One star! Just kidding, just kidding. Mike Lowery’s “One Star Wonders: The Worst Reviews of the World’s Greatest Places” is a fun, quick read. The author and artist shares his favorite one star reviews of landmarks that he’s found and provides whimsical illustrations of the places. Some of the reviews were truly funny, but I wish the quotes were longer than one or two lines to show how truly unhinged people and their opinions can be. This would make a fun gift for a loved one who enjoys traveling or leaving online reviews.

Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in the exchange for an honest review. My review was posted on June 13, 2023 to Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5617838061.

The illustrations are cute!

Pros:

Loved the concept of the book of looking at the worst reviews of places that might make you laugh.

Cons:

I only found some reviews humourous like those of the Taj Mahal, New Orleans Ghost Tour, and some others. But, since humor is subjective, maybe you'll like it more?

This cute little book features illustrations based on real one-star reviews of popular tourist destinations. Highlights include the person who was mad they weren’t allowed to skip the line at the Paris Catacombs even though their wife was pregnant (the audacity!) and the one who described Madagascar as simply “the most overrated place on earth.” What detracted from the humour was a handful of reviews that were clearly written as a joke (like the person who said Stonehenge could use a coat of paint). Perhaps it’s just my own sense of humour, but I think the truly oblivious reviews where the ones that shone.

The high point of this book was definitely the illustrations. The little frowny faces sprinkled throughout were adorable!

Ultimately, I couldn’t give this book a higher rating because of what it is - a novelty book that can be read in a single subway ride. I can’t picture anyone going back to this again and again. However, I think this would be a great little gift for a frequent traveller, and I could picture a family with older kids reading this together and howling.

Author Mike Lowery was inspired to write and cleverly illustrate One Star Wonders inspired by his favourite one star travel-related reviews. And what an amusing and entertaining read this is! As a frequent and rabid traveler and reader of one star allocations it was a joy to leap into this little book. Lowery outlines the five categories for negative reviews - disorganization, bad personal experience, not hype-worthy, oops and too touristy. On my travels I have heard monstrous comments which made me cringe, fit for this type of book such as, "The ice isn't cold enough" and "What's the point? It's just a bunch of old buildings." The comment which irks me more than anything else is, "Once you've seen one castle (or cathedral), you've seen them all". Nononono!

I've been to many places mentioned in the book and every single one has its merits, even those which are less impressive than others. True travelers keep an open and curious mind, unlike "Parking was 10 euros. Biggest disappointment of my life" when describing stunningly-located Neuschwanstein Castle. Poor darling. What hardship!

Whether you are a traveler or one star review reader or not, you will be sure to get a kick out of this quick and comical read.

My sincere thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this unabashedly amusing book! It is my pleasure to rate it one star.

Reading one star reviews is my guilty pleasure. So, when i read the title of this book, i was hooked.
This is a nice short read. Bonus point, the drawing is great. I really enjoy reading this. Never knew that a good wi-fi was really important in tourist spot.

I have to admit that i thought this book would be... Overly cute?? In fact, it IS cute, in a weirdly good way! Mike Lowery's illustrations are so fun and really capture the essence of the tourist attraction/site and the disgruntled travelers. And he's right, those one star reviews often tell us way more about the people writing them than the place itself!

I really appreciated that the reviews were "based on real reviews" instead of naming and shaming/embarrassing people by using their username (just once in the intro, strangely).

+++
* Ideal gift for someone who likes websites like Subpar parks, Cake wrecks.
* A fun way for an older child or preteen to learn about different historical sites/beautiful places/wonders of the world - even as an adult there were a couple of places I never heard of!
* No offensive language or images, so ok for kids, conservative people, etc.
* Would be a fun coffee table book or even to read on the toilet!

---
* It is a very quick read, perhaps too quick and I'm not sure how likely I'd be to re-read it.

Thanks to the publisher Andrews McMeel and Netgalley for access to the digital ARC !!

For the moment I'd give it four stars because i really enjoyed it, but how much of that is the fact that i got a free copy? I don't think the content will stick with me and as i said there's not that much content. So since the average rating is over 4*, no need to pump up the rating any higher!

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A book of 1 start reviews that were taken from the internet. I got this book for free and I'm still annoyed with it. Its just pointless with no imagination.

A funny collection of real life reviews the most famous locations in the world. It’s hard to imagine that some of these reviews actually exist. What were people thinking? I’d love to meet the actual review givers!

Thanks for the opportunity!

This book made me laugh. It features illustrations by Mike Lowery of almost 90 world famous sites and includes someone’s one star review for it. Imagine giving a one star review to Yellowstone National Park because the of the wifi is terrible. I’ve read internet articles like this before but appreciate the combination with the location drawings. I also like that I’ve been to over a third of the places mentioned. Some reviews are more relatable than others. Over all a funny book that can be read in less than ten minutes. Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing for the temporary eARC and I am leaving a voluntary review. And it is higher than 1 star LOL.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

One Star Wonders by Mike Lowery is a hilarious gift book that provides an insightful and entertaining look into the world of one-star reviews. Based on real-life experiences, the book showcases the different quirks, entitlements, and expectations of people when traveling or visiting places. The reviews are so ridiculous that they will make you laugh until you cry. Paired with Mike’s signature illustrations, this book is a perfect combination of humor and art.

The author has done an excellent job in curating some of the most absurd one-star reviews from around the world and presenting them in a way that is both witty and entertaining. The illustrations add another layer to the book and enhance the humor aspect of it. The book is very well organized, making it easy to read through, even for short periods at a time.

One Star Wonders is funny as h@ll with excellent illustrations that would make such a great gift for anyone who loves to travel or appreciates good humor. I highly recommend this book as it is sure to provide endless entertainment for travel enthusiasts and anyone looking for a good laugh!

**ARC Via NetGalley**

THAT WAS HILARIOUS LMAO

this book contains a compilation about 1 star reviews of famous public destination, but only the unserious and comical ones, not the ones that have in depth explanation in long paragraphs. Like be fr the only thing that failed these people was their own expectations😂😂😂

not to mention the ridiculous angry-person-posing-in-front-of-certain-landmark on every few pages haha. I wish this book were longer.

One Star Wonders: The Worst Reviews of the World's Greatest Places by Mike Lowery is a hilarious gift book that takes a new perspective on the hottest travel destinations. Based on real-life one-star reviews, the book provides a fascinating insight into the spectrum of human quirks, entitlement, and expectations. The author's signature illustrations paired with sidesplitting reviews will provide endless entertainment for travel and humor enthusiasts alike.

This fun and quirky book features quick quotes and simple illustrations of famous landmarks, accompanied by brilliantly chosen lines from one-star reviews. The author's efforts in accumulating the collection are solid. If you are looking for a girt for your love ones who enjoys travelling - you are in luck cause this is the perfect one!

Overall, One Star Wonders is a charming and entertaining book that is well worth the read. It's a unique and refreshing perspective on travel reviews, and it will make you laugh out loud. This book is highly recommended for anyone looking for a light and amusing read.

This made me laugh out loud so many times! In this comic collection, Mike Lowery shares quotes from one-star reviews for important landmarks. Each page has a comic drawing of the landmark and the quote, and this is everything I wanted the similarly premised book "Subpar Parks" to be. Although that book focused on the author's snarky commentary and only quoted bland phrases from the reviews, the one-star reviews are the centerpiece here, and there are so many funny and unique ones!

I found this really entertaining. In the introduction, Lowery described the different categories of negative reviews that he usually sees, and the book shares lots of different types of negative reviews, so that they don't seem too repetitive. This book is great for library collections where people can check it out for a quick, one-time chuckle, and many people will enjoy this as a coffee table book. This is funny enough to inspire repeat readings, especially because you're not going to remember all of the reviews and can laugh over them again.

I highly recommend this to people who enjoy humor books and offbeat books about travel, and I hope that Lowery will publish another collection like this in the future. He said that he has a huge collection of these types of reviews, so I know he has more material! There's so much series potential here, especially since the excellent curation and quirky illustrations make it way more fun than looking for one-star reviews on your own.

A fun collection of quirky, silly reviews — it does a unexpected and hilarious job of making you want to see the various landmarks for yourself, just to see what people are complaining about. This is the kind of book I would happily gift to friends and family or include for a White Elephant game. I appreciate the author's efforts in compiling it all; it's a solid collection that, in a weird way, brings a lot of joy.

This book was stupidly hilarious and made absolutely no sense, but I loved it! This is such a simple book, yet the substance throughout was quite entertaining.

This was a cute satire of the traditional travel guide. As a travel agent I have gotten several funny reviews of locations that left me baffled so this book definitely was relatable and made me laugh. The reviews were funny and I loved the corresponding illustrations.

This is one of the most creative picture book concepts I have seen in years. The illustrations were beautiful and had a very distinct style. I loved how the reviews featured in the book were highly indicative of the human attitude. I found myself laughing at the absurdity and entitledness of the reviewers.

I would recommend this book to anyone who needs a good laugh. 5 full, hearty stars for this comedic read. I will be buying a physical copy for myself once it releases, and a few copies to give as gifts to friends and family who would appreciate it as much as I did.

FANTASTIC! ONE STAR! ⭐

My favourite part was the little sad faces on the mountains and sea critters ☹️

Genuinely great art & great concept.. wish it was longer.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this eBook.

Do you enjoy reading one-star reviews on the internet? Then One Star Wonders by Mike Lowery is the perfect book for you. While one-star reviews are helpful sometimes, they are funny and weird most of the time. This book is filled with one-star reviews of famous tourist destinations and monuments around the world accompanied by cute illustrations. It was a fun and breezy read.

I really enjoyed this book, it made me smile, shook my head and laugh out loud. As I was reading I was thinking how a great idea it was to publish something about 1-star real life reviews.
I wish the illustrations were more diverse or more specific to the situations described in the 1-star reviews.