literatelyalibrarian's Reviews (594)

I have veeeerrrryyyyy mixed feelings about this book. I will say, there is a possibility that I will give the second book a chance, but we'll see. I am a cozy mystery lover, but this book felt so extremely choppy. Not just that, but there were just too many conveniences and things happened too quickly overall.

My biggest gripe is the murder itself. At the beginning of the book it is said, "'How was he killed?' I asked. 'One shot. Straight to the heart.'" And then when the killer is having their grand speech at the end they say, "He begged until I put a bullet in his head." Like really???? The murder couldn't even be kept consistent?

Yeesh.

First of all LOOK AT THIS COVER!!!!

I've read The Reckless Girls and The Wife Upstairs (I have yet to read The Villa though so don't hate me) but I really enjoyed this one!! 

Getting to know Ruby and her backstory had my jaw on the ground. And then the way that the stories between all the characters intertwined (AHHHHHHHHH) 

I would put this one as my second favorite read of hers and I highly recommend it! It is full of twists and turns and an awesome gothic feeling that overarches everything. I loved the integration of letters throughout and Rachel's storytelling. 

If you love quick, family-drama type thrillers (with an inheritance) then this is definitely one for you!

Is two stars too generous? The more I think about this book, the angrier I get. Kate is probably the most annoying, condescending, snob of a character I have ever read. All she did the entire book was (in her inner monologue) make fun of those who stayed in her hometown and look down on her "best" friend Lisbeth. 

And the beef that this MC had with the person who was murdered was so dumb - HIGH SCHOOL WAS LIKE 15 PLUS YEARS AGO, GET OVER IT. 

The only part I even remotely enjoyed of this was the historical aspect and even that was patchy at best. There were so many contradictions throughout the story and if you think about it too much the whole thing just crumbles. Also, why in the freaking world did everything have to be spoon-fed to our MC, you literally grew up in this town, and yet you remember NOTHING. Is this town freaking Derry from IT? Like, what is going on?????

The number of times I heard "no one knows what they made in the old factory in town" was ASTRONOMICAL. You're going to the library and doing research, if it was that prevalent to you, you should have searched it up. Or ask the "aging" library who is all of TWO YEARS older than you. You're in your 30s for Pete's sake!!!!!

DID I MENTION HOW RUDE OUR MAIN CHARACTER IS?

I think I just talked myself into one star.