666 Park Avenue

<b>Read <a href="http://agelesspagesreviews.blogspot.com/2013/04/review-666-park-avenue-by-gabriella.html" rel="nofollow noopener">This Review</a> &amp; More Like It At <a href="http://agelesspagesreviews.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow noopener">Ageless Pages Reviews</a></b><br /><br />Even though we're always told not to judge a book by them, I'm often taken in by striking covers. Sometimes you get a story that matches the beauty of the outside. Sometimes you get 666 Park Avenue. <br /><br />That's not to say 666 Park Avenue is a bad book, just a stunningly uneven one. The first few chapters share more than a few similarities with a popular romance novel. A charming, handsome billionaire is so taken with a bumbling, ordinary girl that he must make love to her a hundred times a day and propose after knowing her less than a month, all while lavishing her with inappropriately expensive gifts. <s>Ana</s> Jane says yes and promptly quits her fabulous job, that she loves, and leaves her friends and home to move into his mom's house in NYC. <br /><br />Fortunately, after leaving Paris, the plot does pick up. First, they must go to her grandmother's little town to tell her Jane's leaving. Sadly, she's dead, but fortunately she left Jane a hideous mirror that turns out to be hiding a magic ring and a letter that says, "Yer a wizard, <s>Harry</s> Jane." Jane takes the news rather well, probably because you can only go so many years blowing up electronics when you're angry before you start to suspect something else is going on.<br /><br />After this tragedy brings them together, they arrive in New York and are immediately thrust into a party for all of Malcolm's extended family. The Doran clan is very old, tracing their lineage back to ancient Egypt on a massive family tree in the parlor, a very strange tree that only tracks women and next to Malcolm's name there is a dead sister and a space that is mysteriously too smooth, like a name was wiped out. Jane finds it very suspicious, but doesn't bother to ask or investigate at all. Which is a shame because it's hiding <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="d90219e9-96d4-43dd-a29a-eb4d982e3d33" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="d90219e9-96d4-43dd-a29a-eb4d982e3d33">Malcolm's mentally handicap brother who is hiding in the attic and tries to rape her. Seriously.</label> Lynne, Malcolm's mom, seems welcoming at first, but almost immediately does an about face. <br /><br />This leads us to the next, largest portion of the book. Lynne v. Jane. For approximately 200 pages, Lynne does something extremely rude, thoughtless, and pushy and Jane takes it. As someone with overbearing women in her life, I was rooting for Jane to tell Lynne off, but it never comes. She doesn't stand up for herself, her relationship, her friends... So when it turns out that Lynne is a bad witch who wants to steal Jane's magic after Jane bears her a granddaughter, it should come as little surprise that Jane doesn't really do anything about that either. <br /><br />There is only a smidgen of magic in the whole middle of the book. Jane gets angry, things go wrong. Lynne gets angry, people die. Suddenly I can see why Jane wasn't more assertive. Finally, Jane realizes that she needs to fight Lynne and starts learning magic with her new friends and her friend's hot brother. This is where the book hits its stride. The magic system isn't fleshed out at all, (Jane can use telepathy and telekenesis, but Lynne implies there are actually spells and magic words that we never find out about. She can also use force fields, create chains from mid-air, and dampen another witch's magic,) but what we do learn is actually interesting. <br /><br />Spoilers for the final battle. <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="b4502a47-e3cb-41ac-be97-3abc02cbb412" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="b4502a47-e3cb-41ac-be97-3abc02cbb412">Jane thinks if she marries Malcolm, they will run away from Lynne together. Unfortunately, at her reception, she decides to read Malcolm's mind for the first time all book. This reveals that he's the one who killed her grandmother. Jane faints and Lynne and her evil sisters lock Jane in the attic with the aforementioned crazy brother. Jane manages to avoid her fate by using her telepathy to bring up memories of Charles' hero worship for Malcolm, getting him to set her free in the process. She then starts to leave, but hears Malcolm's thoughts and realizes that he does love her, he's just been broken by his evil mommy. So she frees him, gets into a magic fight with Lynne, plunks Malcolm on a train to Anywhere, USA, telling him she forgives him, but she can't be with Grandma's killer, and then wanders off into the subway because Lynne won't think to look for her in NYC.</label> Well gee wilikers, that actually sounds interesting and action driven! Shame that all takes place in literally the last 10% of the book. 4 short chapters following hundred of pages of arguments about caterers and wedding dresses. <br /><br />I think it's pretty clear from the above summary, 666 Park Avenue has an identity crisis. Is it a paranormal mystery? A romance? A commentary on celebrity and socialites? Rather than weave these together into a cohesive novel, the author instead comments on each in turn, leaving the reader feeling disjointed. This, and much more, can be chalked up to poor writing. Despite the narrator telling us how different Paris and New York are, what we see of Paris is written the same in terms of culture and energy. Except for two brief sentences, everyone speaks perfect, fluent English. And then there's Malcolm, with his molten-gold voice and warm-champagne scent and just as bland and cardboard as can be. Lynne, (who I imagined as Victoria Greyson for the entire book,) wears peach lipstick that the author feels the need to describe every time she comes on scene. The book is filled with red-and-gold duvets and canary-colored Ralph Lauren skirts and créme-fleurrette crises. It gets to a point where you wonder if the author had a thesaurus or a color wheel. <br /><br />All of the writing was very readable, making it seem for a younger audience than the relatively graphic sex suggests. I'd say a middle-schooler could easily understand most of the language, though with a masturbation scene that made me blush, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who can't see an R-rated movie. <br /><br />Overall, I found 666 Park Avenue extremely disappointing. An enjoyable premise was marred by lack-luster writing, poor characterization, and a plot that took too long to get going. There was some to like, mostly in the last quarter, and the end did leave me wanting more. I may pick up the second if I notice it on sale, and I may even check out the new tv show, but it's not a series that I feel a real need to continue.

Legitimately one of the worst novels I've ever read (no, not this year - EVER). I was lured by its easy availability on Amazon and my miserable bed-ridden illness/dizziness that probably couldn't handle much else. <br /><br />Allow me to explain just how terrible this is: <br /><br />Everything about this novel points to the author's unabashed desire to include every popular genre that has made a smidgen of money in the past decade of chick lit. <br />1) Supernatural (witches! magic!)<br />2) Priv-lit (upper east side! paparazzi! over-wrought descriptions of clothes!)<br />3) chick lit (romance! marriage!)<br />4) sex! (sex! sex!) <br /><br />And every genre was executed miserably. <br /><br />(Leaving the issue of terrible writing entirely aside for now) I actually felt affronted by how little the author even bothered to try developing ideas or substance or a voice for any characters. I am even more affronted that she didn't even bother throwing a few pebbles at the gaping plot holes. I am most affronted that this got picked up by a tv studio into a show starring John Locke from lost and Vanessa Williams. <br /><br />Shockingly, TV writers actually managed to make it better. Not shockingly, the only salvageable thing (seriously) about the whole damn book was its title and a few of the character's names. Most unshockingly, the show has been cancelled one season in. <br /><br />Yuck. <br />

<br /> <br /> <br /><br />I have heard this book called a lot of complimentary things and people really seem to like it; but if you are a serious fan of any of the genres that this book is dealing with you may have problems with it like I did.<br /><br />This book is trying to be too many things all at one time. It is trying to be a romance, a speculative fiction book and a chick lit all rolled into one, and it does not work. There is too little of each to make up a satisfying whole.<br /><br />The so-called heroine is whiny, a tad trusting with near strangers, silly almost to the point of being stupid. Her character was in this day and age, nearly unbelievable. <br /> I had to force myself to finish the book just to find out that the sexual bliss she and Malcolm shared was not natural…or was it?<br /><br />The plot was thin nearly to the point of invisibility. There was little to no suspense since the reader could always quite clearly see what was up the road – there was never anything to look forward to.<br /><br />Perhaps this will make a better TV show than a book; maybe the TV writers can take this and fill it out, and make it plausible.<br />

I had lunch with some of the editors from Alloy last week (like you do), and one of them gave me this. You know how much I love a free book, and this one has the added advantage of being really really beautifully designed, with a fancy cover and interior design and all that, and given the seriousness of the books I've been reading lately (I'm looking at you, super-self-indulgent <i>Zippermouth</i> and super-intensely-meta <i>Are You My Mother?</i>), I kind of needed just this kind of candy book. It's too <i>hot</i> to read something dense, you know? <i>Pale King</i> is waiting there on my shelf, giving me the stink-eye, but it'll just have to wait a little longer.<br /><br />So anyway, this was pretty much just what I expected -- easy, fast, superficial, predictable. There were a few gaping plot holes, a few go-to phrases repeated ad nauseum (can we call a moratorium forever on "something flashed deep in his eyes" and <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="6e8cba5f-53d3-48bd-a0b4-101bcf2af467" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="6e8cba5f-53d3-48bd-a0b4-101bcf2af467">crazy-relative-in-the-attic plotlines</label>, please?), but whatever. The thing about candy books is they're <i>like candy</i>: yummy and exciting and if you read too many of them you'll get a tummy ache, which you will totally deserve. But if you just read one just when you need it, it is undeniably fun and compelling. So nice job all around, Gabriella and Alloy. If I get the sequel for free I will read the shit out of that too.

Gossip Girl for adults, with a splash of paranormal. I was intrigued by the (much adapted) television show, and although I'm not usually a fan of chick-lit, decided to give this book a try.<br /><br />Quick synopsis: Jane Boyle is a beautiful blonde 24-year-old architect in Paris. When she meets Malcolm Doran, sparks literally fly and after a whirlwind courtship they become engaged and move to New York City to his family home, 665 Park Avenue (located between 664 and 668). Jane slowly begins to realize that all is not well in her new paradise, especially her prospective mother-in-law Lynne.<br /><br />The good: author Pierce successfully marries several publishing trends. The series are bestsellers and have been adapted for TV.<br /><br />The bad: the name-dropping. I don't need to know all the labels Jane wears, thank you. Jane herself is young, immature and none too bright, not to mention far too trusting. (She does finally grow some backbone.) The attraction between Jane and Malcolm is basically a series of sexual encounters (spoiler alert: this is finally explained). The pace is initially a whirlwind of activity as Jane meets and is obsessed by Malcolm, then slows to a well-shod crawl until nearly the end.<br /><br />Overall, I'd give this 2.5 stars. I much prefer TV-Jane to book-Jane. Will I read the rest of the series? Maybe, but only if I can borrow them from the library.

Watching the new tv series for the second time, I noticed at the beginning it states 'based on a novel by Gabriella Pierce]. I like the series and love to read so the next time I was in the library I checked out the book. I was very disappointed to find out the series is not anything like the book. Yes, it has the same name as the book and yes, our main character is Jane [but not the same gal] and the owner of the property is a Doran [but not even close to the same character]. I am mystified how the author allowed the show to be changed so completely. The author does live in Paris so perhaps she hasn't seen the show and is happy with the money she makes.<br /><br />On the positive side, the book was entertaining. A young French girl [Jane] meets a handsome American [Malcolm Doran] in France. After a short courtship he proposes and she accepts. Before leaving Paris she feels duty bound to visit her grandmother who raised her. Upon arriving at the small village she finds her grandmother dead and a letter leaving her 'witchy powers' to Jane. On to America where she moves into 666 Park Ave. [in the show it's 999 and in the book 667] where all the relatives live [in the show it's an apartment building of assorted people]. And her future Mother in law is every girl's nightmare. This is one time having magical powers will certainly pay off! But of course the MIL has even stronger powers [so she's not only a bitch but a witch too!] It's a fairly quick read but just don't expect any similarity to the series.

I started reading this book yesterday, and the writing and the setting are very interesting. I want to see what will happen next. The book reminds me a lot of the movie Hush (1998) starring Gwyneth Paltrow. <br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1464685596ra/19263064.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>A woman falls in love with a man who is handsome rich and so in love with her and than she meets his crazy mom and everything goes nuts after that, add witchcraft to the mix and you've got the book... But I have a bad feeling about Malcolm, he doesn't feel right... I still haven't finished, I'll see what will happen next and edit my review.<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1464685596ra/19263065.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>OMG!!!! The book was great!!! I loved it!!! Every twist was a surprise! and the ending was open for another book. I wish Jane would end up with Harris!<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1464685596ra/19263066.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Now that I finished the book and watched the TV series, I can see the difference. The book is amazing but the TV series was breathtaking! It's more of Rosemary's Baby style. All about the devil, witchcraft, going bad, having a baby, and the new world order. Though amazing in a TV series, wouldn't wish for any of it to happen in real life.<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1464685596ra/19263067.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy">

Summary…From GoodReads…<br /><br />What if your mother-in-law turned out to be an evil, cold-blooded witch . . . literally? <br />Ever since fabulously wealthy Malcolm Doran walked into her life and swept her off her feet, fledgling architect Jane Boyle has been living a fairy tale. When he proposes with a stunning diamond to seal the deal, Jane can't believe her incredible luck and decides to leave her Paris-based job to make a new start with Malcolm in New York. <br />But when Malcolm introduces Jane to the esteemed Doran clan, one of Manhattan's most feared and revered families, Jane's fairy tale takes a darker turn. Soon everything she thought she knew about the world—and herself—is upended. Now Jane must struggle with newfound magical abilities and the threat of those who will stop at nothing to get them.<br /><br />My thoughts…<br />This book was a fast paced and intense reading experience for me. I can also say it was a bit of a nail biter. It was a totally captivating magical story. It had everything…a Prince Charming who is not who we are led to believe he is, lots of magic, and lots of witches…some evil and some not so evil. Jane falls in love with Malcolm, is swept off of her feet and moves to New York with Malcolm. They live with Malcolm’s parents and Jane has to learn to live with the strangeness of the Doran family. Malcolm’s mother is quite demanding and fierce and Jane struggles to maintain her uniqueness as she is overwhelmed by the mysteries of Malcolm’s strange family. While struggling to find her own way in her new city, Jane discovers that she has witchlike powers of her own. She has always felt different…lights go off and on when she is in a room, computers sizzle and appliances sort of freak out around her but she has been shielded from the truth about herself by an overprotective grandmother. The build up to Jane and Malcolm’s wedding and their plan to break free of his family is extremely delicious. Jane joins a coven of witches and begins to fully develop her powers. This places her in danger and only Jane can save herself. As I said earlier…the last quarter of this book was an extreme nail biter for me. I couldn’t move until I raced through to the ending.<br />I loved this book. It was fresh and new and different and exciting. I hope to read more from this first time author. <br />

2.5 ⭐

I went into the book for purely escapist reading - I wasn't expecting any profound themes or intense writing, so I wasn't disappointed when there wasn't any. While I do agree with some of the other reviewers that this book was a bit slow in the beginning and that it does lack a certain depth, I was more easily able to forgive that because I wasn't searching for the next Pulitzer prize winning novel. Rather, I thought that this was a fun little read which kept me interested and entertained. Yes, it was a bit slow to start with, but it did begin to pick up and probably around half to three quarters of the way through really started to draw me in even more. I think that part of that has to do with the heroine's progression thoughout the book. As she begins to understand what is happening around her, and to her, she begins to believe more in herself and becomes a stronger character, which was a nice element. The supporting characters in this book are just that: supporting without much merit on their own. Though they add to the story, they aren't terrbily strong on their own apart from the atrocious Lynne Doran of course. Some characters that I wanted to have further developed were the Montagues and Jane's friend, Dee, but I think that might unfold a bit further in the sequel, which I plan on picking up when it comes to my local library. Yes, I thought that this was a fun read, and a great cover, but it isn't something that I would say I had to own. Borrow a copy it you can or get it from the library to save yourself the expense of a book you likely won't read a second time. It was fun and worth reading, but not necessarily worth buying.