Tag: 2 Star Reviews

All 2 Star Reviews In One Place

“Merry Ever After” By Tessa Bailey Review

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Evie Crowe is starting over in a strange town with her newborn, and men are the furthest thing from her mind. If only the quiet, hulking farmer, Luke Ward, would stop coming into the thrift shop and piquing her reluctant interest. Evie wants to stay single all the way—she can’t trust anything more than friends-with-holiday-benefits. But Luke is in it for the long haul. He’s fixed on making this a Christmas Evie will remember forever. If she gives him a chance.

This book is the second book in the “Under The Mistletoe” Christmas book series. I gotta admit that the deeper I get into this series the less the series is a “Christmas” themed book series. I will explain more about this lower in this review.

To be very honest calling this book a “Christmas book” is like calling Die Hard a Christmas movie. Which is a very long stretch there. Because both in Die Hard the Christmas is mention once for the whole thing. 

This book is more about a farmer falling in love with the new girl in town who has a 5 month old kid from a previous relationship. 

I personally have a mixed opinions about the plot of this book. Because in a way I enjoyed the plot and found it to be interesting but at the same time if this book wasn’t branded as a “Christmas” book I wouldn’t have read it to begin with because its not what I usually find interesting to actually read the book.

I found the plot to be interesting and enjoyable as I’ve said above, but there were a lot of moments during the book where I just laughed and thought “What am I reading?” Because of how ridiculous this book was. Let me warn you, the plot in this book gets very ridiculous fast during a lot of moments in this book.

The characters here are okay for the most part, we only technically get 2 characters in this book. The two main characters, the farmer and the female characters. They are okay characters and they have personality to them which in a way makes them likable and relatable. But at the same time we only get 55 pages to get to know them. Which in my opinion is a too short to actually like them and make them characters we will remember after finishing the book.

We get some additional side characters in this book, like the main female’s 5 month old son from previous book and then later on another kid. But we really don’t get to know them because they get to be in the book just to give the two main characters some backstory.

The writing style in this book is very easy and simple. Which of course plays well with the plot of this book. But at the same time in my opinion the writing style could have been so much better than what we got in this book. Because I got the feeling that the writing style felt more like something you would read from a first time WattPad writer and not a author who have already written a handful of books before writing this one.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Deadly Harvest #1” By Yannis Roumboulias & Erik Hendrix Review

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Core mining, the deadliest job in the galaxy, draws only the bravest, or craziest, workers around. Bumping up to asteroids, typically propelling at astronomical speeds towards distant stars, the miners harvest minerals essential to interstellar travel and commerce. Close quarters, dangerous conditions, and less than a half inch of polymer sheath stand between them and swift oblivion. 

The premise of this comic book is very promising and intriguing. Because the whole premise of this comic book is set in a world filled with mystery and danger which I personally found to be very enjoyable and interesting. 

But the way the premise of this comic book was executed really lacks any form from depth and clarity in it. Which really didn’t help me with liking this comic book. 

The storyline in this comic book feels very scattered, with scenes that don’t connect with each other which really made me very confused at times. Because all the scenes in this comic book aren’t coherent and like they are meant to be next to each other because they don’t make any chance together in the bigger picture. 

But also the intriguing setup which the storyline had (which I mentioned above) is undermined by a lack of cohesive storytelling. Which really made me so annoyed at this comic book at times.

The characters in this comic book had a lot of potential to be very good characters. But the way the characters are presented to us make them feel very underdeveloped.

The protagonist and supporting cast have some interesting qualities, but their motivations and backstories are not fully fleshed out.and because of this lack of depth and personalities to the characters in this comic book makes it difficult for me personally to get invested in their journeys.

The artwork in this comic book is very good and memorable. Because the artwork in this comic book has the dark vibe and atmospheric tone of the narrative effectively. The visuals gives us the eerie setting. Which for me personally was the best part about this comic book

The themes which this comic book is trying to give us, feel very unexplored and shallow at times. The potential for rich thematic content is evident but remains largely untapped due to the fragmented storytelling.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“All by My Elf” By Olivia Dade Review

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Nina and William are underpaid adjunct professors at the same university, where winter break is no break at all: ’tis the season to make extra money. When their holiday side hustle has them stranded by a blinding blizzard in the middle of nowhere, there’s nothing to do but cuddle up for warmth and play a game of Never Have I Ever to pass the time. But in the game of love, secrets never stay secret for long.

This book is the third book in the “Under The Mistletoe” Christmas book series. I gotta admit that the deeper I get into this series the less the series is a “Christmas” themed book series.

The two previous books ion this series were okay and even good in a way, but this book is a little worse than the previous two books in this series. Because the Christmas theme of this book is none existing other than the 3 main characters working as elves in December. And other than that there isn’t any other mention of Christmas throughout this entire book. 

The characters in this book were very meh. Because we don’t get to know them other than what they do for living. And that the main female character used to be married for a 2 or 3 years a few years back before the events of this book. I understand that we only get 55 pages in this book, but if the author really wanted to make good characters which reads would like and relate to, then she would have given us a little more backstory to them which would have made this book so much better than what it is.

The plot here is well ridiculous, like two of the main characters have sex in a truck when they are stuck on a highway during a snow blizzard. Or like how the main female character is blind to the fact that the guy she has a crush on her, has also feelings for her. Which really makes this book so very unrealistic and unbelievable for me personally. 

But this book has its interesting moments here and there. And overall if you are looking for a quick read which you can read from front to back in one sitting which doesn’t involve thinking process then this book (and the whole series) is a good go-to in this department.

This book (as the 2 previous books in this series) are pretty good and quick read, which doesn’t involve a lot of thinking. Because if you start actually thinking about it, you will dislike this book (and the 2 previous books in this series) more and more. Or at least its how it is for me personally when it comes to this book and the previous books in this series.

The writing style here was very simple and easy. It plays well with the simple and easy plot in this book. And makes this book a quick read. But if you want me to be honest here, I wasn’t a fan of the writing style here because I think the author could have done so much more if she improved her writing style. Because it would have improved this book so much more than what it is.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Merriment and Mayhem” By Alexandria Bellefleur Review

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When Everleigh Dangerfield’s baking disaster necessitates a call to 911, firefighter Griffin Brantley douses the flames in the kitchen, but the ones he stokes in Everleigh are an entirely different story. Unfortunately, Everleigh’s only visiting and doesn’t do casual hookups, no matter how smoldering the temptation. But Everleigh’s holiday mishaps have just begun. And Griffin is seemingly always on call. If Everleigh is game for a change of plans, he can give her the merriest Christmas of her life.

This book is the fourth book in the “Under The Mistletoe Collection” book series. And I gotta say that so far this book is the weakest of all the books I’ve read in this series so far.

This book has a city girl in a small town Christmas vibes to it. And to be very honest a part of me really liked it. Because its a nice and cozy premise for a Christmas book which you can read during one sitting during the holidays.

The premise for this book is very overrated if you ask me. Because as I’ve said in the paragraph above the premise for this book is about a girl (who lives in Seattle) who comes to a small town to take care of her dead grandmother’s house before it is sold and she meets a guy in the small town and stays. And at this point in the 21-century there is a dozen of books and movies about this topic, and I personally am very tired of this topic which might be the reason why I dislike this book more than I like it.

The plot was okay and cozy for the most part, but since this book is very short (only 50 something pages long) it doesn’t go into a lot of moments. But I feel like this helped this book much more than if it was longer than it is.

The characters here were okay for the most part. I had some issues with them here and there throughout this book but for the most part I thought they were okay.

One of the problems with the characters in this book I had a problem with was the main female characters and her being overly and ridiculously clumsy. I personally have my fair share of clumsy moments here and there but the main female character takes the cake for the most clumsiest character I have ever seen in my life.

The second problem with the characters in this book I had is about the male main character in this book. There is one moment at the end of this book where he swims out on the lake to help people who are drowning and then out of nowhere he just shows up behind the female main character.

The writing style here was okay for the most part even thou I wasn’t a fan of it. The writing style is simple and easy to read and it plays well with the easy plot this book has. But still I feel like the writing style in this book could have been so much better than what we actually got in this book.

The two pervious books in this series felt more like YA books rather than Christmas books because how rarely Christmas or anything Christmas related topics were mentioned in the two pervious books. But this book actually have sort of a nice and cozy Christmas vibe which made me like this book a little bit more and might have been the reason why I gave this book 2 stars instead of 1 star.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Memorial #1 (of 6): Preview” By Chris Roberson & Michael William Kaluta Review

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New York Times best-selling author and Eisner-nominated creator of iZombie, Chris Roberson, delivers a magical ongoing new series. Memorial is the story of Em, a young woman who arrives at a hospital in Portland, Oregon with no memory of her past. A year later, she has rebuilt her life, only to find her existence thrown into turmoil after she inherits a magical shop. The kind that appears in an alley one instance and disappears the next.

Let me start this review by saying that this one is just a preview for the entire comic book. And I read it because I wanted to see if the full comic book was worth the money and time I would spend on it. And I’m gonna give you the answer for that at the end of this review.

This previews tries to establish an intriguing premise which is centered around a protagonist who stumbles into a world of magic and hidden realms. I gotta say that the premise is intriguing but the way it is presented to us really feels like the entire storyline of the full comic book version is very underdeveloped.

The narrative of this preview doesn’t provide enough context or hooks for me personally to fully engage me into buying and reading the full version of this comic book.

I personally found this preview to be fun to read if you aren’t looking for a well made comic book. This preview has some enjoyable and interesting moments here and there

At the same time this preview leaves many questions unanswered and the key plot points in this preview seem very under-explored which really didn’t make me interested enough to buy and read the entire comic book.

This preview introduces some of the characters from the full comic book, but I gotta admit that the characters we get in this preview lack any form of depth and personalities. 

The main character in this preview isn’t given enough backstory or motivation to make her journey relatable or compelling. And the side characters appear very briefly in this preview and the side characters don’t contribute anything to the narrative of this preview.

The artwork in this preview is very good. Because it is offering us a rich, atmospheric aesthetic that complements the fantastical elements of the story. Which for me personally was the best part about this preview.

In my opinion the illustrations we get in this preview effectively convey the mystical tone which this preview tries to give present us. But there are times where the illustrations in this preview occasionally lacks clarity, which can make following the plot challenging.

The themes which this preview gives us, seem very undeveloped. Which really didn’t help me want to read the full comic book.

I personally wont read the full version of this comic book because I wasn’t that interested in this preview to actually buy and use time on the full version of this comic book.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Motorcycle Samurai: Variable” By Chris Sheridan Review

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Who is this masked woman? Who is The White Bolt? Who is THE MOTORCYCLE SAMURAI? Praised as “whimsical and dramatic” by ComicsAlliance, Chris Sheridan brings us a San Diego Comic-Con Special Release of MOTORCYCLE VARIABLE. In an post-future desert setting, we get the true tale* and origin of the infamous White Bolt, and she never misses! 

I need to admit here that I wasn’t a big fan of this comic book, but I also had a lot of fun reading this book which in the end made me give this comic book 3 stars out of 5 because it pretty good in my opinion. But lets not make this intro longer than it needs to be, so lets get into the review.

The story of this comic book is that we follow the adventure of the enigmatic Motorcycle Samurai in a wild, post-apocalyptic setting. Which I personally found to be intriguing and interesting. But I need to admit that the story often feels disjointed and hard to follow. 

At the same time the plot in a way lacks cohesion, with several threads introduced but not adequately developed or not finished at all. This aspect made it very hard for me personally to engage with the storyline.

When it comes to the characters in this comic book, I gotta admit that at first they were pretty intriguing and interesting. But the deeper I got into this comic book I began to notice that all of the character in this comic book were suffering from a lack of depth or any form of their personalities.

The main character is pretty good character since ease is a strong and charismatic character which I liked a lot. But when it comes to all of the other characters in this comic book, I need to say that they often come across as one-dimensional.

This comic book doesn’t have a lot of character development in it which made it pretty difficult for me to get invested emotionally in their journeys or outcomes.

When it comes to the visuals of this comic book, I need to admit that the the art style is distinctive and visually striking. And they both provide in a way a unique aesthetic that complements the chaotic world of this comic book. 

The illustrations this comic book has are pretty bold and dynamic, capturing the energy of the narrative which this comic book has. But there are times where the the visual storytelling can sometimes contribute to the confusion which I felt at times as I was reading this comic book. Some individual sections of the artwork were pretty hard to interpret and sequences that lack clarity.

But I need to say here that I really liked the themes of this comic book. The themes of justice and survival. But at the same time i feel like the themes of justice and survival weren’t thoroughly explored as they could have been. 

This comic book tries to delve into ideas of identity and morality, but I felt like  these themes were pretty overshadowed by the erratic pacing and narrative confusion

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Finding Perfect” By Colleen Hoover Review

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Finding Perfect is a novella that brings back some of Colleen’s most beloved characters. Told from the point of view of Daniel from Finding Cinderella, readers will finally get the conclusion they’ve been hoping for. For the best reading experience, make sure you’ve read all four books that come together to make up this heartwarming story: Hopeless, Losing Hope, Finding Cinderella, and All Your Perfects.

Here we are again talking about another Colleen Hoover book which didn’t work for me personally. 

This book is a part of a series written by Colleen Hoover named “Hopeless” and it is set right after “All your perfects” which I have reviewed a few months ago.

I gotta say that this book isn’t as bad as the majority of Colleen Hoover’s books I’ve read so far. If you have been around my website for awhile now, you may know that Colleen Hoover is my most misliked author I come across so far in life. But I gotta give her some complements when it comes to this book because this book isn’t as bad as the other books I’ve read from her. Which in my opinion says a lot.

This book doesn’t give me a lot to talk about because it is very short. But what I can say for sure about this book is that it is very simple and very far from being a good book

In my opinion the best part about this book was the writing style it had. But don’t get me wrong, the writing style in this book wasn’t great. But it was much better than the plot, characters and the rest of the aspects of this book. 

The characters in this book are okay if you dont think about them during reading this book or afterwards. Because they are okay if you just follow the story and go with the flow of this book. But the moment you start thinking about them or looking into them you realize that they are very shallow and flat. But also very annoying. 

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“FCBD 2018: Avengers/Captain America #1” By Jason Aaron & Ta-Nehisi Coates & Sara Pichelli & Leinil Francis Yu Review

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Free Comic Book Day 2018 is your perfect chance to dive into the Marvel Universe! With a story from Jason Aaron and art by Sara Pichelli, Marvel’s FCBD title debuting this May features stories that set the stage for an epic new direction for the Avengers in the Marvel Universe. Plus, a Captain America story from Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leinil Francis Yu leading into their upcoming Captain America series!

After buying a Kindle in December 2024, I noticed that there are a lot of free and cheap comics available. And I have wanted to get into comics for at least the past 2 years but I never actually done that until I got the kindle because physical comics are more expensive than books (at least they are in Norway and Poland).

This comics contains two stories and because of this, this comics is all over the place in a way and I think it would have been better if it just separated the two stories into two different comics because it would have been less confusing and we could have only focused on one story at a time.

Captain America in the first story is slightly confusing because it keeps jumping back and forward in time and action without a reason to. Which really annoyed me. And the second story in this comics has the same problem in that it keeps jumping back and forward in time without any heads up for the reader. 

But overall this comics is pretty quick to read and it is somehow fun to read even thou it isn’t the best comic book I’ve read so far in my life. 

If you are like me and just starting your adventure with comic books then I would recommend to wait with reading this one until you came a little longer in your comic book journey.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Monster Me #3: Newmon” By iPOP! Labs Review

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Don’t be a bully! Follow the adventures of Newmon as he interacts with his classmates Sky & Izumi, who ultimately teach valuable lessons on friendship and sharing. Includes a teacher’s guide.

I gotta say that I have a love and hate relationship with this comic book series. Because a part of me likes reading those comic book while the other hates it because of how simple it is. But without making the intro longer than it needs to be, lets get into the review.

This comic book tries to build on the excitement and interested of the previous comic book in this series. But in my opinion the this comic book doesn’t improve the series at all. Yes this comic book is better than the previous comic books in this series, but it still isn’t good enough for me to truly like this comic book or the whole series in general.

The storyline in this comic book feels underdeveloped. At the same time it lacks the depth needed to truly make me engaged with the story. 

When it comes to the plot in this comic book, I need admit that it is predictable. But also the plot fails in a way to introduce any intriguing twists or memorable moments which would make me interested in the book long enough to give it a good rating.

The narrative in this book is very uninteresting, it does have some good moments here and there. But these moments are very rare, and they don’t happen a lot. 

The characters in this book are very one dimensional and they lack personality. The characters feel like they are just there to help the plot be told rather than make the plot move forward with the characters. Which of course means that it is hard to connect with the character or actually care about their journeys in this comic book or in the entire series in general.

The character development is almost none-existing in this book, because throughout the whole comic books and the whole series in general all of the characters remain exactly the same.

The pacing in this comic is pretty inconsistent. Because there are parts of this comic book which drags for too long making the entire comic book boring and uninteresting, while other parts of this comic book feel very rushed and doesn’t give us any details but rather a skeleton of the plot. 

Because of the inconsistent pacing throughout this comic book, it is very hard to actually stay invested in the story for longer than a page or 2. Because of how often the pacing changed in this comic book.

The writing style in this comic book is pretty simplistic which of course would appeal to younger readers which this comic book (and the whole series) is meant for. 

The descriptions and dialogues in this comic book get very repetitive and monotone. Both the descriptions and dialogues felt like it was one step away from feeling like it was written by ChatGPT, because of who almost unrealistic both the descriptions and dialogues were in this comic book. 

I think that younger readers between 5 and 9 would love this comic book, but the moment some older than 9 readers this book, they would be pretty unsatisfied with this comic book. And I am of course one of those people who are unsatisfied.

The artwork in this comic book, was very simplistic and it avoids details like the plague. Which really is never a good to say about a comic book. 

One of the biggest things this comic book struggles with is that it feels to grab the attention of readers older than 9 years of age. Which is really a not a good thing, because this comic book is only available on kindle, and I don’t know not even one 9 year old who has their own kindle. 

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Monster Me: Monster Maker” By iPOP! Labs Review

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Newmon’s magical “pend” draws ANYTHING – including any toy or product he could ever want. But after he owns EVERYTHING, does he really have it all?

This comic book had the the potential to be a a captivating and fun read, but in my opinion this comic book didn’t use the potential that it had. But it can just be me here, because this comic book is meant for children rather than 22-year-old university students so it can just be me being to harsh on this comic book. 

I really liked the premise of this book, because the premise of it is of friendly toddler monsters learning and having fun even thou they sooner or later do something stupid. And by doing it, the comic book tries to teach children on why doing similar things which the toddler monsters did in this comic might not be the best idea. 

This comic book is a lighthearted entreatment where you don’t have to think about what is happening on page before you, and I think a first grade or second grade kid would have a good time reading this one

Even thou I liked the premise and potential of this comic book, I need to admit that I wasn’t a fan of how is was narrated and presented to us. The narration and the presentation leaves a lot of be desired from it. Since both of those make the whole story feel very boring and uninteresting, thats at least how it was for me.

At the time of writing this review, this comic book is only available on kindle / other e-readers. Here I need to comment on the fact that the user interface with this comic book was very clunky and unintuitive at least on my kindle 11th generation. 

This comic book has very limited customization options which means you are more or less stuck with the poor user interface of this comic book, which really didn’t help with liking this comic book more than I already did. 

The graphics of this comic book felt very outdated, and it lacked details in the artwork of this comic book. The monsters often appear awkward, and because of the artwork the monsters felt like they lacked personality. 

The story itself is more or less pretty repetitive at least thats how it felt more, because the characters would pretty much do very similar things throughout the entire comic book which felt very repetitive and like the author didn’t knew how to write a good comic book without recycling the same things over and over throughout the entire come book.

The story also didn’t have a lot of engagement, where the story would engage with the readers. This comic book is meant for children so it wouldn’t hurt if it engaged with the readers to make interested. 

The last thing which annoyed me about the story is that it lacked any form for challenge or goals which the characters would face throughout the book.  Which really didnt help me stay interested in the story. 

Overall its not a bad read for an adult, but I strongly believe that the first and second graders this book is meant for would so much more fun reading this book. 

I Give This Book 2 / 5