BookShout!

For an e-reader, I hate the fact that I can't go to a particular page number, but rather have to scroll 79 times or more just to get to page 80. I have multiple devices I read on, but alas the app doesn't sync your reading progress on your profile/library. So when I switch between devices, I have to scroll and spend copious amounts of time trying to recall where I dropped of reading on the other device. Finally, the app doesn't seem to optimize battery usage (at least on Samsung S7 Edge). Really quite disappointed at Harlequin's choice. It's almost as bad as Overdrive if not worse!

I've used this app pretty regularly for a year or so. The reading experience was acceptable, and I enjoyed challenging myself to increase my reading speed, which the old app tracked. Then they redesigned it, and, even after two additional updates, it's annoyingly crashy. It crashes aftee every few pages. Also, the word count bar is inaccurate. After fighting the crashing for two chapters, it reports that I've read a total of 159 words. Not correct. Wish there were a way to revert to the old app.

App is ok for reading, but it can take awhile to sign in and often times skips pages at the end of the chapter. I have to constantly refind my place. Also, I have yet to be able to redeem bookshout bucks. Every time I try to redeem them it tells me the amount is too high and to make the amount lower than the total price, regardless of amount. When reading up on the reason it states some books aren't included. If that's the case then it seems that most aren't, at least the ones that interest me.

I'm in the middle of a book and when I re-open the app a few hours later, the entire book needs to download again!? Frequently, the page gets cut off at the bottom by the creepy gamified "time left in chapter" countdown, requiring me to close the "book" and re-open. Wow. e-books are not a new technology - it shouldn't be this clunky of an experience.

Keeps crashing even after reinstall. Hard to locate my newest books. I have about 1200 books in my account. I paid for them and I want to keep them to read again if I want. Books showing up on my first page are from 2011, not my current ones. I have uninstalled and reinstalled several times and still will not work. Very unhappy with the app. If the app happens to open, sometimes it does not show any books, other times it does. Try to open them and it may spin for an hour before closing.

Since I updated this app it has not allowed me to read the books I have purchased from Harlequin. I can open one, start to read it and then it stops. When I try to reopen it I get the message "failed to load epub." I read for pleasure, not to try and increase my reading speed, so the messages at the bottom of the screen that keep running are annoying. I don't need a total of how many words I've read or how long it takes me.

09/15/19: Still a one star. If I could give it less, I would. Even with the newest updates, this app is buggy and problematic. Lacks Features - no scrolling through to a different section of the book, no locking the screen position (only at a per session level so I'm doing this every time I open the app/open a new book), no using volume to turn pages, accidentally hitting a word brings out hoghlight mode, which is annoying. Basically, an app with lackluster features. Disappointing.

Horrible update makes app unusable. Keeps suddenly closing on its own every few minutes while you're reading. Fewer options for customizing font & display settings. Once you've read a book, the library darkens the book graphic & puts a big checkmark on it, making it hard to find the book again if you want to re-read. The Bookshout promo says it's an app "for booklovers". It is not. So many silly unnecessary bells and whistles, but lacks the functionality a true reading app needs.

App is fine as a a simple e-reader. However, app doesn't deliver on any of the advanced features it promises. The word counter stops counting after a few thousand words. Everytime I exit the app the word count is reset to zero. Consequently, I never earn any money and the app doesn't calculate words read per minute. I thought the problem might be that my tablet was old, but switching to brand new tablet didn't solve any of my problems.

I received two books recently from seeing movies at Regal Cinemas. I've been reading Where Are You Going Bernadette on the app until this morning's untimely update. Up until then I would have given it praise even with the spray of glitter it does when you reach reading milestones. I just let it do what it wants and was reading. Really enjoying the book. Today I learned the app updated. It was missing from my book folder on my phone. After readding it tries to open and always gives a box failure.

I am not generally a fan of reading on my tablet. I am a hard copy kind of person, but I am finding it easier to find some books as ebooks versus paperback and hard cover. This app works fine for me and the light reading I do on my tablet. I really like the nite mode. Wish it smooth scrolled between chapters instead of jumping from the end of one to a fresh page for the next.

I hate using it but have too. Before Bookshout I had a good reading experience with overdrive. had no issues with it. but since I buy my ebooks from harlequin they switched to this app I am rethinking my decision to buy books from them in future. takes ages for the app to load books even if downloaded on system take ages to load or the app suddenly stops working. the app switches from landscape mode to portrait mode then go back to landscape with difficulty. it really spoils the reading fun.

Horrible app! I read for relaxation so why would I want a daily goal? The clutter on the screen about your goal is annoying! A good app would give you the option to turn that stuff off but this one doesn't give you that option. Book loading and page turning is sluggish. Book sorting is simplistic and pretty well useless. Thankfully my books are saved on my laptop and I can put the Epubs on my tablet to read in a decent app. UPDATE: unable to access books due to gateway issue 2 out of 3 days

So happy that it won't close down on me. Finally got to finish the major fight scene in the fourth and final book of my series. And it was amazing!! So many free titles to choose from and full books, at that! Not too many of those "sneak peak first 3-5 chapters of an expensive book" teasers! I can't stand those! So needless to say, I'm beyond pleased with this brilliant book app! Thank you for all your time and effort and dedication to creating such an easy way for bookworms to enjoy literature!

Can't even handle basic things a reader should do, like keeping my place when I close the app. UI is unintuitive, and I'm still not sure how highlighting and bookmarking are supposed to work. Does its own thing for screen orientation instead of using the built-in OS support, and so I'm constantly fighting it.

To those struggling with the update: uninstall it and then reinstall but DON'T update it. It still works like s**t but at least you can access your books. Don't update it. I just updated it and now I need a magnifying glass to read. Changing the font size makes no difference. It is fixed at the smallest size. Now it is a piece of junk. Now it is even worse! Another update and now my book won't even open!

Only had a minute to look at the new design. I used the search for a specific book. This seemed to work as expected. The book came up. In order to see the price, I had to click the buy now button. Page couldn't load. Error has already been emailed to support. Not sure why the price only be shown in the shopping cart. I don't like that. I don't have time to wait for the fix for this book. Looks like Kindle/Amazon gets this one.

reading on bookshout works well. unfortunately it does not save book to device but has to be reloaded every time. marking text works well, better than Kindle, unfortunately bookmarks somewhat squishy. Latest updates renders the app unusable. Just spins with "first time setup" and nothing happens. Too bad for me I guess. No product support.

Would of been nice to get a warning that an update was approaching. As other persons have stated in their review I got stuck in the endless loop of being told there is an update. I figured it out finally! Don't like how BookShout will mark a book as read at random. I have read the books on my bookshelf, I am not 5 years old to have it marked for me. And besides once the check mark appears I can't seem to make it go away and I am unable to see the cover. I definitely do not like the new format; I enjoyed the other format which was pretty easier to figure out what titles were in the cloud and what titles were in my device at one glance. You have to go into settings to do this. Definitely DO NOT like this new version!

I do not like this app at all. The only reason I have it is to read my Harlequin books. There has not been a single time that this app has not stopped working while reading. I have to touch a book sometimes as many a 3 times before it will open. I currently cannot open several of my books that I purchased and having to wait for them to fix the problem. I am also having to redownload books all the time. It is frustrating to use this. There are so many better apps.

I only use this app because I have to to read the books that I purchased from harlequin. Whenever I reopen a book it always opens to the wrong page. if you are using more then one device to read a book after you download the book it doesn't move to your current page on the other device when you go to the other device, also I don't like the fact that there are no page numbers . The other features such as the night mode and bookmark feature are inconvenient to get to.

Since the update in the middle of reading books it fails opening. It is annoying. With 2 books I had to finish reading on the internet. Reached out with feedback and received no response. Tried a different book and stopped for a while when I came back the book failed opening again. Disappointed at best. Writing review to warn users against updating.

I have no use for this app. After reading a few pages, it crashes and I constantly have to search for the page I was reading at the time. The books are marked as "read", some incorrectly. Now, none of my books will open - some message about ' failed to open epub' This app is an absolute joke! Wish I could give 0 stars!

Compared to Amazon, BookShout gets a "fair". Adjusting font size, etc. is just ok. The front size changes frequently, on its own. It goes from one size to another and back again. There is no reason why this happens. In addition, there is no option to look up word definitions. I did not think I would purchase other books on this site but the site offers free books.

Some days (not many) it will let me open my books, other days it will not. I went in today and none of my books will load. I understand a few minor problems and can deal with that, but when you cannot even perform the service advertised, we have a problem. This has been a problem since I downloaded. There has been several updates since and the problem continues. When it works, it is a convenient place to download my online books but, convenience means nothing if it does not work.

Please fix this app back to before the most recent "update". I liked the app and now hate everything about it. Every time I leave, the app decides where I left off in the book. I waste time trying to open the book, spinning and spinning then have to find my place again and then it unlocks itself and starts rotating the screen.