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Apr 24, 2011

Noelwellin rated it:

I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit surprised this book has almost 4 stars. The concept was very interesting and the book could have been great, but it was just delivered in a way that came off as amateur. Not only that, the editing was pretty questionable. Missing question marks, oddly placed commas, hyphens in random places. The language used was often very awkward. Teenagers do not speak the way the author wrote. There was a constant lack of contractions, no use of slang, and just a ton of More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jul 17, 2011

Michelle rated it:

I was really looking forward to reading this book, given the number of rave reviews it was getting, but there is no way I could recommend it to anyone. There's a good idea there somewhere that shows promise, and I think given a few rewrites and some serious editing, this could morph into a seriously good book. But as it stands, Portal reads like a very rough first draft that's been committed to paper and pushed out as a finished product. The whole thing just doesn't mesh together well, and ther More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 07, 2012

Rachel C. rated it:

I became curious about this book because Imogen Rose is one of those rare phenom authors who started out self-publishing online and ended up getting signed to a real print publisher. So this book must be a stunner, right?

I went in expecting it to be addictive teen junk à la "Twilight." Well, if reading "Twilight" is like eating a bag of Cheetos, then reading "Portal" is like picking potato chip crumbs and stale Cheerios out of the crevices of your sofa. More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 21, 2011

Amy rated it:

Come Find Me Two Years Ago...six words that propelled ice hockey playing tomboy, Arizona, into an alternate dimension.

She suddenly found herself in the past. In one moment she went from being an ice hockey playing teenager in New Jersey to a glamorous cheerleader in California. She found herself transported from a happy life with her dad, Dillard, to a new, strange one living with her mother whom she hates. Apparently it's a life she's always lived in.

Everyone knows her More...

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May 04, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

I really wanted to like this book. And parts of it were enjoyable. I certainly wouldn't characterize the book as a complete waste of money. But there were several problems that kept me from rating this above three stars.

First, the good. The premise of this novel is highly imaginative and has great potential. The author is obviously writing to her intended audience- teens. Which is, of course, a good thing if you are a teen. Not so much if you are an adult.

Now for the ba More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 29, 2010

Anne rated it:

Portal is a great story. The characters are detailed and well-defined, and there were plenty of plot twists and turns. The formatting was beautifully done and the book was very readable. I did feel there were a few paradoxes - but in fairness those may be explained and made clear in the sequels.

The main stumbling block, for me, was the dialog. It was horribly stilted, in some places almost painful. It didn't read the way real people talk. Here are a couple of examples from a scene at More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 06, 2012

Misty rated it:

I have been sitting on this book for a while now (4 months to be exact) and I have to say “shame on me.” See… I have this problem (it’s actually much worse than the OCD thing) it’s the inability to read what I’m told. Yes.. I know… this entire statement is completely ludicrous since I spend most of my time telling all of you what to read. (deal with it) See… when I was a junior in high school I was forced to read “A Farewell To Arms” by Earnest Hemingway and I hated it. Not the “reading” but t More...

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Aug 22, 2010

Bailey (IB Book Blogging) rated it:

I was overjoyed when Imogen Rose sent Portal to me for review, as i've had my eye on it for awhile! This book was everything that I expected it to be, and more. A mysterious, enjoyable read with a relatable main character and time-travel and romance.

I could really connect with Arizona. She finds herself in an alternate world with a whole new life and feels frustrated and confused. I felt like I would do the same things Arizona did, had I found myself in her situation. She feels a lot More...

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Jul 29, 2010

Al rated it:

Mention fantasy or sci-fi and my mind conjures vampires, hobbits, trekkies, and alternative worlds I have no interest in visiting. Recently I’ve found these genres are much broader than I’d previously realized. I’m capable of suspending disbelief a bit (all fiction requires some of that anyway). On the fringes of these genres just a little suspension of disbelief is enough. This was the case with “Portal,” the first book in the “Portal Chronicles” series.

Teenager Arizona Stevens More...

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May 01, 2010

Emma rated it:

Portal is an intriguing story, primarily seen through the eyes of tom-boy Arizona Stevens who finds herself in an alternate version of her world. Now called Arizona Daley, we are given access to her thoughts and concerns as she attempts to adapt to her new pinker cheerleader type lifestyle while also maintaining a low profile, so her family doesn't call in the family shrink that she's been threatened with previously.

Through the story there are some nice twists and plot-turns, but unf More...

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Apr 12, 2010

Ami rated it:

I must admit I am a Twilight fan and I thought it would be hard to find anything that could come close to what I felt for Stephanie Meyer’s novels, but Portal by Imogen Rose is a close call. No, not vampires. No, not werewolves.

Her science fiction romantic journey takes the reader on a completely different kind of experience -a time bending, dimension leaping swirl of page turning anticipation, heartfelt passions, and familial relationships. With well developed and complicated char More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 29, 2010

Julian rated it:

An interesting premise, let down by a distinct lack of substance both plot wise and with the characters. The book is clearly aimed towards the YA audience so I can overlook the endless talk about clothes, nail polish, ripped abs, brushing lips and ice hockey.

My main gripe with this book is the lack of suspense and urgency in the writing - it starts with a lot of promise as the protagonist tries to make sense of her situation. Then a few chapters in, the reader is basically handed the More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 06, 2010

Deanna rated it:

I honestly didn't expect much from this book even though it had some excellent reviews. I am not a 'young adult' and generally prefer literary fiction and the classics. That said, I had trouble doing anything else while Portal was unfinished on my Kindle.

It's a light read, but has a gripping plot and well developed characters. I had no problem identifying with the 17 year old protaganist, Arizona, despite the fact that I'm 53. I was anxious to read what came next from beginning to e More...

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May 19, 2011

Karli rated it:

The writing in the first 1/3 was pretty uneven, and while I understood the concept of being in the discombobulated teenager's head, it was still pretty annoying. However, the writing evened out, and the story became very interesting, with the strongest part of the story being the romance between Arizona and Kellan.

I picked up this book either for free or $1 on my Kindle due to the description that likened it to The Time Traveler's Wife. This was NOT kin to that book. I was irrit More...

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Apr 03, 2011

Avery rated it:

In all honesty, about three quarters of the way into this book I was so confused as to what was going on primarily because I hadn't read the synopsis and therefore I was totally oblivious to the fact that it was a sci-fi-ish young adult book that dealt with alternate dimensions (that is what I get for purchasing a book on Amazon simply because it is 99 cents) and because I was so confused as to what was going on, I actually debated whether to just set the book aside and not finish it (which I ra More...

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Jan 26, 2011

Emma rated it:

No. Just. No. I enjoy young adult novels and sometimes young adult novels aren't the most shining examples of great writing but Portal goes beyond any amount of shallow, lazy writing a young adult novel has the excuse to contain.

Let me the number the injuries:

1. One day, our main character, Arizona, wakes up in a different place, in a different time, with a different FATHER. Does she freak out? Lose her marbles? No. She calmly 'plays along' and constantly gives us the vag More...

1 comment like (10 people liked it)

Sep 05, 2010

E. rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Feb 15, 2011

Arni Vidar rated it:

I started this read, not really knowing what I was getting myself into.

I had seen Imogen Rose on the Kindle forums, being ever helpful, and also noticed that people were saying some pretty nice things about her book. Ever in the search for a new good writer, I took a peak at the books description and thought to my self: "Hmm.. why not?"

Why not indeed!

Now, I read a lot... well compared to many people I've met in here, though, I barely read at all... b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 11, 2011

Lala rated it:

PORTAL

What I liked:
-Deceptively simple story but with a complex plot.
-Halfway through the book, I thought it was close to the end because so many things has happened already. I needed to catch my breath and relax before I moved on to the next half.
-The charmed lifestyle of the characters is a good thing to read about as an escape from a relatively ordinary life.
-Really good relationships: friendships, siblings, family

What I didn't like (all minor): More...

0 comments like

Feb 13, 2011

Pauline rated it:

I bought this book because it was very cheap for the Kindle, and it has a time travel/alternate reality theme. It is intended for young adults, so perhaps I was expecting too much from it, but I thought it was very badly written. The teenage heroine bounces around her life texting her friends and selecting her branded clothes, simply accepting without too much protest the odd things that seem to be happening. Most of the book is written in the first person, with some jarring jumps to other chara More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 13, 2010

Candy rated it:

So many times when I read an independent author, the main thing that sticks out to me is that the author didn't have their work edited properly. I would lay dollars to doughnuts that this particular author did. I'm sure there's some grammar issues or something, but it obviously wasn't glaring because I did not notice anything. Hats off to the author for a well-written polished end product. Lately, I've read some real dogs in the Indie world, so this was a fabulous change of pace just at the righ More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 05, 2010

Leilani rated it:

Please allow me to say this before I start. I LOVE YOU KELLAN LUTZ!

As most of you are aware of, I am in love with Kellan Lutz. As soon as my eyes read Kellan... I knew this book was going to be a keeper. Any book that has one of the more important characters with the name Kellan has to be good. And might I add, it was incredibly good.

From the very first page, I was confused. I have never had a book that had me so confused I was thinking the whole time "I have to fin More...

0 comments like

Feb 20, 2012

Gerold rated it:

This book is obviously written for YA - and I am not even close!! In spite of that, I enjoyed it immensely.

Arizona Stevens, a ice hockey playing tomboy suddenly finds herself in another town, at another school, in a different time frame (a few months in the past) and with a different name - Arizona Darley. Struggling to get along in this new life in which almost everyone and everything is different, Arizona is certain that her mother Olivia, a physicist, is responsible somehow.
More...

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Feb 25, 2011

Amber rated it:

The storyline was intriguing.

However....I almost couldn't stand to read it. The dialogue felt very staged. It was NOT how people really talk. And the characters actions didn't feel genuine. No one I know would ever react to those situations that way. It reminded me of when I was 5 years old playing Barbies. Very forced, 'you will do what I say you will do', unrealistic dialogue. I felt the author is rather immature with her writing. Maybe as Ms. Rose writes more books and becomes more More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 30, 2011

Hira rated it:

I won the eBook of this novel, and was excited to read it due to the plot description.

Imogen Rose has weaved an interesting plot, one with imagination and interesting characters, however the writing and editing of the novel leaves something to be desired. There were some grammatical errors, and a lot of brand-name dropping, which only served to distract the reader and weakened the characters by almost making them appear shallow. Also, there was little to no transitioning in the dialog More...

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Feb 01, 2011

Kitty rated it:

The sample had me hooked - just had to see what happened next. And by the time I had reached the final chapter, I had already gone to Amazon to buy the next in the series. This was just plain fun. Yes, it's a young adult book, and yes, the main character is still in high school, but it didn't bother me here. I just found this to be a unique story. The only problem? There's still a lot you don't know by the end of book one, which means you just HAVE to continue the series. I have a feeling that b More...

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Jan 08, 2012

Sonia rated it:

This is another of those books that I read to ‘test out’ for my 12 year old daughter. It’s the first in a series, which is the kind of thing she likes, so I thought “I’ll give the first one a crack and then can hand the whole lot over to her if it’s OK”. Plus it was free on Kindle (back in June when I forst downloaded it) – which is always my favourite price!

When pregnant, married scientist Olivia goes out on a friend’s hen night in London, she doesn’t realise that a seemingly chan More...

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Jun 08, 2010

Dawn rated it:

Portal is an exciting adventure into the unknown. Arizona, the main character, is ripped from the life she loves and thrust into a strange, but not all-together unfamiliar new life. As memories from a life she hasn't truly lived start to surface, she has to decide if she should stay and live out this exciting new life or return to the one she thought she missed so much. Somewhere in between, she must discover how she got here in the first place. Imogen keeps us guessing throughout the whole book More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 05, 2010

Marcie rated it:

Go ahead and add this book to your TBR list. This is an excellent book. I came across Imogen Rose's website and was immediately interested in her Portal Chronicles series. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed! I loved this story. She had me hooked right from the beginning. I started reading this book in the morning and didn't stop until I finished the book. Imogen Rose wrote an intriguing story from beginning to end. I loved the storyline and the characters. I also loved that this story More...

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Jan 24, 2011

Dixie rated it:

I acquired the second book in this series, Equilibrium, from a first reads giveaway. However, I thought I should read the first book before the second so I bought Portal for my nook. The plot is promising and fresh. Sometimes the dialog made me cringe, but I am not a teenage girl so that probably explains my issues with the dialog.

The grammatical errors, though, really made me insane. I realize that this is a self-published book, but it made me want to grab a red pen every time I ca More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)