Cristina Ghita
Thank you Netgalley for this whale of a good time book! I don't know what it is with me and books where the female protagonist is on a hunt for bad men who are gonna get what's coming to them. This was so good! The sibling relationship was top-notch, the snark was there, the fun was there, the waits and turns, a dash of romance and a sprinkling of implausible coincidences were also there. This was one gory thrilling romp of a book! Trigger warnings apply, but go for it if you loved How to Kill Men and get away with it by Katy Brent and couldn't wait for something similar, or if you like the Finlay Donovan series but want to dip your toes into something more graphic.
Thank you Netgalley for this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review. If you're into domestic thrillers, this will be right up your alley. While I did appreciate the narration by Helen MacAlpine and in particular the highly credible Scottish accent given the Scottish setting of the lodge, I'd have to say that the bad guy/gal reveal was not that credible to me. I mean, you keep expecting for the initial baddie in the story to be proven innocent of all wrongdoing, the twist is not jaw-droppingly incredible, but plain hard to understand based on the information available to you as a reader. All in all, not a bad book, but Big Little Lies with the slowly building momentum and shocking
Here's another hit for Mr. Turton. Despite the obvious differences in the plot, the characters and the setting, this reading experience reminded me of the revelation of reading The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. The same sensation of barely hanging on to the logical thread of the story but not being able to stop reading and seeing where the story would take you next. Absolutely brilliant!
Thank you Netgalley for this ARCA in exchange for an honest review.
While I did enjoy the speculative fiction angle, which is all I thought this book would be, there were too many happening for me to enjoy keeping track of. The book starts with interesting description of a not too distant future in Botswana where people can download their conscience into other bodies, and everybody has the right to live several consecutive lives in different bodies, with a caveat - and in this same incredibly progressive society, whoever has the misfortune to have committed a crime of any kind is forevermore shunned and has to undergo an annual investigation into whether they display other criminal tendencies. Women are regularly brutalised and mistreated, and it gets worse from there. I loved the accents which brilliant I giving just the right touch of colour without impeding understanding. Overall, I'd say I'd look forward to another book by this author l'if it leaned more heavily into the speculative fiction aspect.
The book felt to me like a little window unto a time past, right at the beginning of some modern era beauty product creators. I especially appreciated the insight into the bigger world surrounding the ww1, real life people make an appearance, Tom Smith, the horse trainer of Seabiscuit fame, Goring, or Marc Chagall and they all have their little part to play in Helena Rubinstein's and Elizabeth Arden's stories. It makes one think when even businesswomen as famous as them had their self-doubts and darker moments they wanted to forget. I especially appreciated the audiobook narrated by Lisa Flanagan. An absolute treat for historical fiction lovers and not only.
It really pains me to say my absolute favourite YA writer's foray into adult fiction is a miss for me. Although I've previously loved, been thrilled moved by or enamoured with Elizabeth Acevedo's books, this has barely registered as a blip. I couldn't care less about the characters, the recurrent references to sex I found distasteful (don't get me wrong, not the references themselves, but the way they were done). I would say the only saving grace were the family relationships and the - unfortunately - rather infrequent mentions of food - which reminded me of With the fire on high, but they were too few and far between.
Thanks netgalley for the audiobook. This thriller was a terrifying reflection on what it could mean to be an organ donor and then actually get attacked but being aware when your organs are harvested. The recipient of the new organ then hesitates between meeting their donor's family and friends and finally deciding they're too curious not to. Loved the believable characters, the brief ethical exploration of this topic, but most of all, the twists and turns in the story as what happened slowly comes to light. If you like twisty thrillers that don't get too gory, this one's for you.
This is one unforgettable juicy family saga with a side of cold case investigation and an extra serving of genetic mystery, all topped off with a wonderful audiobook interpretation by a
Frankie Corzo, Robb Morera, and Victoria Villareal. This one is perfect for fans of Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson and any book by Elizabeth Acevedo.
An absolute thrill of a ride through the procedures of the police investigating a strings murders by a serial killer who targets high placed people who've done wrong by coming after their near and dear. Flashbacks between the serial killer's past interwoven with different narrative threads make this a complex thriller where the twists keep twisting and the turns keep turning. Chapeau for this feat of unputdownableness.
Thank you Kensington Books for this ARC audiobook via Netgalley. This book had a great amateur sleuth duo rendered brilliantly by the narrator. The cast of characters provided an interesting conundrum as several of them were extremely unlikeable and might very well have done the deed. If there is one thing that I found incredibly jarring are some of the comments about one ‘fat' character - the body descriptions - about jiggly arms or a voracious appetite - which were meant to induce dislike for the character. Is this fair? I don't know. I'm sure the author has the right to portray the people in the book as they see fit, but I find it problematic when being fat becomes associated with being necessarily ugly or ‘less than' other people.
That being said, the ending did reserve a few surprises and an unexpected twist. Would I say this is a thrilling read? No, but it does follow in the illustrious vein of other recent cosy mystery writers, like Richard Osman or Nita Prose.
All in all, an enjoyable book.
This book is a worthy continuation in this series. I've especially loved the reflective moments about women's lot in life as perceived by a young lady wise beyond her years (and, probably, her time). Despite this being a true romance with a heavy focus on the sexy times, the parts that stood out to me the most were those about women in their quality of human beings as opposed to that of women in their role of wives or mothers.
4 shining gold stars going to best autumn vibes ever! The feminist undertones and the glorious ending hinted at more than made up for the initially whiny protagonist.
Coming from a fellow teacher, her class management skills were execrable. There is no way letting students get away with so much can be conducive to a good learning environment.
On another note, her personal growth and empowerment being conflated with a skew to the dark makes sense in the story, but kind of rankles. Why should empowered women keep on being considered mean or old witches? It kind of defeats the purpose of the underlying message.
While I enjoyed the book to no end, I'm still in two minds about the conflicting narrative and morale it tries to convey.
