nerdyprettythings's Reviews (515)

There were times this book was really fun - the gothic feeling of the sinking old house had a great conclusion. But this book was mostly boring. I think it has a genre problem. It's not really a mystery - there weren't really any red herrings, only different motives than you'd guess. It's not really a gothic tale, the MC has no difficulty escaping the house, except for her own curiosity. It's not really a thriller - no outside forces seem to be putting her in danger. I didn't even want the MC's life to get back to normal because her husband was lame and she didn't care about him. Just... meh.

I was so into the setup. It felt like And Then There Were None - isolation, murders happening one at a time, a frightened group, any of which could be the murderer. And then... the answers were so disappointing.

Will I ever be okay again? I DON'T KNOW. I cried myself to sleep listening to this book, and woke up in the morning to finish the last few minutes. Ugh, it's so good.
A thing about me is I love books about older women telling their stories - The Blind Assassin and City of Girls are two of my favorite books. Evelyn Hugo had very similar vibes throughout, with a fascinating woman telling the story no one ever knew about her life. The story of her true love, her best friend, her learning who she really was, and then the story's effect on a mid-30s woman who was still coming into herself -- was there anything that wouldn't get to me about this book? NO. I loved it ALL.

I thought it would be 4 stars... then maybe 3... This book would be really cute if the main character were someone else. But it’s in first person with a kind of gross dude and his gross friend (his friend got rich by making software to make digital boobs look natural - “heh heh boobs” is basically in the books). By the end, the super fun story just wasn’t enough to make me want to stick with this character.

I loved this book so much. I’m learning that sci-fi provides a perfect place to discuss the biggest issue humanity faces, and Becky Chambers did that beautifully with the aliens, AI, and humans aboard the Wayfarer.