alouette's Reviews (258)

Best mystery of the year so far, though I’ve only read one other mystery in 2019, oops. It took a little while for the plot to really get going, and it was a little methodical at points, but overall it was really engrossing and I like how Johnson weaved the two time periods together. I also think the ending was a bit too abrupt, but I can’t fault such an interesting cliffhanger.

despite its flaws- victims begin to blend together, there’s occasionally romance where there shouldn’t be (i liked the lgbtq romance in there though, because it actually added to the story), the shooter’s motives are not properly explained, some plot points aren’t wrapped up- even then, this book had a lot of well crafted emotion and i couldn’t put it down.

edit: reading a lot of review saying this book is super inaccurate and even heartless, so i did some research and changed my original star rating. i still like parts of the book, but as i understand it now, it's quite insensitive and sensationalist. 

What a beautiful book. Everything about it feels so /real/; the characters, the issues, the way the story progresses.

My only small nitpick is the way the ending felt like a bit of a cop out: the whole way through I could hardly put the book down, only to be faced with what felt like an anticlimax. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fine with ambiguous endings, but the way the reader almost gets excluded from the end of the story is a unique way of doing things, but not the best kind of unique.

Still, that’s just personal opinion, and it doesn’t change the fact that I enjoyed this novel a lot.

one star for casual and abundant lgbtq+ rep, one star for a strong female lead and the way the classic Arthurian legend was tied in with the sci-fi setting, and half a star for a solid action-filled climax.

what i disliked was...
- the way this book seemed written for a younger audience at some points but inappropriate at others? maybe that's not the best way to explain it but i just couldn’t find a proper tone to this book
- the lack of character and relationship development
- the flow of the plot and the constant overdramatization, which was disappointing because there was potential for real drama but instead there were pointless arguments

...and then a bunch of stuff that treads into spoiler territory, so i’ll just leave it at that and not spare any more time for this book, which had so much potential but ended up leaving me disappointed.

3.5 stars!

Honestly, I think I might’ve hyped this book up too much for myself. I liked the premise, and it’s two awesome writers of LGBTQ+ stories, so I most likely set the bar too high.

It didn’t completely disappoint, obviously- there were so many cute moments, and the relationships between characters were interesting. But for me, the drama didn’t have enough substance: the whole divorce issue is so easily brushed off, what happens with Hudson is too overdramatic.

And then, the ending, which to me felt forced. Not only did the epilogue feel like a rushed addition, but it felt like Becky and Adam’s writing styles clashed quite suddenly? It’s as if Becky likes to give the characters happy endings, Adam likes to give sad, open ended conclusions, and they just couldn’t agree where and how they were going to tie it up. 

However, I am glad I had the oppurtunity to read this book- and I was especially excited when I saw that my local library and a signed first edition!

5 stars! 

I really couldn’t put this book down. It felt so genuine, and even though I don’t normally find romance plots outstanding this one definitely blew me away with the issues it covers and the interesting characters it has.

Most of it felt really realistic too, and the interactions between Sebastian and Tanner made my heart melt. The friendship between Tanner and Autumn was amazing, too.

Honestly, I couldn’t stop smiling the whole way through. :)

*imported from goodreads, contains spoilers*

This is all personal, but I give this book 2 stars because I just don’t understand what this book was trying to be, especially after the unclear and unsatisfying conclusion.

A ghost story? But the author refuses to admit that these are ghosts until the very end., instead muddling around with time skips that I don’t think make much sense.

A mystery? But there is no mystery; it’s clear Violet did it. It’s clear that Amber killed her father and has issues. It’s clear that Orianna is innocent, a fact that the book shoves in our face despite the fact that Orianna has no depth. She’s just a Mary Sue and somehow I’m supposed to be happy that she magically escapes while Violet, the most complex character and the only one I could feel for, is continuously bullied and then hated by Orianna who she gave a home to and provided for over many years. Orianna, who never once asks her why she did what she did, never bothered to find out that Violet had a fit of hysteria and only came to to find Ori with the box cutter pointed at Violet herself.

A revenge plot? Once again, it’s hard to cheer for Orianna to get revenge when she’s so perfect to the point where she’s unlikable. Especially with her untroubled relationship even though the boy she’s dating is obsessed with her which should be a problem. And Amber gets no revenge; she gets beat up by Peach who previously showed no signs of harbouring such ill will to the point of violence. As for Amber’s mother, there’s no closure to be found there because we never find out why Amber was suddenly supposed to be let out.

So what’s the lesson of the book? Because if there was something to be learned, I couldn’t find it amidst the word vomit of tone setting that amounts to only one plot (no depth) that goes in circles; rehashing how Orianna is good and Violet is bad. And Amber is supposedly the grey area, but quite clearly supports Orianna over Violet despite the violence in her personality that should probably show something to the contrary. 

Overall, the blurb had me interested, but the results left me unsatisfied and with a great degree of dislike for the characters and plot.