delicatewatkins's review against another edition
3.0
The lack of quotation marks for dialogue was distracting and I found myself struggling to follow along at times. Despite this, the story was very good and I was engaged.
annebennett1957's review against another edition
4.0
This book would get five stars except it is written without quotation marks around the dialogue. I hate that.
mehsi's review against another edition
5.0
This was a terrifically fun and good book. I really enjoyed the characters, the mystery and how our main character just could connect and see things.
Mila is a wonderful girl and I loved her a whole lot. She was smart, interesting and finally, she didn't fall head over heels as soon as she meets a guy, instead it takes time for her to fess up the feelings.
I loved her being a British girl, it made the whole going to the US a whole lot more fun. Her expectations, her thoughts, everything was funny and nice to read about. How she thought the country was nice, but found out that not everything is what it seems.
You also see her grow. Starting as a girl who just likes solving puzzles, she grows more mature, more adult. However, as she also said, she doesn't always like it and wishes (quite a few times) that she could just go back to what she was.
I liked her relationship with her best(?) friend. How even though the two are clearly growing apart, they still try to be friends, try to be there for each. I really enjoyed reading about them both, how they were in the past and how great the fitted together. Sadly people grow up, find other friends and friendships just fall apart.
The other characters were pretty decent, though I felt like they were just all characters in the big mystery that Mila had to solve. Every character she met (even her dad) was just a piece of the puzzle. Everyone had something to do with Matthew, all the lines connecting to him.
The big revelation was a bit of a surprise and I felt so sorry for Mila. She didn't deserve this, not at all and I am happy to see that she reacted as she should. Didn't pretend, didn't twirl around it, no, she was upfront about it, clearly showing her anger, her sadness.
The sentences took me some getting used to, even after 100 pages. They went like this: "I guess nobody heard anything from him, she says, but doesn't wait for an answer. She knows that any hearing from him would have been the first thing I reported. How are you my darling? Are you lonely?
A little, I say. Though at this moment it would be more honest to say a lot."
As you can see this little part shows the sentence structure, and how at times, it was highly confusing. At times I was wondering if someone was still saying something, or if someone was saying anything at all. If thoughts were actually said aloud or were just thoughts.
Also big plus points to this cover and also the book. I really liked how I could open the cover and see another set of signs on the next page. :)
There was just one little thing I didn't like particularly. Something I can forgive a normal person, but not a writer who is supposed to do research. There is a constant talk about our main character's mom going to Holland. Unless the writer meant the region then it is ok, but otherwise it is not correct. My country is called the Netherlands. And again I can forgive a normal person this, because I am already happy that they know it exists. However, writers should have done research, should have checked things. And it really sounds weird coming from someone who lives across the pond (aka the UK).
All in all though, this is a book I would highly recommend to everyone.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
Mila is a wonderful girl and I loved her a whole lot. She was smart, interesting and finally, she didn't fall head over heels as soon as she meets a guy, instead it takes time for her to fess up the feelings.
I loved her being a British girl, it made the whole going to the US a whole lot more fun. Her expectations, her thoughts, everything was funny and nice to read about. How she thought the country was nice, but found out that not everything is what it seems.
You also see her grow. Starting as a girl who just likes solving puzzles, she grows more mature, more adult. However, as she also said, she doesn't always like it and wishes (quite a few times) that she could just go back to what she was.
I liked her relationship with her best(?) friend. How even though the two are clearly growing apart, they still try to be friends, try to be there for each. I really enjoyed reading about them both, how they were in the past and how great the fitted together. Sadly people grow up, find other friends and friendships just fall apart.
The other characters were pretty decent, though I felt like they were just all characters in the big mystery that Mila had to solve. Every character she met (even her dad) was just a piece of the puzzle. Everyone had something to do with Matthew, all the lines connecting to him.
The big revelation was a bit of a surprise and I felt so sorry for Mila. She didn't deserve this, not at all and I am happy to see that she reacted as she should. Didn't pretend, didn't twirl around it, no, she was upfront about it, clearly showing her anger, her sadness.
The sentences took me some getting used to, even after 100 pages. They went like this: "I guess nobody heard anything from him, she says, but doesn't wait for an answer. She knows that any hearing from him would have been the first thing I reported. How are you my darling? Are you lonely?
A little, I say. Though at this moment it would be more honest to say a lot."
As you can see this little part shows the sentence structure, and how at times, it was highly confusing. At times I was wondering if someone was still saying something, or if someone was saying anything at all. If thoughts were actually said aloud or were just thoughts.
Also big plus points to this cover and also the book. I really liked how I could open the cover and see another set of signs on the next page. :)
There was just one little thing I didn't like particularly. Something I can forgive a normal person, but not a writer who is supposed to do research. There is a constant talk about our main character's mom going to Holland. Unless the writer meant the region then it is ok, but otherwise it is not correct. My country is called the Netherlands. And again I can forgive a normal person this, because I am already happy that they know it exists. However, writers should have done research, should have checked things. And it really sounds weird coming from someone who lives across the pond (aka the UK).
All in all though, this is a book I would highly recommend to everyone.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
jerihurd's review against another edition
2.0
Seriously underwhelming "climax", Really? My father lied to me? That's the drama/horror? And what's up with those special powers of observation?
mmchampion's review against another edition
3.0
This book was interesting... At times it felt like pieces of the story were missing. I never really gained any clarity about the main character. Not sure what was up with her.
misha_devi's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars.
If I were to sum up this book in one word it would be: unremarkable.
I read it fairly quickly, but what I expected to be an interesting ability was a sprinkling of tepid deductions alongside rather flat characters. A hint at romance that I was glad didn't bloom as it was a terrible pairing added a completely unnecessary few pages and the mystery was solved disappointingly.
The lack of speech marks worked nowhere near as well as it did in How I Live Now in which it worked really well, and was completely unnecessary.
This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't a good one either.
Whilst I didn't feel like I was struggling through, I felt like my life is no better off having read it. unfortunately it is a book that didn't live up to a beautiful cover and this'll be a book added to the car boot pile!
If I were to sum up this book in one word it would be: unremarkable.
I read it fairly quickly, but what I expected to be an interesting ability was a sprinkling of tepid deductions alongside rather flat characters. A hint at romance that I was glad didn't bloom as it was a terrible pairing added a completely unnecessary few pages and the mystery was solved disappointingly.
The lack of speech marks worked nowhere near as well as it did in How I Live Now in which it worked really well, and was completely unnecessary.
This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't a good one either.
Whilst I didn't feel like I was struggling through, I felt like my life is no better off having read it. unfortunately it is a book that didn't live up to a beautiful cover and this'll be a book added to the car boot pile!
sc104906's review against another edition
3.0
Mila loves puzzles and she is using her skills to discover why her father's best friend has disappeared. I found myself puzzling through character interactions and clues along with Mila. While this is a solid book, it wasn't one of my favorites. It reminded me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Mila and Christopher both view the world through a very analytical lens. I had trouble connecting with the main character, but the plot kept me interested throughout. This book is safe for young teens. It does allude to a few risque secrets, but it does not have sexual content.
hekate24's review against another edition
2.0
This book has a great concept and some good passages. But, my god, the main character and her family are so pretentious. And I can handle characters with annoying moments (actually, I prefer that!) there's not much that makes this bunch come alive. This book gets near some interesting topics, but has a fairly shallow portrayal of them. I don't know. I think I'm being hard on this book, but it just wasn't that interesting to me.
froydis's review against another edition
3.0
This was pretty interesting. I don't think I've read a book where the story is told by a child, but the plot is almost entirely about something else. I really liked the relationship between Mila and her father, and totally get the parallels between Mila and Cat and Gil and Matthew. It was just kind of an odd story that left me somewhat disengaged. I did have a hard time buying Mila's almost supernatural observational abilities. That just didn't seem particularly realistic for a child of 12. The book is quite well written, and intriguing.
rebeccawolfe's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting idea. Some great observations on people, relationships, and life. But I cannot buy the premise that they're coming from a 12-year-old. Also, Mila talks all the time about her wondrous powers of observation and her skill in reading people, but her abilities are "told" more than "shown."