Grace

Gritty fantasy/romance novel

Reviewed: 08-09-24

Glad I stuck with this one! My wife recommended, novels like this usually aren’t my cup of tea. The book really comes in 2 parts, character development in the beginning develops as a romance novel but then shifts into a fantastic gritty political intrigue against a very imaginative steam punk fantasy backdrop.

It sounds like a second book is in production, and I’m very excited to see where it goes.

Absolute knock out performance by the voice talent. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and that can be an immediate turn-off for me, but this dude killed it.

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Bleak for bleakness sake

Reviewed: 10-21-18

Picked up this book because I Looked up the movie on IMDb before watching it on Netflix. Multiple users complained of plot holes, but the visuals in the preview captivated me so I decided to pick up the book.

Unfortunately, I have to complain of the same issue with the source material. So many bleak scenes that barely add up to the unifying theme. Several characters that are used to build suspense end up having no meaning impact on the story including the first lead character introduced in the book. The setting and premise were promising but I think the plot failed to convey any kind of meaning theme or focus.

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Getting A Little Too Old For Her Books...

Reviewed: 08-17-18

This was just like any of her other books. Clever/dark haired seedy character who's intent is extremely apparent, righteous/seemingly simple/muscular fellow who is more than he appears, smart/spiritual/slight leading lady who is beautiful and prefers being a tom boy vs. being a proper lady, and (!!spoiler alert!!) everyone ends up well off/royal.

Now to that point, it was enjoyable. The narrator did an excellent job with all of the accents and especially narrating a story from a male's point of view.

Juliet has a beautiful talent for describing landscapes and painting a scene. Her writing is skilled and very pleasing to hear. She really knows how to build up tension and give a gratifying ending. However, her storytelling ability is a bit lacking in diversity (Which is ironic since being a good storyteller is another common character aspect you'll find in her books).

With all that being said, I believe this is going to be the last book I read of hers. These books just don't captivate me like they used to. I think I'm just getting too old. I'll probably reread a few once my daughter is old enough to introduce these books to.

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13 people found this helpful

Stunning

Reviewed: 07-12-17

A true horror story. Excellently researched and presented. Every American needs to read this book to have an understanding of the opioid epidemic. With all of the policy-making and money being spent to combat this issue, it's pivotal that we understand the issue and those affected by it.

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2 people found this helpful

Entertaining. Haunting. Oddly Inspiring.

Reviewed: 07-17-14

What did you like best about this story?

This book, like the movie, is a dark comedy. Its content is kinda sad but still makes you laugh. I also was surprised how inspired I was by Tommy's confidence and how Greg seemed to describe someone like Tommy without sugar coating it... but also not bashing him? It's interesting. I have been recommending this book to my friends since the first chapter and don't plan on stopping. What I'm hoping will stop is my sudden bursts into the Tommy accents but it is "Verrrrryy haard to staaahp! Mygod!!"

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27 people found this helpful

It was entertaining....

Reviewed: 06-18-14

Any additional comments?

But nothing to write home about. I appreciate the attempt but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone and do not plan to read the sequels.

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2 people found this helpful

Enlightening read for all sorts of perspectives!

Reviewed: 04-28-14

Any additional comments?

This is a wonderful listen! Russian history has been a mystery to me and this was a perfect introductory into the history of ethnicity, classes, politics, and religion. I had a list of people to research more after reading this! My only wish is that they offered a visual family tree so I could keep up with who all is related to who. Looks like I'll just have to resort to listening through it again in oder to fully grasp relationships. I plan to listen to this many more times purely for the quality of information! Well done! I highly recommend this!

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