dapperreads's Reviews (1.29k)

This book made my head hurt. The back and forth timelines really did me in. I read many dual timelines but I’ve never said anything like “wait a minute, this is the 1930’s why are we talking about bubble tea straws?” only to find out I missed the switch to 2018. 

The story itself was written in a very thriller-esque style which I am here for 100%! I absolutely loved it. 

Maybe the timelines wouldn’t have been so confusing reading a physical or digital copy but admittedly I listened to the audio so that could be the problem. But it was a pretty big problem for me.

So I don’t read the synopsis of books - almost ever. I tend to go in blind based on the genre or the cover. I wish I’d read the synopsis for this although truthfully, I still haven’t read it so I don’t know for sure if I’d have been aware but I’d like to think so -

Too. Many. Politics. 

I do not like politics in my fiction. While it was well done, covered respectfully, focused on important issues and honestly super cute, I read fiction to get away from politics and political situations. So again, super cute, but just not something that I really want to read as a fictional story. 

Although, it was so stinking cute. This was a BOTM add on for me based on the cover and genre because I wanted something light and cute - while it had a light vibe, the topics covers made it heavier than I was prepared for. I did still enjoy it, but the politics are just not for me when I’m reading to escape reality. 

This book deals with so much that I feel like it doesn’t have the ability to deal with anything “properly”. Why is that in quotes? Well I’ll tell you. 

The issues (check for CW cuz there are so many) are talked about and dealt with both professionally and respectfully but they really are just touched on. They’re a huge part of the plot but not properly explained or even dealt with. So it’s respectful and tasteful but it doesn’t exactly focus on why it’s serious or why it matters. 

I did enjoy it. The characters are well rounded and the narrator did a fantastic job with voices to keep the characters separate and I appreciate that in an audiobook.

I really enjoyed this! I mean the Mozart family…a sister…a fantasy world…yes please!

Apart from the fast pace, we get to experience both this world and the fantasy world in a back and forth sort of way. So it deals with real world issues for the time period while adding that element of fantasy drama into it. I love books like this. This was incredibly enjoyable for me. I put it off for quite some time and I wish I hadn’t!

This series seems to have delved into short story territory. While it’s still a decent length, most of that length is recipes. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m here for the recipes but when a chapter spends more time explaining a recipe than it does on telling the story, it doesn’t really work for me. While I do still care about Hannah and her friends, I struggle with these books now. 

This book was a solidly okay thriller. It’s short and fast paced which I appreciate, but there really wasn’t anything that wowed me. It’s a locked room type mystery and those tend to be hit or miss for me. This one I’m just neutral. It was decent. Definitely readable. 

This one took awhile to get going. Once it did it was great but it took so long to get there that it took away from the experience. 

This is my favorite of this series so far! I mean - Aladdin? Yes please. 

I really enjoyed the first two books in this series of stand-alones, but this one missed a few marks for me. 

First, it’s a miscommunication trope and just no freaking thank you on that. I hate it when people have a problem and they just refuse to talk about it. When a couple words would eliminate the problem just SAY THE WORDS. 

Then the format was not for me. The timeline was jumping all over the place and while I understand the need for it in this case I still wasn’t a fan of the way it was done. It was hard to keep up with (for me anyway) and I just couldn’t get into it. 

Now the bones of the story were great. It was predictable like all good HEA romance books are, and I really enjoyed the route to get to the end, I just wish it had been linear. Once the timeline leveled out toward the end I was really happy with it. It’s the middle that was meh for me. 

Anyway, it was still a good addition to this series and I appreciate the plus sized representation. 

When I initially requested this from NetGalley I did not realize it was part of a series. I chose to dive right in instead of locating the first books and it went just fine! So absolutely can be read as a stand-alone. 

The mentions of previous cases is frequent, enough that I’m definitely curious to check them out but not enough that I found myself confused at any point while listening. The narrator was great, the case was interesting and our amateur detective is hilarious. 

I really did enjoy this!