Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

The Rosie Effect - Graeme Simsion

April 8, 2019.

I just realized there were 3 books and not 2... I read the first book just in time, then... and I'm kinda happy I don't have to wait long to start this, then...

Wellp... minutes after realizing there are 3 books, I learned the audiobook for the new 3rd book isn't coming until May 28th...

Timelord Iain wrote: "I just realized there were 3 books and not 2... I read the first book just in time, then... and I'm kinda happy I don't have to wait long to start this, then..."

starting today?

Today or soon... I'm chaining a bunch of quick books at the moment

Started

15-20% in, and things haven't gotten off to a particularly good start...

(view spoiler)[It's as if the author is trying to see how many bad decisions the characters can make...

Rosie has one with secretly stopping her birth control regimen...

But Don is ridiculous... first there's delaying the reveal about Jean/Gene's marraige problems and moving in... then there's the weird beer fridge thing... then his mental health problems that get swept away quickly... and to top it all off, moving out of the apartment with no warning, so Jean/Gene can move in, and assuming ear plugs will solve the noise issues... (hide spoiler)]

I don't even know what to say to all this, right now...

yikes, things have quickly turned sour here. old age trope of pregnancy and how the new couple deals with it, am not a fan. :( He is already not very excited about this news and now someone advised him not to have a kid.

I can see how this would effect Don who is meticulous about everything.

Gene has just arrived.

The more critical reviews of this aren't promising... basically a series of awkward/hilarious moments with little plot to carry them... paused and started another book at work tonight...

I'm progressing through the book now, but other than a couple shocked laughs, I'm shaking my head at the antics of this one, more than anything...

The scenarios are all ridiculous, and make less sense now that Don & Rosie are married... overall, this book kinda reminds me of Big Sexy Love... mostly because of the NYC antics of it all...

What in the?...

I'm near the end now... (view spoiler)[Rosie is contemplating leaving Don (or so Don & Gene think)... the social worker storyline just randomly diffused... etc (hide spoiler)]

Everything has next to no tension, since I'm sure it'll resolve for some random reason...

I'm sure the random storyline with the vague celebrity Don thought was pregnant will prove pregnant in some tabloid article at the end of the book, the way everything else has gone...

Seriously struggling with this. :/

I finished... not that great... not sure if I'll even bother with the final book when the audiobook comes out next month... unless people that didn't like book 2 like book 3 better...

This really seems like a half-baked cash grab trilogy on the back of a perfectly satisfying standalone romance, to me...

I'm going to rate this one 2 stars... I enjoyed parts of this, but I've not been pulling my punches on ratings this year... I think I've given more 2 stars this year after 100 books, than I've ever managed before while rating 200-400 books...

EDIT: Just checked and

2019 = 19 of 121 books are two star reads, so far
2018 = 19 of 356
2017 = 12 of 171
2016 = 3 of 206
2015 = 8 of 287
2014 = 7 of 370
2013 = 15 of 370

Actually, looking at my 2019 stats, they're depressingly evenly spread between 2/3/4/5 star ratings, but part of that is that I've been reading a lot of mysteries, and mysteries don't tend to be mind blowingly awesome in the same way as UF / Fantasy / Sci-fi can be... 3 stars is perfectly fine for a mystery to me... I've adopted the Diana Method of rating certain genres :)

Timelord Iain wrote: "I finished... not that great... not sure if I'll even bother with the final book when the audiobook comes out next month... unless people that didn't like book 2 like book 3 better...

This really ..."

if I somehow managed to finish this one, I will not be reading next book.

story is all over the place unlike the first one where the whole concentration was on Roise and the father project. Now more characters has been introduced and hence more secondary story lines. Don's cautions and inputs regarding the pregnancy are age old and nothing new. then there is Gene's love life and Eugene's skype calls to Don. that brings me to Eugene on social sites and the bullying, I haven't seen any 9 year olds on social sites but this is really scary.

Timelord Iain wrote: "I'm going to rate this one 2 stars... I enjoyed parts of this, but I've not been pulling my punches on ratings this year... I think I've given more 2 stars this year after 100 books, than I've ever..."

i have 90/767 books. I usually don't give 2 or 1. 3 seems to be my favored rating. but I think I have became generous in last two years or perhaps I got lucky and read better stories. I gave 105 books 4 stars since 2017 till now.

5 - 40
4 - 224
3 - 319
2 - 90
1 - 71

Most of PNR and YA are 3 stars for me.

Yea the whole thing's just ridiculous...

The whole revelation about Gene's infidelity is just stupid, too... it's like the author made plot decisions just because he could, not because they were natural based on previous context...