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Melissa's reviews
| My Reviews - Page 1 of 4 |
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Melissa posted a review at 2012-04-24 06:57:34 for The Sea Captain's Wife.
(Language: English)
 
I was annoyed by the "wah wah wah, I wanna go to sea" and then the "wah wah wah, wish I was home". It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that life at sea is dangerous and you're taking your daughter and putting her in danger too?In Antwerp, one minute the women are headed home, and then the next page they're not? Did my book miss a few pages? I don't think Azuba is capable of being happy. I think she narrow-mindedly married the wrong person and didn't understand the complications of being a sea captain's wife. I ran out of sympathy for her very quickly. I felt sorry for Carrie. I don't believe in putting children in a bubble, but it seemed to go to the other extreme here. She had to deal with some truly terrible and traumatic things... dealing with death is something we all have to learn how to cope with, but the ways in which Carrie had to be exposed were more than most little girls' experiences. Maybe it's easier for me to say because we know more about the world as a whole in 2012 than the 1860s? I just can't believe Azuba couldn't sit down and rationally think about those pictures of ships hitting rocks, and say, "can I truly handle that scenario? What happens if I'm on the ship and get shipwrecked? Can I live with myself if something happens to me or my family?" 
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Melissa posted a review at 2012-04-24 06:55:38 for Death Comes to Pemberley.
(Language: English)
It was just "ok". It didn't feel the same, and I think the story would have been more intriguing had Wickham himself been killed... but maybe more cheesy?
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Melissa posted a review at 2012-01-24 07:22:46 for Air Farce.
(Language: English)
Great inside look at the group from beginning to present.
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Melissa posted a review at 2012-01-23 06:50:39 for Half blood blues.
(Language: English)
Thought this book would be better. Felt like an anti-climatic ending. The protagonist was just an asshole after all. The language was hard to wade through and I bored of it quickly. The time spent while they were trapped in Berlin seemed to go on forever.
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Melissa posted a review at 2012-01-23 06:43:44 for The Sense of an Ending.
(Language: English)
Yawn.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-11-14 12:51:05 for The Woman in Black.
(Language: English)
I enjoyed this but think the foreshadowing ruins the surprise. I think the movie version will help quell that.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-11-14 12:49:59 for The Help Deluxe Edition.
(Language: English)
Good, but I think the movie was better. Tighter story.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-10-25 02:19:10 for The Sisters Brothers.
(Language: English)
A funny western, who knew? Enjoyable, easy read.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-10-25 02:18:43 for Still Life~Louise Penny.
(Language: English)
Decent mystery and first novel. Recommend if you like Agatha Christie.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-10-25 02:18:12 for The Finkler Question.
(Language: English)
Stinkbomb. Don't know how this won the Man Booker prize. I didn't want to read about a self-destructive loser. The whole first 3rd of the book was only about Treslove obsessing over the incident. GET OVER IT.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-09-06 03:29:02 for Shoe Addicts Anonymous.
(Language: English)
Decent chick-lit. Lorna was definitely more realistic than Becky Bloomwood. Enjoyable, light, fluffy read.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-09-06 03:26:59 for The Hunger Games: Book 3.
(Language: English)
This is the post-apocalyptic stuff that I don't like.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-08-12 05:23:31 for Sisterhood Everlasting.
(Language: English)
 
If you're a fan of the Traveling Pants series, you will definitely want to pick up this book. Reading this book was a mix of emotions: anger, sadness, frustration, crying, but in the end, peace. Carmen's story was probably the weakest. Bee's storyline would normally have frustrated me, but I think I was willing to forgive her quirks just to spend time with the Septembers again. If I'm honest, this is how Bee would be as a 29 year old. Tibby did a lot of writing. Lena's storyline was my favorite, as I have always had a soft spot for her. I loved coming back and revisiting these characters, even though they frustrated me at times.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-08-12 05:22:44 for One Day (Vintage Contemporaries Original) 1st (first) edition Text Only.
(Language: English)
I liked the premise: what are the characters doing each year on July 15? The author had to stretch a bit, I'd say, to get a lot of exciting things to happen on this day. Overall I liked the book, it held my attention and I really wanted to read it quickly. Dexter was a considerable ass, and I'm not quite sure why Emma loved him, but in the end I guess only those in the relationship can truly understand it. I did not like the ending, it felt like a cop-out.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-07-28 05:31:13 for In the Woods.
(Language: English)
Disappointing. One mystery unresolved, and by the time I got to the end of the book, I forgot that the protagonist told us it would remain unsolved. The resolved mystery ending was lame and somewhat obvious. I felt this story would have been better as a Law & Order episode.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-06-28 05:22:49 for Hardly Working (Red Dress Ink Novels).
(Language: English)
This book was decent, but re-reading the cover descriptions makes me think they weren't all that accurate at describing the book. I guessed a couple of the characters early on, which made the book seem longer than it was. It alternated between being very typical and having some original scenarios. Nice to have it set in Canada.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-06-28 05:19:22 for Smokin' Seventeen.
(Language: English)
A better entry in the series than a lot of the recent ones. More focused on the core characters and less detail on the minor ones. Looking forward to 18 coming out in November.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-06-21 05:30:08 for Me and Mr. Darcy.
(Language: English)
I felt this book spent the entire time winking at me: see what I'm doing here? I'm making the characters just like P&P! Isn't that cool? If you want a modern take on Austen, watch Clueless.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-06-21 03:46:58 for Mini-Shopaholic.
(Language: English)
Trying to watch her manage a child was torture. And if Luke is dumb enough to put up with her antics after all these years, then they deserve each other. At this point I actually do want to see her get addiction therapy. It ends with a very obvious setup for a sequel. If it wasn't for the fact that I like that location, I probably wouldn't continue the series.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-06-14 05:39:40 for Valley of the Dolls A Novel.
(Language: English)
I was looking for classic "chick lit", and this fit the bill. No pat endings here, unlike the current onslaught of the genre. Neely's betrayal knew no bounds. Poor Jennifer, only loved for her body. Anne knew she'd never love anyone as much as Lyon, and then still managed to screw it up. A good, easy read. I was amused to find out that Ted Casablanca from E! took his name from one of the characters in this novel.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-06-06 04:12:01 for Untitled Novel.
(Language: English)
Decent, somewhat different than mainstream chick lit. Nice shout-out to Emily Giffin's Something Borrowed series. Adriana was too good to be real, Leigh would have been more interesting had she started out single, and Emmy tried too hard to be someone she wasn't.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-06-06 04:10:05 for The Book of Fires: A Novel.
(Language: English)
It seemed a bit Jane Eyre at first, but then took a twist I didn't expect. Never quite had that vision in my mind of the places & people. Beginning of the book seemed to drag a bit. Agnes also had a lot of repetitious thoughts. It was solid, decent, but not something I'd need to read again. How did people not figure out she was pregnant? How does she let a guy lift her skirts in a park?
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-05-25 05:18:35 for Peyton Place.
(Language: English)
If you have never previously read this book, do not start with the Foreword as it discusses spoilers. This novel was an interesting view of small-town life, less "sexy" than I thought it would be. It's hard to imagine in 2011 that this novel caused a scandal, but such were the times in the '50s. We've come a long way for the better and for the worse. It was an easy, interesting read, but some of the characters felt flat and at times infuriating. Allison needed a few more slaps. Constance needed to get over herself. Tom needed to stop hitting women. More than anything else, Tom hitting Constance was what bothered me the most.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-05-16 02:46:31 for Angels All over Town.
(Language: English)
I thought this was a ghost/witch story, but I was mistaken, or perhaps misled by the book's description. This was a confusing mess. Una seems like she's impossible to please and can never be happy. I also didn't buy into her sudden new, great relationship that she appears to trash the minute she gets to Europe and feels nervous. I'm sorry I suggested this book to my book club.
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Melissa posted a review at 2011-05-02 07:05:57 for World Without End.
(Language: English)
Good, solid follow-up to Pillars of the Earth. Not quite as good as the original, but in a lot of ways it's unfair to compare the two. This novel is set 200 years later, so the cast of characters has completely changed. I enjoyed reading it, but unlike Pillars, don't really feel the need to read it again.
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| My Reviews - Page 1 of 4 |