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Confusing and odd

Revisado: 12-05-23

This is a very odd book. Flying houses with steering wheels, something about pirates and incantations? There’s a lot of cute banter and many fantastic elements but I’m hard pressed to understand the (again, very odd) plot. The main character is a sociopath and I’m too creeped out to care about the (again, very odd) romance. I assume there’s some charming deeper literary meaning that makes this book so well received. Give it a go if you’re so inclined, and if you can figure out the whole flying house with a steering whee thing, let me know.

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Good!

Revisado: 10-20-23

It was cute and well written. Some of her books drive me absolutely crazy. But this one was a good read. The characters were well developed and it was very funny.

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So good

Revisado: 01-19-23

The dialogue is great and the book made me laugh. I read some reviews that found fault with lack of characterization with the secondary characters, and it’s a valid point. But the book is so enjoyable that I overlooked it. The narration was awesome.

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Mythical Love Story

Revisado: 12-01-22

This is a great book, but you have to be interested in the story of a jinni and a golem. A golem is a being borne of old Jewish fables, a creature made from earth and mud that knows only to protect its maker. The jinni is a genie. If you’re ok with that supernatural motif, then I highly recommend! I truly fell into the world that Wecker built. The book follows the story of the beings’ creation and their lives as they attempt to become part of the world in the early 20th century. The detail with which this era was written about was excellent. The narration was really good. A male narrator who can do believable women’s voices is a rare thing indeed! It weaves together classical tales, historical fiction and a beautiful love story.

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Light but great

Revisado: 08-30-22

Good narration and well written!! I got about halfway through before I really felt connected to the characters, and then I just couldn’t put it down. It may be in the cozy mystery genre. It’s about a woman physician whose patients are vampires, mummies, etc. It’s very thoughtfully done - but you have to be willing to read about vampires, no matter how thoughtful the writing is.

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First half is great

Revisado: 08-22-22

The author is great with world building, but the characterizations and the relationships are where it falters. The two meet and immediately feel like soul mates. Even though their feelings are justified, it’s hard to keep up with a book where a stranger becomes a beloved within a very short time. And he’s so, so perfect - difficult to add dimension and depth to perfection. As others have said, the first half of the book flew by and was so uniquely imaginative. I was disappointed and surprised when it began to drag.

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A true odyssey

Revisado: 08-14-22

I really loved this book. It is the story of a young man’s journey west during the Dust Bowl. I almost didn’t start it, because I kept picking up books about “journeys” and then losing interest halfway through. Also, I just finished Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds, which I found to be a tedious account of the Dust Bowl. I couldn’t imagine reading anything else about dead horses, dead pigs, dead birds, and innumerable descriptions of topsoil. In West with Giraffes, the Dust Bowl is adjacent to the main plot, and yet I learned so much more. Rutledge included the same depressing things that Hannah did, but here they were presented in a meaningful and artful manner instead of being a laundry list of woes. The narrator was also amazing, imbuing the strength and vitality of youth through a centenarian’s voice. Rutledge’s characters will stay with me for a long time - even the giraffes had personalities, and I came to love them too. It is a beautifully written and narrated book.

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Far from Austen

Revisado: 08-08-22

A paint-by-numbers plot—you can clearly see the formulaic plot structure upon which Irwin hung her story. The heroine is plucky, and….well, that’s all. A fortune hunter and her non-conformist sister - and I can summon no other description. Readers aren’t this easy to please; just because a book follows the same basic plot as Bridgerton doesn’t mean it’s automatically anywhere near the same level of writing. Authors need the skill to weave characters we care about through a story. How I yearn for my wasted credit.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Beautiful fairy tale

Revisado: 08-05-22

I loved it. The first two books in this series are wonderful, and I thought the narration was great. This is the re-telling of a fairy tale — men getting turned into swans - so I am surprised that people criticized the book for being unrealistic. Swans, people. This is not a book filled with realism. True, the main character is gullible and a martyr. But she has basically raised herself with no one to care for her, and she’s extraordinarily traumatized (trigger warning for rape). She will do anything to be reunited with her loved ones, and who couldn’t identify with that? Juliet Marillier’s writing is magical and beautiful.

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Save Yourself

Revisado: 06-15-22

This might be the stupidest audiobook I’ve ever bought, and the narration isn’t great. After looking a little deeper, I’ve found reviews calling it insipid and idiotic (hidden within the inexplicable 4 and 5 stars). So many chapters start with MacKayla saying “I won’t bore you with the details…”. Note to author: It’s a book. Details are welcome. A reviewer said it’s a bad copy of Sookie Stackhouse, and it is. Another reviewer played a drinking game, and drank every time MacKayla told us how hot she is. You’d end up pretty drunk because whatever slim plot there is becomes buried under page after page of “my sun-kissed legs” and “my silky hair” and “I’m healthy through the bust and bottom, but slim in the waist and thighs.” Of course she is! Sookie was pretty and she knew it and we knew it, but Sookie’s stories were great while MacKayla is smug and obnoxious. Lest we forget, sun-kissed MacKayla reminds us that she’s a “really pretty young woman with a supple young body.” Drink!

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