Emma is not my favorite Jane Austen plot but I’d recently seen a movie adaptation and figured I’d give this book a shot. Alas, I was let down!! The writing style made Kamila come across as a condescending, somewhat controlling busybody. She wasn’t irredeemable by any stretch, but the first 70 pages were a fairly close facsimile of Emma so I was a bit bored by that and Kam was just kinda a know it all that I wasn’t rooting for. 

I skipped ahead bc I wanted to get to the iconic line of “if I loved you less…” bc that line alone is mostly why I picked up the book. Boy was that a big disappointment!!!!! I was aghast. It at least seemed like a fair amount of interesting things were happening around page 275 (not interesting enough for me to keep going but still I’m glad I skimmed that portion) and then the iconic line was buried in the midst of a long apology speech from Rohan about some of his actions that deeply hurt Kam and he said “If I loved you less, I’d be able to explain myself more.” Which simply does NOT hold the same weight or romance of the original. After that I angrily DNFed. 

As other reviewers have noted, this was not the fun lighthearted queer story that it was marketed as. Much heavier themes. A VERY quick wrap up that left many things unresolved, so I was surprised when I got to the end. 

Also Cat was terrible the entire length of the book, and then

when the group just suddenly stopped being friends and never spoke again, I was surprised, esp Laura. Laura also didn’t seem like the type to tell the whole school that Amanda had kissed her, so that felt very out of character. Also, I was absolutely shocked Amanda ended up having sex with Adam!!!! Especially when she kept pushing when he said a few times they should wait. 

Also Amanda was not a great friend to Laura for most of the book and that never got addressed. 

All in all, I found this book underwhelming. 

I assumed a Miss Marple book would’ve from the POV of Marple herself, and not some random man aka the vicar. So that was a disappointing start, and I didn’t particular enjoy his POV, as he had some commentary about women which I’m sure was normal in the 1930s but wasn’t to my taste in 2025. I wanted a cool woman investor, not some man roasting women. And Christie’s dry English  humor also didn’t really do it for me. 

Also a BUNCH of characters were all introduced right at the beginning and it was hard to keep track of them throughout.

Thus, I skipped to the last three chapters to see whodunnit and then DNFed. 

This was a fun premise, but anthologies by different authors are always a hit or miss for me and this one was a miss, alas. I listened to three stories and didn’t really enjoy any of them, and I didn’t want to have to listen to 11 more so I DNFed. 

Stunning 

Absolutely fantastic!!!! Gorgeous art, very lush and clear - I also enjoyed how the author clearly displayed the character’s shock or embarrassment w dramatic changes in the eyes. Very well done. 

The plot was marvelous, and I loved the “history corner” at the end. 

Overall, such a gem. 

I didn’t expect to weep so much, but the last third was tear city. So much emotion!!! And poor baby hot mess Rafie, making bad decision after bad decision. Even tho he was super arrogant and obnoxious in the first third or so, we also saw a peek into the pain and I was rooting for him throughout. Even though POVs of snarky high school boys is really not my favorite, this book nailed the balance in tone. 

Loved!!!!!! 

Would’ve DNFed this except it was for my book club. Shook that this somewhat pointless story about a sad sack white man is what won the Pulitzer.