While the book was a quick and easy read, that's a reflection of the style of writing and not a negation of the interesting and sometimes difficult life of the author. I see a lot of my own story in hers. Although my story worked out much differently, there was a lot I could relate to in this book. The author seems like such a down-to-earth, interesting person that one can only wish her all the best after reading her story.

Having read the second book before this one, I was already familiar with Lizzie and her power to channel the dead. I very much enjoyed going back to the beginning and finding out more about Lizzie. While the second book was more about the mystery, so to speak, this first book is clearly about Lizzie. I like the contrast between her home life and family and the people she comes to encounter. I hope there are more books to come in this series.

I received a copy of this book through the Early Reviewers program here on LibraryThing.

I thought the characters were decently written and interesting. The plot was fast paced enough to keep things moving and keep me turning pages. I enjoyed the story and would definitely read more by this author.

A marvelous addition to the Onyx Court series! I suspect it helped that I've read all the books in this series, so was already very familiar with the delightfully complex world the author has created. This novella involves murder, politics and magic, all set in 17th century London. Without giving away too much in terms of spoilers, the Faerie Queen's consort chosen successor is murdered and the search is on for the killer. There was some jumping around in time but it was easily understood.

Wonderful shared world anthology. All the stories involve an employment agency that targets people at the end of their rope, down on their luck or dissatisfied with their current jobs. The story genres range from detective stories to those involving aliens or time travel, so there's something for everyone. All of them are tied together by a bookseller and manuscript given to him by a homeless man. All the short stories are amazingly well done, intriguing and draw you in quickly.

A wonderful start to what I understand will be a series of books, and one which I will have me looking for subsequent stories.

This tale is hard to describe, it's chock full of mystery, lots of action and touch of horror and supernatural. The story is fast paced and keeps you turning pages. The character development is very well done, particularly the main character of Izzy Morris.

This story will keep you on the edge of your seat, wondering what unknown thing is lurking in the woods and hoping if Izzy will get to the bottom of things in time.

A nicely written YA book about Penny, a recently orphaned young girl. The story moved a long at a nice, quick pace but not at the expense of character development or plot. There was plenty of adventure and suspense to keep the tale flowing. Brian Knight has given us a delightful fantasy story that makes you want to read the rest of the series when it comes along.

A period piece taking place in Byronic times and revolving around the Luddite revolt. While the story was mildly engaging, it was too short to give us properly developed characters, aside from that of Lord Byron. The story was nicely worked into the history of the time and the subject was definitely interesting. Unfortunately, I found some the language a little too modern for the tale and it did jar me out of the story a bit.

The book takes place at Welton College where the curriculum includes Psychic Sciences, Ceremonial Magic and multitude of other disciplines. The world building is wonderful and perfectly sets things for other possible novels. The characters are interesting and story draws you in easily. A fast paced story that kept me turning pages. If she writes more in this world, I'll gladly keep reading.

An interesting story encompassing a variety of genres - supernatural/paranormal, philosophical and a bit of a mystery. The characters were well written and interesting. Confusion reigns at the beginning part of the book while the main character figures out what is real and what is vision. I found that some of the story was bogged down by the descriptions of Eastern philosophy, but that was necessary to story for the most part.

As a person in recovery, I'm always interested in other people's story of addiction/recovery. This is wonderfully straightforward account of how the author's life spiraled out of control. While it lagged a bit in some spots and had some repetitiveness, it's also an interesting look at how easily and quickly a life can change. It's also filled with interesting characters encountered along the journey. Not always likeable ones, but never uninteresting.

It took me a while to get through this book, as it wasn't quite what I expected. It's more an African-American history than it is a culinary journey. I did enjoy the history but kept wanting more on the food aspect and less on the social issues. The recipes are fascinating and there are a few that I'm interested in preparing.

This may have been a short read, but it was a fun ride all the way. A delightful combination of humour, comedy, mystery and steampunk. I definitely recommend taking the time to adventure along with Bertie and Reeves, his robotic sidekick, while they attempt to figure out what's happening with all the disappearing debutantes.

As is obvious by the cover's layout, this is a very National Enquirer-style compilation of Hollywood stories. Which can be fine if that's what you're looking for. I prefer a bit more substance.

I think the book would have benefited from a bit of editing, maybe somehow making the information flow in a more reader-friendly way.

It did start out a bit slow for my taste but picked up nicely as it went along. There were a few predictable elements but that didn't seem to deter me very much. I liked the imagery throughout and found it a decently written fantasy novel.

My first book from the Early Reviewers program here. Billed as a mystery, it didn't really work for me in that context. Most of mystery plot was just explained rather than being something I could try to figure out. Not to say I didn't like the book, though. In fact, I liked it great deal. The main character is a film detective and anything about films is right up my alley. I loved the film history part of the book and learned a fair amount from it. I also thought the dialogue was well done and highly amusing in some spots.

I love the premise of this series - spend 30 days living another lifestyle. Is there any better way to try and understand a perspective other than your own? I particularly liked the first episode showing how difficult it is to get by living on minimum wage jobs.

Fun to rifle through and dream of travel. The biggest drawback to the book is that it's so US-centric. I know there was a follow-up book on places in the US and Canada, so a lot of these should have been reserved for that volume, giving more focus to other countries for this one. While I am a foodie and definitely interested in restaurants, that's not really what I thought should be included in this book. I would love to see separate volumes for restaurants/resorts, as they're not really what I would consider a "place to see".

A collection of Chris Rose's newspaper columns about living in New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina. There's no way, in my opinion, to read this book and not be moved to tears at some point. It's such an emotional read that I couldn't take it all in at one sitting. Bad idea to read it while commuting to work on public transit. I think people on the bus thought I was crazy, wiping away the tears as I read.

A Dog's Life, Shoulder Arms, The Pilgrim