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briarsreviews's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
1.0
Blow Me Down by Katie MacAlister is a romantic comedy about a woman who finds herself trapped in a VR pirate game.
I will say, the blurb lies quite a bit to get you interested in the book. Our fearless pirate is not fearless, and she just talks about accounting and finance a lot. She's not deadly, or scary, and she won't kill. So... fearless and deadly? Not so much.
The video game aspect definitely sounds like it's written by someone who hasn't played a video game before, so it doesn't hold up from the time it was written to now. But also, let's consider that VR wasn't much of a thing way back when this was written... like 20 years ago... But it stood out to me and bugged me. It's something I found hard to get over as a reader, so I wanted to point it out. Clearly, this book is made for woman who just want to sneak away into a romance and not have the setting be as serious. It's a fun book, not a realistic book.
I honestly wasn't enjoying this book and it's mainly because of the way the above stood out. I adore Katie MacAlister's writing, but between the above issues and the written out pirate speak... It wasn't a winner. But, hey, that's okay! I finally found a Katie MacAlister book that wasn't my cup of tea, since most of hers I enjoy a lot. That's how reading is!
Overall, not my kind of book but I'll still be finding more Katie books to enjoy.
One out of five stars.
I will say, the blurb lies quite a bit to get you interested in the book. Our fearless pirate is not fearless, and she just talks about accounting and finance a lot. She's not deadly, or scary, and she won't kill. So... fearless and deadly? Not so much.
The video game aspect definitely sounds like it's written by someone who hasn't played a video game before, so it doesn't hold up from the time it was written to now. But also, let's consider that VR wasn't much of a thing way back when this was written... like 20 years ago... But it stood out to me and bugged me. It's something I found hard to get over as a reader, so I wanted to point it out. Clearly, this book is made for woman who just want to sneak away into a romance and not have the setting be as serious. It's a fun book, not a realistic book.
I honestly wasn't enjoying this book and it's mainly because of the way the above stood out. I adore Katie MacAlister's writing, but between the above issues and the written out pirate speak... It wasn't a winner. But, hey, that's okay! I finally found a Katie MacAlister book that wasn't my cup of tea, since most of hers I enjoy a lot. That's how reading is!
Overall, not my kind of book but I'll still be finding more Katie books to enjoy.
One out of five stars.
hollyollyoxenfree's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, I would give this somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars. It was a great read, and a perfect book for my vacation, but the ending felt really rushed to me, and a little incomplete. But it was still a fun story! And who doesn't love pirates?!
bikes_books_yarn's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. Not shocking since I enjoy all of MacAlister's books!
In this story the main character ends up sucked into a virtual world of pirates and wenches. It was really fun to read. There were a few things that bothered me. Like our leading lady just happened to be a champion fencer in her real life which came in MIGHTY handy in the pirate world. But that was a minor thing and most of the faults I find are quite small and forgiveable.
In this story the main character ends up sucked into a virtual world of pirates and wenches. It was really fun to read. There were a few things that bothered me. Like our leading lady just happened to be a champion fencer in her real life which came in MIGHTY handy in the pirate world. But that was a minor thing and most of the faults I find are quite small and forgiveable.
jaynemae's review against another edition
2.0
Couldn't finish this one. I normally love MacAlister's books. Got half way through this one and just wasn't willing to continue due to all the issues I had with it. :(
holl3640's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
librovert's review against another edition
2.0
This was my first book by Katie MacAlister and I was largely disappointed.
I honestly can't think of a single thing I enjoyed about this book. The heroine, Amy, was so Type A that it hurt to read. The hero, Corbin, came off as a pathetic creeper. There was no real emotional tension or build-up to their relationship; it just happened, in a matter of several in-game days which equates to approximately one hour of real time. The conflict mostly centered around trying to save Corbin from whoever was coming after him, so there was very little room for relationship conflict.
There were too many things in this book that were just ridiculous. I've always heard that MacAlister's books have a good sense of humor, which is why I picked it up, but it didn't come across for me. I felt like the book took itself just a bit too seriously to be considered humorous, if everything had been a bit more exaggerated, I would have liked it better. Maybe I picked a bad introduction to her books?
I honestly can't think of a single thing I enjoyed about this book. The heroine, Amy, was so Type A that it hurt to read. The hero, Corbin, came off as a pathetic creeper. There was no real emotional tension or build-up to their relationship; it just happened, in a matter of several in-game days which equates to approximately one hour of real time. The conflict mostly centered around trying to save Corbin from whoever was coming after him, so there was very little room for relationship conflict.
There were too many things in this book that were just ridiculous. I've always heard that MacAlister's books have a good sense of humor, which is why I picked it up, but it didn't come across for me. I felt like the book took itself just a bit too seriously to be considered humorous, if everything had been a bit more exaggerated, I would have liked it better. Maybe I picked a bad introduction to her books?
sarahc_98's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
sparrow_ink's review against another edition
2.0
Still had MacAlister's trademark humor, but lacked any of the sophistication of her more recent works. The plot and characters were disappointingly flimsy, pedestrian, and predictable. There were still fun elements, but they failed to make up for the shoddy craftsmanship of the rest of the work.
breacommelafromage's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.75
katreadsthis's review against another edition
2.0
2 stars for the humor but that’s about it. I got to 64% and I couldn’t finish. And that was forcing myself to go beyond 40% when I just couldn’t take it anymore. Skipped to reading the end in order to do a book club. Uptight, Type A single mom needing to learn to have fun - ok, not my typical but I can get onboard. Her quest to fulfill her commitment in the game to the daughter - ok, but the doggedness, while in line with the character I guess, got grating when she held onto it for too long and didn’t ask appropriate follow up questions to anyone else. Would not captain of a ship outrank officer? Amy’s imposing of modern things, while entertaining at first, became overplayed. The other suspensions of believe became a lottttt. The whole, body in game projection of your self image - no satisfactory answer was given. Also, not a fan of the love interest. The characters in the game feel very Westworld to me. The theme of this book was beating the same damn drum, repeatedly in the same way, and calling it a symphony. Sorry, I feel really strongly about this book.