in the suburbs of a major American city where everyone knows where China Town is, where the Italian neighborhoods are, where the Polish areas are, the Hispanic areas, etc. We remain regionalized and culturally separate so it was a real eye-opener to read about a country that was colonized by several other cultures and the repercussions to the Malayans. As an example the indigenous Malayan people had to change their names (at least in public or places of work) if they sounded too much like an unlucky number in Chinese. In order for the Malayan people to survive and earn their wages they had to learn to speak some Cantonese as well as some of the Indian dialects. They also had to understand the Chinese and Indian superstitions as well as various key components of each of the incoming cultures. I found this book fascinating and educational while at the same time I was thoroughly drawn into the completely intriguing and multi-layered story at its core. Very very well done and recommended.

I had a hard time getting into My Lovely Wife. I don't have to necessarily like the characters to like or love a story ... but these characters are so distasteful right from the start that I had to force myself to keep reading. This is definitely a walk on the darker side of human nature so I would advise readers who are a bit on the squeamish side to proceed with caution. I love a good thriller but had difficulty connecting to the story itself. I guess I prefer a more balanced narrative as opposed to one that's so dark and depraved. This is a book that definitely stayed with me ... I kept telling myself that this is a work of fiction and that something like this couldn't 'really' happen ... until I caught some of the latest headlines and was (once again) reminded that we never 'really' know what lies beneath the pleasant smiles and polite small-talk we exchange with our neighbors.......

I enjoyed 'Sometimes I Lie' very much although I did find the narrative to be a bit uneven at times. The middle occasionally lagged which felt out of step with the fast pace of the beginning and the ending. Some readers noted that the book left them feeling 'uneasy' and while I can understand that I find that I like when a story pulls me in so thoroughly that I feel a little shaky afterwards. As an avid reader of mysteries and suspense it's not very often that I don't see the ending coming a mile away but was very pleased that this book kept me guessing all the way through the shocking conclusion. I am looking forward to reading Alice Feeney's next novel!

It's hard to believe that this book was actually published as there are YA novels that are far superior in every way. There is such a complete lack of character development and description as well as any emotional depth that the reader is unable to invest in these one-dimensional players. Also contributing to the flatness of both the characters and the story is a lack of internal thought or motivation or background or perspective. When the players interact there isn't any feeling in their dialogue which is almost exclusively of the he said / she said or he asked / she asked variety. There is also such a pervasive and repetitive use of pronouns and repetition of verbs as to render the dialog unintelligible. There is such a lack of cohesion between sentences causing the narrative to feel jumpy and disjointed. Events are relayed in a rote fashion completely lacking any emotional content i.e. 'this happened then that happened '. The author frequently mixes past and present tenses within a paragraph or scene leaving the reader to question what if any editing occurred. All in all, nothing happens in this book. There was potential for an interesting mystery between the characters from the past and those in the present, however, that was quashed midway through when one character spelled everything out so explicitly as to nullify any further interest in on the reader's part. In my opinion this book doesn't even qualify for that fiction-lite category of 'beach read'.

This is one of the most intriguing, intricate and clever novels I've read in a long while. If you're a fan of Matthew Pearl, Donna Tartt, Elizabeth George, Dan Simmons, Ian Caldwell, etc then you simply Must Read this book! The plot(s) are like quicksand--before you know it you are fully invested and any efforts to anticipate twists or turns are completely wasted as Rio has you exactly where she wants you at all times. I would recommend brushing up on your Shakespeare as I was more than a bit rusty and had to pause several times to do a bit of quick side research to reacquaint with plots, characters etc. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and sincerely appreciate being given the opportunity to read and review.

'Since She Went Away' is a decent suspense novel. It's not the edge-of-your-seat type of mystery that you can't put down but it will hold your interest throughout. I thought it lacked character development in that there were so few descriptions of the main players I had trouble getting a feel for them as more than one-dimensional. Also the dialogue was rather flat - almost all of the interaction was of the "he said" or "she said" variety which made it difficult to picture the scene or to get a feel for the atmosphere. The tone of the novel was fairly even with just a single plot line. Regular mystery readers will figure out "who dunnit" pretty easily although the "why" was a surprise. I would be open to read other books by David Bell as an author can't be judged by just one novel.

Having read several of Barclay's previous novels I was looking forward to settling into 'Far From True'. Unfortunately it was a disappointment from the start. It read like a book in the middle of a series - not so much because the reader was assumed to know anything but because Barclay inserted so many asides into the narrative seemingly in an attempt to provide background information. However none of these asides were relevant to this particular storyline so they felt unnecessary and awkward. The story itself had some interesting possibilities but I felt that it fell as flat as the characters. The characters were little more than their names.....no physical descriptions of what they looked like, no inner monologues to hint at what they were thinking, no personalities were provided for any of them - there was really no character development at all. Also distracting was that some of the characters had unnecessarily similar names which became a bit confusing because without a clue of what they looked like there wasn't much to help distinguish 'Duncomb' from 'Duckworth'. (And in that particular case one was a former-cop-now-a-security-guard and the other was a cop which added to the confusion). Even stranger and more disappointing was that there wasn't an ending to the book. As readers we have no idea 'who did it' because the book just ends without wrapping up any of the plot points or telling us who the killer was. After 447 pages there wasn't a reveal, no resolution, no conclusion at all. While I don't recommend this book I would refer anyone interested to start with Barclay's older novels as those were much more satisfying all-around.

This book is categorized as a 'thriller' which is entirely accurate. If you enjoy books that are more action-oriented than character-driven you will like this book. And for fans of this genre you'll guess the ending about halfway through - but - you'll be unable to put it down until the last page. It's a different slant on the 'did-he-or-didn't-he' type of narrative and you won't be entirely sure if the main character is a reliable narrator or not. I enjoyed this book and found it an entirely satisfying read.

After reading the description I was really excited to receive this book advance. I am drawn to mysteries, thrillers, suspense, etc and this sounded like it hit all 3 categories. However I found myself skimming instead of reading. It seems like it was a novel-length short story. The characters were only vaguely described - and the descriptions were exactly the same regardless of who is doing the talking or thinking - and the descriptions were repeated and repetitious ie one character is described as having curly hair. So in one scene she 'tosses her curly hair'. In another she 'twirls her curly hair'. In yet another the wind 'blows her curly hair'. That's it. Over and over. Each chatacter is repetitiously described using only 1 or 2 physical traits. So you never get to feel that these people are real - they come across as very flat and one-dimensional. And as for the plot - it had potential and in the hands of a more experienced author - could've been a seriously creepy thriller. Instead 3/4 of the book is spent building up the suspense, only to reach a very unsatisfying and incompletely resolved conclusion. For example - when events occur - they just occur. No explanation before the event and no further analysis afterwards. Just 'this happened and then that happened' kind of narration. Maybe something was 'lost in translation' and it reads better in its native Finnish? All in all it's clearly a freshman effort that felt like it could've benefitted from some serious editing and revisions.

I liked that this book tackles issues that are current and relevant today. The teenage characters at first seem very broadly drawn in both thought and action But as the story unfolds many of their interior lives begin to impact not only their classmates and teachers but neighbors and strangers alike.

I was excited to receive an advanced copy of the book because the blurbs were so exciting and encouraging however I was ultimately disappointed. It starts off strong and captivating - loved the alternating points of view told independently by mother and daughter 17 years apart - by laying the groundwork for the story, then builds the suspense as it picks up steam by dropping hints of the darkness yet to come. The best and strongest part of the book is the middle as the tension increases and your imagination starts thinking 'could it be this?' Then 'oh no, it couldn't be that......could it?'. Then, after hundreds of pages of leisurely telling the alternating perspectives, comes the entirely rushed, jarringly brief and unsatisfying conclusion. For me, a book is only great (and recommended) if the conclusion rings true. Unfortunately that isn't the case here.

"Where the Moon Isn't" is definitely on the strange side. Unlike a lot of coming-of-age tales it doesn't have a morale; underlying, concluding or otherwise. If you like family-centered drama with a dash of mental illness, dysfunction and a protagonist who occasionally talks directly to you, you might want to give this book a try. It feels a bit like a Jim Crace novel - it can seem disjointed but hang in there as there is a small dose of redemption at the end. All in all a good read.

I found The Edge of Normal pretty predictable and plodding. Not a lot of surprises and the storyline was tedious at times. If you're looking for a real edge-of-your-seat thriller with unpredictable plot twists and shocks and surprises I would recommend Daniel Silva's 'The English Girl'. It too involves a kidnapping, violence and people who aren't who or what they seem. Suffice it to say 'Edge/Normal' read and felt like a 1st effort / author's debut. It felt like a short story you'd read in a magazine but 200 pages too long.

The subject matter of this book is incredibly timely as the 3 women held captive in a basement in OH, a woman held captive in France, have recently been freed and are slowly revealing parts of their incredible stories. I would say if this sort of real-life tragedy interests you then you will really like this book. I recently purchased the audio-CD version of Jaycee Dugard's story because I wanted to literally hear it in her own words. Parts were heart- & gut- wrenchingly hard to read / hear, yet Jaycee & the narrator of this book (also a former captive) relate the information in this matter-of-fact, almost clinical, detached, type of manner. While this book is classified as fiction, it certainly seems very accurate, and b/c of which, some parts are very hard to read thru, b/c your mind replaces Reeve (protagonist) with the young women from OH or Jaycee Dugard. The book provides some insight into the kidnapper/rapist/molester's mind which is a very unpleasant place to be. But it's the strength of will of Reeve (& others) for which you cheer (& weep). If the real-life situations intrigue you then you'll definitely want to read this book.