C Gager

Protracted storyline and slow & loud narration

Revisado: 05-06-25

This the second book recommended by Reese’s book club that didn’t make the grade.i typically love a YA novel but this one was protracted and the narration was strangely loud. Every sentence felt like the author used the synonym feature of Word to find the biggest word, I thought it would never end.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

An intelligent and modern take on the spy novel!

Revisado: 03-24-25

This novel is a diamond in the ruff among the poorly written, same old spy novels that proliferate the spy landscape today. Jane Pek’s series is bright, modern, intelligent and witty take on the traditional spy novels. She interweaves modern themes, such as on-line modern dating relationships, big-brother and the new surveillance technology, with classic and ancient spy novels of old. Her heroine has the typical flaws of an intriguing searcher of both inner and outer truths with a new twist embodied by a first generation Asian women pushing back against the expectations of success of her Queens’ mother and siblings. As a sociology PHD who studies relationships— I sometimes forgot I was reading a novel as the scenarios, characters are so real. As the reader, I felt as though I were traversing Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens by bike along with Claudia as she sometimes slogs and sometimes glides into a deep underbelly of big data and the underbelly of the on-line relationship matching space. One of the best spy novels I’ve read in 20 years!!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Tiresome

Revisado: 12-04-24

The story was too long, repetitive and tiresome. The narrator’s voice was grating. Definitely not a relaxing read. I fast forwarded through large swaths.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Narrator for female sounded nothing like the character

Revisado: 11-18-24

Started out with an interesting premise and then became too tied up in a bow by end. Too much description of sex that was so …. I can’t even think of a word.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Rambling and disjointed

Revisado: 08-28-24

I had such high hopes for the multiple themes covered in this novel. Unfortunately the novel never quite finds it footing. The book alternates between rambling prose with unneeded descriptions and disjointed chapters about superfluous women characters. A big disappointment. Where are the editors?

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Boring and poorly written

Revisado: 08-21-24

This novel sounded so promising. But the characters were either uninteresting or ridiculous. Every chapter included descriptions of what characters were wearing. Why is this even relavent? This was a story about college students …not about fashionable dressers. Feel like this was a big waste of time!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

No need to read

Revisado: 03-20-24

The tell tale sign of a poorly written novel is including detail about each person’s outfit and what they prepare for breakfast. So tensions. While the basic plot was interesting, this minutia made for an overall poorly delivered novel. The voice of Alex sounds like she was in a tuna can. Don’t bother with this one.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

I can’t stop thinking about the food!

Revisado: 12-05-23

This book is a great whodunnit, with twists and turns, and a creatively drawn and varied cast of characters. And also, I laughed out loud all through the book at Vera’s cracks and mispronunciation of new tech. And the cherry on top is the amazing descriptions of the Chinese food and teas that Vera whips up daily designed to match the event and people who she spoils with her amazing culinary talent. Great narration as well.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Not worth your time.

Revisado: 11-22-23

I usually like YA, but this book took forever to read. For the most part the characters were caricatures of young people. There was only one twist at the end. Skip it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Loved professors eating their colleagues

Revisado: 09-17-23

As a professor, I absolutely LOVED the story line. Very plausible if you’ve been around academics for 35 years! Great twist on the original Mr Mercedes gang. Sickening to see that the average for this book is 3.8 due to Trumpers and Covid deniers! Narrator was also excellent.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña