Hither, Page

2.4/5 stars

I was bored while reading this book. I felt like it was more talk and less show. I did end up with a favorite character though and that was the only reason I continued this book. The Cora and Wendy ended up being my favorites mainly because they tended to put the main characters on the spot.

There were few things that I liked about this book that had to do with the plot twists that were made in the last few chapters.

I liked that Cora ended up being another spy. As well as a better marksman than Page. I ended up liking the last chapters because they focused more on her as well as Wendy. We get to know that the secretary was being blackmailed due to being gay. It was also confirmed what I suspected which was that the Colonel had killed the og victim because of being nosy. Although I wish they had emphasized more on what the black market deals entailed.

As to what I didn't like I felt like we spent most of the time in conversations that didn't matter and were overly done. In the first chapter they kept emphasizing that the town looked as if it had come off straight of a postcard. Then there was the absurd amount of surgeries that Sommers performed. I felt as if it was mentioned every couple of chapters that he had just finished a surgery. I felt like they explained this towards the end with there being a wave of tonsillitis going through town. Moving onto Page I just did not like him at all. He has to be one of the worst spies. He admitted to being one with the slightest amount of pressure. He took so long before even solving the mystery and it was still sort of open ended.

Overall I don't believe I will read the second book in this series.

ReRead January 2023

There's really a lot to be said for reading the right book at the right time. While I keep thinking I want a good, super queer spec fiction read, this was actually exactly what I was looking for right now to read. If I changed my rating upon a reread, this would be a total five star book for me.

I really got involved with the characters, the romance and even the mystery this time around and couldn't be a happier with everything.


Original Review

I don't really have strong feelings towards this book. Part of that is my fault because I picked it to read when this wasn't the type of book I wanted then I promptly got distracted by fanfiction for four days.

That being said, I enjoyed the characters and the romance - and the writing because it is Cat Sebastian. What I didn't enjoy as much was the mystery itself. I will probably like this book more upon a reread (which we all know is going to happen, probably before I read the not-yet-published sequel) but for now it is a solid middle-of-the-road read that I don't regret, nor was I blown away by.

I found this book a bit boring - it's basically a novelised version of the dozens of BBC murder mystery TV series out there with a side of mediocre romance. As I'm not a huge fan of spycraft or the genre, I wished the book focused more on the characters themselves rather than them trying to solve the murder. I had a hard time keeping all the characters straight as they're kind of dumped into the first few chapters without a lot of development, as well as the book going between calling them by their last or first names by different (or even the same) characters.
The romance between James and Leo is stilted and underdeveloped. In the beginning Leo just wants a cheeky flirt and to maybe get a leg over, but by the end of the book he's willing to give up his entire life just to be with James who seems much older and much more boring. I see them not really sticking together very long so the ending left me a bit dissatisfied. Perhaps the sequel (or subsequent series) will help make this feel more believable and natural, but it's poor editing that it wasn't felt in the first book. It's saving grace is that it's under 200 pages, so a quick read, or it was in danger of being buried in my DNF graveyard.

This is a great read and I'm glad to see Cat Sebastian trying out a different historical era (post-WWII). I loved the setting of a quiet village in the English countryside and all of the domestic moments. In fact, those cozy scenes aren't just fluff, but are relevant to the romance plot and to Leo's character development: After a lifetime as a spy, he isn't sure if he deserves to have people who care about him. So we're often seeing his baffled reaction to pleasant but ordinary moments.

This may have been my own shortcoming as a reader, but in the end, I wished I'd had a little more time in James's point-of-view. I'm not really sure why he developed feelings for Leo. However, I did understand Leo's perspective and I enjoyed his growth as a person over the course of the story. I also liked the mystery - multiple mysteries, really - and while they kept me guessing, the solutions weren't out of left field.

I'm so glad I read this, and I'm sure I'll listen to the audiobook many times when it comes out. I hope that the series will continue very soon!

3.5 stars. Enjoyable if a little slow and restrained, but I guess that's typical of cozy mysteries. Sebastian does a good job of setting the post WWII time and place, and I really felt both Leo's longing for somewhere to belong and James' fear of what would happen to him if his quiet village was revealed to be anything other than an oasis of peace. I liked Leo and James together and look forward to more books in the series. Although I am wondering, now that Leo has quit his spy job, in what capacity will he continue to solve mysteries?