I am done! Done, done, done with this novel. I am hugely disappointed with Hoover.

THIS IS NOT OK!

I hate when authors use other people's illness to build up their main character. It's wrong on so many levels, it's completely disrespectful and insulting. Hoover inadvertently says it's ok to lie to people if they are sick, it's ok to treat them differently because of it. It's ok to set them apart. That has another name, too..

Let's talk about Maggie, Ridge's sweet girlfriend who is sick with a terminal illness. Came to the point where she got so sick and had to be taken in to hospital, where Sydney finds out about her. I FLIPPED OUT!

So this is the reason why Ridge is so hell bent on staying with Maggie, she's sick. And we are supposed to say what? Awww Ridge you're a guy and a half! Living with the woman you are falling in love with and lusting over, but not being honest to the sick girl because of your guilt trip. Well here's a news flash: Maggie is a person, Maggie is not pathetic because she's sick, Maggie deserves the same consideration you give to the other cheating bastards in this story. She is used as a backdrop to highlight Ridge's maturity, her illness a cliché tearjerker that is supposed to enhance the angst in this novel. Low blow.

Ridge is placed up on a pedestal because of his choice of not leaving a sick girlfriend behind, no matter how he truly feels about her, because he RESPECTS Maggie.

If he really respected Maggie, and her illness he would have been honest, and given her the benefit of a doubt that she can think for herself. What do you think Maggie's choice would be? Would she like to be in a relationship with a dishonest cheating asshole, that is only staying in a relationship with her because he feels guilty, and he believes that's what's expected of him? Or do you think that she deserves enough RESPECT to make her own choices in her life, and to maybe find somebody that's not lying to her face because of imagined obligations? Here's a quote:

She sighs and turns her head, looking straight up to the ceiling. “I’m fine. It was just an insulin issue.” She turns back to face me. “You can’t baby me every time this happens, Ridge.”

My jaw clenches at “baby me.” “I’m not babying you, Maggie. I’m loving you. I’m taking care of you. There’s a difference.” - oh really? What about all the touching, all the kissing, all the messaging with Sydney? All the lyric writing, and singing?

Loving you? Taking care of you? UP YOURS RIDGE!

Just how do you think that poor Maggie would feel if she knew the truth? Would it make her happy to know her boyfriend thinks she's so pathetic because she's sick, she doesn't deserve to be treated equally? That all of his lies, and taking care of her comes out of his inability to deal with HIMSELF in this situation, to know he's not moving on with his life because he couldn't live with himself if he did. And finally after knowing all that, realizing that no matter what he says, this is not even remotely about her, it's all about him. Wow what a man, what a keeper, what a fucking hero.

Ridge knew he was attracted to Sydney when he moved her in. If he wanted to do the right thing, he would have helped her find a place to stay. Sydney knew she had the hots for Ridge, and after she found out he had a girlfriend, she should have done the respectable thing and pissed off. Ridge and Sydney are Tori and Hunter. Double standards? Hell yes, and I HATE DOUBLE STANDARDS! And the rest? What kind of message is Hoover trying to send? 

They knew what they were doing. Ridge is a cheating, pitiful asshole, and Sydney a self-absorbed hypocrite. I had enough of this shit.

One thing that I can say I loved about this book – the cover.

The rest is well.....Tijan.

I have read a lot of her books in the past, and I have to say she is tragically repetitive. What blew me away in her first novels, disappointed me in the rest, because she seems to use the same ingredients for each and every novel she writes. Considering that she wrote quite a few, you wind up with the same old routine, but different costumes. It gets old real quick.

Her preferences are creating deeply traumatized female characters in some form of social isolation. That social isolation can be real, with the character having limited friends, or self-imposed with the character's perceived disentanglement from society due to past issues that affect her current mental state. Tijan also uses the character's history to portray emotional maturity that reaches above normally expected standards in a younger group of people. That on it's own is nothing new, and often used, because our past defines us all, but what Tijan doesn't allow are the same standards for her supporting characters.

The heroine, in this book that would be Taryn, interacts with a large number of supporting female characters, and all of them are found lacking in some way. Taryn often observes conversations and social situations, then provides inner monologue dissecting the reasoning behind the behavior of those characters, and even if it's not outright mockery, the observations often point out need for social acceptance and romantic happiness in a condescending kind of way. The emotional maturity doesn't stretch out the supporting female characters, even by the way of common sense, as they are often portrayed as shallow, promiscuous and petty. Even the closest friends and family in the main character's inner circle often display cruelty, selfishness and willful lack of understanding. All of that is carefully layered with the purpose of setting the main character apart, and proving just how different, and by her way of understanding better she is then everybody else.

With all the females portrayed (and effectively eliminated as competition, both mentally and physically) as catty, overly feminine (in a bad way), immature or simply stupid, we are left with a need find a balance for Taryn. That balance comes in the shape of our leading male character – Trey.The male character shows acceptance of our heroine trough intense sexuality, and serves as a focus to sharpen the uniqueness of the heroine. Since Taryn is a league of her own, it is only natural that she gets the alpha male specimen of the entire possible cast. The rich, beautiful, womanizing, i-don't-give-a-shit-about-anything, unrepentant bad boy, that won't be tamed by any woman. Except our leading lady, but that is to be expected, as she is the only one female in a 200 mile radius, armed with an IQ that's higher then the current room temperature.

Second signature Tijan's focus is obsession with social status. But it really didn't work in this particular book. Taryn gets involved in unmasking of a drug lord, solving a murder and kidnapping, then follows up with her own criminal activity. All of this is set in a high school environment, where the food chain is mercilessly displayed of having life changing impact. Tijan's leading characters, purposely or not, always wind up on the top of the IN crowd, getting respect and often steam-rolling over any competition. The depth of character, emotional maturity and the aim of accomplishing strong individuality in Taryn clashes with juvenile descriptions of school hierarchy and how desperately important they are. When in fact, they are not. Social grouping happens everywhere, but in Tijan's world it's often portrayed as the second most important thing after the life experiences of her leading characters. In 'A whole new crowd' that created a feeling of kids playing adults (especially when Trey said to Taryn that he was expected by the entire school to deal with her after she insulted the 'top' crowd) that didn't allow the reader to appreciate the dangerous story she tried to tell.

All in all, this was a different type of novel for Tijan. I was recommended this novel with the promise that Taryn is tamer as a character, and that it doesn't have such a desperate feel that follows her other novels. In a sense, that was true, but still, I expected more.

Urgh...i know i am going to get a lot of grief for this, but i have to say i didn't like it. Not that it didn't have potential, or a damned good story. It did, in fact it had tonnes.

So why oh why couldn't i get into it???

Inconsistencies, and terrible WTF-ery are to blame for drilling so many holes, that eventually sunk this ship...

What i thought was truly awesome and original was the world in witch Karou grew up, her art, Brimstone, Kishmish and all the rest. One of my favorites was the living puppet, that scene took the show. The magical portal between two worlds, and the nuances in between were so cleverly designed, that i must say that the first few chapters had me glued to the novel. Karou's innocence in a way, and her very human reaction to the possibility of having a wish within your grasp. The concept of Brimstone, a different being, a wielder of magic, a tooth-fairy like you never seen before. The originality of it all, and the superb execution of it, promised a very fun ride.

Sadly it didn't stay that way.

The deeper i got into this story the less sense it made. It seemed so elaborate in the beginning, but then it started to slack off, and i found some of the explanations, well, kinda....unbelievable.

I know friendships, i know some friends are more understanding then the rest, but for the love of god, i just can't, can't, can't stomach the idea of the mega-super-uber-totes-frosty-beyond-fab-BFF who takes all the supernatural other-worldliness you might throw at them with a simple grin, and a cheesy one-liner.

1."I grew up as a Devil's spawn!"....

2."Oh my Gaaaawd! That's like, totally awesome, no biggie."

1."There's a world you don't know about, right outside your window, and people can get killed or mutilated by forces unknown to man."

2."GTFO, are those new highlights? Like, guuuuuurl..."

1."This is a supernatural creature, it's an unknown, it's powers are unknown, it has HURT me in the past, some could say it wanted to kill me."

2."Uh-huh, did you guys hook up? You totes need to hook up, does he have a brother?"

Not just the BFF, but her boyfriend too, nobody here bats a frigging eyelid over the actual existence of angels and demons here.

Makes sense??? Nope, to me either, yet it happens, and when authors do that, i simply disconnect. It goes from being an awesome story, to a cheesy TV show with a cheesy predictable ending. My respect for common sense of the storyline diminishes, therefore my respect for the story as a whole suffers.

Brimstone made her filthy rich....how? Did she receive a letter from Satan & Son Solicitors, in regards to his Last Will and Testament, to be opened in the case of his otherworldly demise by angelic fire? Or did she simply pull it out of her arse?

The blatant disregard for common sense continues with flights throughout a brimming metropolitan city, sitting on a cathedral, fights in the air, all and i mean all with witnesses aplenty, cameras rolling, and only a few cursory questions asked. Her wandering with no actual goal, no actual idea, no actual PLAN is childish. Too childish for me to stay interested. So sorry, this is a 2 star review for me, and nope, i won't read any more of it either.

As the title of this book alludes to (hereby referred to as BS, to get around the censors), this is a book that serves as a shotgun blast of information, cutting the rhetoric and firing off the essential. Mostly. James says he has interviewed “hundreds of executives” to compile this book of helpfulness that “isn’t intended to be read from cover to cover”, but rather offers “step-by-step plans to handle specific situations.”

There is a ton of content crammed in: managing up, showing interest, mastering reviews, how to say “no”, earn respect from peers, shine in a meeting, reduce stress, and on and on and on. Each chapter follows a theme, offers wording around several major concepts, and bullet points it at the end. The overarching focus seems to be a focus on the importance of people, clarity, and courage. Which reminds me: be sure to read the introduction—don’t skip it—there’s a lot of good advice in there, too.

Now for the misnomers. Most of this book is serious and offers meaningful advice. However, some of the book reads like a parody. For instance, chapter one talks about the “twelve types of bosses”, but I don’t think he’s serious here. Referenced are the visionary bosses that you need to drink their Kool-Aid and work long hours for, and the bureaucrat boss that is easy to please but “can grind your creativity into dust.” And the chapter about “the seven times it’s ok to lie to the boss”—huh? James says it’s okay to lie to your boss if it is your business to lie with statistics, to protect a co-worker, or even if your boss tells a lame joke. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but growing up with Covey and others, I still say integrity is where it counts.

I really wish James would attribute where he’s pulling his material from. A little footnote, follow-up resources: something. A lot of his philosophy is reminiscent of what I’ve read in Csikszentmihalyi, Pink, Kahneman, and even Gladwell, but really, I have no idea where he’s pulling it from. If you’ve read my other reviews, you’ll notice that I have a footnote fetish; I like to follow-up on what I read. No such luck here, besides a couple of mentions in the acknowledgments.

Now, for the real BS: On James’s website and Twitter profile, he says, “Pre-order my new book and get an exclusive BONUS CHAPTER”. You’ll notice on the book’s tagline: “49 secrets and shortcuts you need to know”. To get the missing fiftieth shortcut you have to send him a picture of your pre-order receipt. The website also says, “WARNING: When the book is published, I’ll stop distributing the chapter.” That’s BS. If you’re dropping a twenty-spot or more for this book, I hope you’ll get the whole book.

Don’t let my grumpiness distract you (too much). I’m keeping this on my desk at work and have already implemented many of its ideas, yielding successful results, mainly for me: cultivating my items of gratitude, drafting effective e-mails, and building bonds with my peers. There’s a plethora of resources here that will be invaluable to anyone in the business world.

Thanks to Business Plus and Hachette Book Group for sending me a copy of this book to review.