I think this is a fantastic way to bring a whole new generation to dive into Agatha Christie's mysteries. 

While I think a few of these don't exactly meet expectations, some of these stories were absolutely amazing and seemed like Ms. Christie wrote them. 

I recommend!

DNF @ 44%

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook for an eGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Note: Prior to reading this, I had close to zero knowledge of the story of Ramayana (also apologies if I did not reference that correctly).

Before finally DNFing this at 44%, I had gone searching in low rating reviews to see if anyone else felt that the writing was both stiff and clunky here. Which I did find several other reviewers agreeing on that. What I also found, was those who are practicing Hindu or Indian bringing detailed issues to light regarding this retelling of the story of Ramayana. 

While the writing here is what made me want to put this down, I also could not ignore what own voice readers were bringing up. Please take a look at those reviews. 

The writing and tone just did not work for me here as well as the pacing. It moved so slow and somehow moved even slower after Kaikeyi moved to her husband's kingdom. Plus, while I realize that this retelling is from the perspective of Kaikeyi, I would have liked to see development and backstory of the other side characters here for more dimension. 

In the end, this felt like a chore to try continue on with, even with the audiobook which I did end up picking up from the library. Glad to mark off a book of the month pick as well. 

TL;DR: Don't recommend. This felt like a slog to get through and I'm unsure why it's nominated for Book of the Month's book of the year for 2022. I recommend finding reviews of own voice reviewers. 

If anyone could point me towards a better retelling, I would love to take a look at that.

Had a good time, but docked for being a bit predictable. Recommend for those who love Thursday Murder Club but want more professional training 

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Sadly The New Neighbor did not work for me. I could tell by just reading the first few pages on the digital copy that this writing style may not be up my alley so I decided to wait for the audiobook from my library. The audiobook has not increased my enjoyment one bit. 

Somehow this seems both overwritten and lacking detail as the same details have been repeated in just the first few chapters. Also, this unreliable narrator is already grinding my gears. Perhaps women going through a midlife crisis (divorce, last kid off to college, job change, house selling) while being obsessed with a case and the new owners of her house is not for me as I just kept wanting to say, 'get over yourself'. 

Even the small amount of CIA aspects introduced within the first few chapters are not enough to keep me going. 

I hope this works for you, but it didn't work for me.

Just as lovely and as bookish as The Jane Austen Society. I ended up listening to this on audio (from the library) while following along with the digital copy and highly enjoyed it that way. 

Jenner once again captured a group of women determined to make a change and stick it to the man - I love it.

Sorry Taylor Jenkins Reid, you lost this one 0-6 0-6.

Tennis players have more personality than what you have Carrie. Tennis players are more than just an ego. 

Not to mention how eerily close this seems to mirror the lives of Serena and Venus Williams as well as many other female tennis players who were coached by their fathers. 

Just because you read some memoirs by tennis players doesn’t mean you can accurately write it - at least get the basic points of a game correct. I didn’t even get to their parts, but Mary Carillo and Patrick McEnroe should be embarrassed to be apart of this audiobook project.

I’ll leave the other issues with Carrie’s character to own voices reviewers because there are plenty of issues there.

I’m a bit stuck on how to rate this considering I almost DNF’d it 5 times. 

After loving the feminist, witchy book The Change early on in 2022, I was excited to pick up this octogenarian take on witches. Sadly, it wasn’t a winner for me. 

I do like that Bianca made a departure from her previous writing projects as each author deserves to flex their skills in different ways. 

So many POV changes that all occurred on the same day that made this a bit muddled. I think that the constant POV changes were not needed and that this could’ve been a little shorter. For how long this was, it took too long for the plot to pick up and come together. 

Additionally, I’m a bit unsure on how to feel about the play on dementia/Alzheimers here.