This shared the same compulsive nature as the Pretty Little Liars series, although this was clearly written for (and about!) adults.

 

I enjoyed it quite a bit, and possibly even more than the previously-mentioned series. The women were interesting and complicated, for the most part. Yes, they were often terribly whiny and had all sorts of problems that only rich whiny people can have, but I found myself intrigued enough to follow them and managed to not hate any of them (even when I was annoyed), which is all I really look for in something that is pretty clearly twist-driven.

 

Handling all of the different angles of creepy people who had motives for murder is something at which Sara Shepard excels. By the time the book ended, I was pretty sure everyone had done it, or at least part of it. Maybe I am too suspicious by nature? At any rate, I devoured it right down without really coming up for air once I got into it, and at this point I'm not terribly surprised by that.

 

I didn't see who was behind everything, though I did guess the perpetrator as having some secrets (gasp! In this book? Who'd have thunk it!) and that

 

This must be the beginning of a new series, given the sudden introduction of a new mystery right at the end. I'm looking forward to seeing where that goes. It's fun and fluffy and page-turning and sometimes that's all I want. 

 

I really, really wanted to like this, and I just couldn't manage.

 

The primary problem, for me, was the characters. Not that they were bad people or that they were too good, but because they were none of that. They didn't feel real. I couldn't connect with them, I couldn't empathize or sympathize or even really care. They felt hollow, and when the story line relies on evoking my sympathy for love and loss and the changes (quite literal changes, in this case) that these emotions evoke in the characters and I can't feel them feeling these emotions, we have a problem. 

 

Sarah was the worst in this regard. She was our main character, she is obviously supposed to grow, part of the plot even requires her to fall in love (no spoilers--this is literally mentioned in the synopsis), and yet she feels like a child throughout. A young child. A Roal Dahl-like child, almost. That wouldn't be a bad thing, that isn't a problem in a character, but it's like she doesn't fit the plot of this book, like perhaps she wandered in from a more traditional children's book and wouldn't leave. Even the love interest that sparks the curse seems confused by her.

 

The plot was a little meandering as well. It wasn't that there were twists and sudden reveals (I love that sort of thing), but that it didn't really seem to know where it was going and didn't seem to fully make sense. Maybe I just missed something? But it didn't feel like I missed something, unfortunately; it felt like certain details that would perhaps make the plot more awkward to construct were skimmed over and ignored when that suited. The ending was a huge disappointment; it didn't really solve anything. It felt like the author ran out of pages and had to wrap things up super quickly. I don't really mind that it isn't "traditional," (though I am a sucker for traditional endings, let me be honest here), but that it sort of came out of nowhere. There is all this long (sometimes boring...) build-up and then BAM the story is over, apparently. 

 

The writing was serviceable verging on genuinely beautiful at some points, and I'd certainly pick up something else by her, but this just didn't work for me at all. 

 

This was an interesting premise, but ultimately a bit boring.

 

The problem was primarily that the dead characters were a lot more compelling than the living. Had they been more than just the half (probably less?) of the book that they ended up being, the book would have been much better for it. They are probably the reason that swayed me into giving this book three stars instead of two, which was my initial reaction.

 

It wasn't that badly written, but several of the characters were caricatures of certain vices, and it got old fast. We have an alcoholic and a nymphomaniac and a depressed teenager and a manic pixie dream girl (oh dear LORD how I hate those. I hate them I hate them I hate them) and they all just kind of wandered around never quite solving any real issues, unlike the dead cast. 

 

Alice and Sandra added both the dimensionality that I wanted to see in all the characters and the hints of mystery. What happened to these women? Why are they haunting the house? They are also (curiously enough, given they are dead) the only characters that show real growth throughout.

 

I feel like perhaps this book was two stories sewn together, but unfortunately it just didn't work very well. One of the stories was much more fleshed out than the other, and contained actual characters, so the other just felt like the backdrop. Perhaps the author was trying to say something about being alive not being the same as living? Or perhaps it was just a clever idea that didn't work out well; that honestly seems more likely.

 

Don't go into this expecting any scares--this is not a horror haunted house story. It is much more introspective, and if you don't mind the caricatures that the living characters represent, then it isn't a bad read, just not a great one. 

 

I have always wanted to like Neil Gaiman's more than I really managed, but some of these short stories genuinely made a believer out of me. And some of them...didn't.

 

The problem with anthologies is how much of a mixed bag they often are. There were stories in here I would absolutely have given four stars to (Snow, Glass, Apples is a particular stand-out, along with Murder Mysteries, though there were a few others that I also liked quite a bit) and several that would have gotten only two or, if I was feeling particularly annoyed, one. 

 

Some of that is just me, admittedly: I almost never like verse, and it takes a truly gifted story or author to make me like it. I didn't feel like Neil Gaiman managed in any of the verse he presented here. 

 

Overall, I'm impressed with his ability to tell a good story in short form (that is a skill many lack) and I'll definitely pick up another of his short story collections, if only for the absolute gems among them. I think I might honestly be more impressed with his ability to tell short stories than with any of the novels of his I have so far read, which seems to be an unusual opinion. 

 

 

In the end, I actually ended up liking this. But it was a hard road to walk for one major reason: Eadlyn is one of the most annoying protagonists I've ever stuck with. 

 

She is spoiled. She is whiny. She is entitled. She thinks she is better than everyone. She puts people down, makes snap judgements, and thinks publicly humiliating people is appropriate behavior because of who she is.

 

In addition, her siblings don't seem to share this behavior, and obviously having "met" her parents during their courtship, I can't quite fathom how she could have gotten this attitude problem. But it is a serious and annoying problem, more so because of how hard she attempts to push the idea that she is just being a "strong woman." 

 

Strong women don't need to make people cry to prove they are strong, and we have the evidence of that with a crop of other strong female role models for her. Somehow, she misses this for an awfully long time. There are long rambling internal monologues about her being the most powerful person in the world and complaints about an "annoying bookworm" and just general insults thrown out casually in her head as though they are no big deal. 

 

I get the idea that she is going to have to grow up an awful lot more than her parents really had to, but I also get the idea that she is on her way there, and I trust enough in the series after the original trilogy that she will get where she needs to be and manage to become a decent human being. Eventually.

 

Several of the supporting characters are interesting enough I'd love to see where they end up going, and I do love the rest of her family. I like catching up and seeing America and Max and the whole rest of the (surviving...) crew years later, and seeing what the world they tried so hard to change has become.

 

It is darker future than I had hoped, admittedly, but it seems to logically follow, and it adds an element of political intrigue to the story that helped to keep me interested. I'll be interested in seeing where the series goes from here, and that is honestly what kept me reading throughout the whole thing.  If you liked The Selection trilogy, this might be worth reading if only to see the characters you enjoyed before as adults. Whether this will shape up as a worthy series (trilogy?) in its own right has yet to be seen. 

 

I've seen the sequel to this movie, but never the original movie and I'm not sure I've ever read anything by Lois Duncan at all, so this was a lot of fun.

 

I think I might have really loved it (and probably scarfed down the rest of what she has written, which appears to be quite a bit) had I picked it up when I was a bit younger, but this was still an enjoyable ride.

 

The characters were a bit thinly painted for me, but there was enough there to give a clear picture of each and they felt distinct. I was rooting for them not to die, which is sometimes more than I manage in a thriller, so that was well-done.

 

I was kind of expecting the twist that he was

but was thrown by the sudden reveal that he was actually

I actually didn't see that bit coming.

 

This was decently suspenseful throughout. It does feel a bit strange, however, because the book both started and ended in such a way that I was left feeling like I was missing a chapter. It's not that things are not wrapped up in a tidy little bow (I like that, actually), but that there is almost nothing that happens after the big confrontation. There is no wrap-up, and there is very little build-up before things start either. I'm not sure how I feel about that--it almost feels too edited.

 

I'll probably pick up another book by Lois Duncan simply because they are quick and interesting reads and I feel pretty confident I will like it, if not love it. 

 

This is very Sara Shepard, which is practically its own genre now, but I enjoyed it about as much as I typically enjoy her books. I don't want to say that she's a guilty pleasure, because that suggests that I ought to feel guilty for anything I read (I pretty much don't at this point), but this is the kind of thing I suck down like a crazy person without bothering to come up for air until then end, but then rarely bother recommending to people, really. It is probably my equivalent to tv for most people.

 

There are your standard twists and turns and sudden, shocking moments. Unlike The Heiresses, which I read and reviewed recently, this is very much a YA book. The high school setting works well for it, and also gives the main characters a reason to not necessarily want to trust going to the adults every time something creepy happens; teenagers just don't do that, even when they should. Even when they are smarter than these girls are, and to be honest, the intelligence for several of these characters was more of an informed trait than anything actually displayed at any given point. 

 

They have an even more valid reason not to go to the police because they are aware they really do look suspect. This isn't the type of thing that would be easily played off or explained, so it's a completely valid concern beyond teenage hi-jinks to remain quiet about what they do know and try to solve it themselves before they end up in a whole lot of trouble.

 

This feels very much like Pretty Little Liars in a lot of ways, and given how well I feel Sara Shepard does that type of thing, that's not really a problem. It is a quick, compulsive read, and clearly the beginning of a series, given things are not completely wrapped up at the end. There are more obvious suspects than seems possible, and there are probably a few more waiting in the wings for the sequel with motives we can't even guess at at this point. I'll probably read the series in its entirety, and if you're looking for something fluffy and page-turning, it's not a bad read, though I would start with Pretty Little Liars if only because it is complete.