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sunny_bumblebee's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders
alisonvh's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A murder mystery within a murder mystery? What more could a girl want?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol
vyhurz's review
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I don't think I've ever read a "cozy" mystery, but that's what I'd call this. I felt excited and, well, cozy reading it. It reminded me of Miss Marple or Sherlock, but in a different way. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I got it from Libby, and slowly read it over two weeks. That's actually fast for me. In the last four days, I've been speed-reading because the book was going to be returned and I couldn't renew it. I just had to know the ending!
How to Solve Your Own Murder follows Annie in the present day when she seemingly and suddenly becomes the heir to her elderly Great Aunt Frances' fortune, so she travels from her home in London to pleasant Castle Knoll. Annie has never met Frances, so this was a surprise. More of a surprise is that the day Annie is going to meet Frances, she is found murdered. All her life, Frances was obsessed with a fortune she was told as a teenager that she would be murdered, so she acted rather paranoid and rooted out secrets. Annie's involvement in solving the mystery is interspersed with entries from Frances' diary as a teenager in the 1960s, which sheds light on the mystery as well.
The story is entertaining and pulls you along. There are many characters, and I was only slightly unsure of who some were, but those were very minor ones. I think the book does a good job of swirling all these different egos, histories, motives, and fears together. The setting is enjoyable as well, and as this is becoming a series with a second book on the way, I can see many things happening in this small town.
I had two main issues with the book. One was that something would happen on the page, and then we would receive Annie's inner narrative describing what just happened. Many times it didn't elaborate or cause revelations for Annie. It was just a description, more-or-less. Obviously, it happened enough times for me to notice it. Secondly, Annie's character is fun, but she felt a little one dimensional. It felt like she was a mirror for all the interesting characters in the story even though she's the main character. She was excited right from the beginning to learn about Frances and Castle Knoll, even before the murder. Often in books, this type of setup creates an unwilling main character, so it is refreshing that Annie wanted to be there. But she had so little depth. All I really know about her is that she wants to be a writer.
I recommend this book if you like mysteries of any kind, especially if you just want a rather lighthearted read. (Well, considering it's a murder mystery...) I will read the second book as this one was so enjoyable.
tinyleafbooks.wordpress.com
How to Solve Your Own Murder follows Annie in the present day when she seemingly and suddenly becomes the heir to her elderly Great Aunt Frances' fortune, so she travels from her home in London to pleasant Castle Knoll. Annie has never met Frances, so this was a surprise. More of a surprise is that the day Annie is going to meet Frances, she is found murdered. All her life, Frances was obsessed with a fortune she was told as a teenager that she would be murdered, so she acted rather paranoid and rooted out secrets. Annie's involvement in solving the mystery is interspersed with entries from Frances' diary as a teenager in the 1960s, which sheds light on the mystery as well.
The story is entertaining and pulls you along. There are many characters, and I was only slightly unsure of who some were, but those were very minor ones. I think the book does a good job of swirling all these different egos, histories, motives, and fears together. The setting is enjoyable as well, and as this is becoming a series with a second book on the way, I can see many things happening in this small town.
I had two main issues with the book. One was that something would happen on the page, and then we would receive Annie's inner narrative describing what just happened. Many times it didn't elaborate or cause revelations for Annie. It was just a description, more-or-less. Obviously, it happened enough times for me to notice it. Secondly, Annie's character is fun, but she felt a little one dimensional. It felt like she was a mirror for all the interesting characters in the story even though she's the main character. She was excited right from the beginning to learn about Frances and Castle Knoll, even before the murder. Often in books, this type of setup creates an unwilling main character, so it is refreshing that Annie wanted to be there. But she had so little depth. All I really know about her is that she wants to be a writer.
I recommend this book if you like mysteries of any kind, especially if you just want a rather lighthearted read. (Well, considering it's a murder mystery...) I will read the second book as this one was so enjoyable.
tinyleafbooks.wordpress.com
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Gun violence
Nothing explicit happens on the page, but someone shoots a gun and someone gets punched in the face. Two dead bodies are found. The most explicit scene is a physical attack to try to overdose someone with a syringe. They do not succeed.clovetra's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
what a sweet little story. usually with books i’m either in love with it or i absolutely despise it. and i am happy to report this was perfectly middle of the road for me. which is rare! in my mind average is still good.
i found the mc to be a bit bland. it felt as though she had no personality and was designed to be a reader surrogate, but that doesn’t really work considering annie’s role in this is connected through familial ties. i kind of feel as though she’s supposed to be a blank slate, but in the same vein she kind of can’t be due to her role in the story. i defo was rooting for her, and i liked that her prowess for mysteries was explained through her being a writer, but idk i didn’t really connect to her. like when weird shit was happening to her, i didn’t feel invested enough to be concerned for her.
the side characters felt like they had even less characterisation. i think that’s because there’s just so many moving parts in this story, and ill be real it took me longer than i’d care to admit to align frances’ diary entries to their modern-day versions. but god because there were so many characters i lost track of a character’s significance. for example, because in frances’ diary the girls kept swapping between so many boys, i kept forgetting who ford or billy or archie were. i love when a mystery book can surprise me because i usually have a good track record for figuring out culprits, but i honestly think the reason i couldn’t crack this isn’t because this book outsmarted me in terms of how things happened, but i literally was forgetting who did what and how that links to the crime(s). i’ll give the book a point for keeping me guessing, but even still when the entire mystery was explained to me, i was still a bit confused because there were just. so. many. characters. especially mfs with the same last name. i know it’s because it’s a small town but oh my god i couldn’t keep track of who was related to who and how and my god my brain couldn’t keep up.
i did have quite a lot of fun reading this though. it’s the perfect book to cuddle up with under a blanket, and for a murder mystery, is pretty lighthearted (in a good way!!!!). i don’t want to seem like a dick but this was generic in some ways, but honestly cliches are so common because they’re good. you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. and i honestly didn’t want to put this down because i wanted to see where it was going.
overall i’d say i had a swell time, but god you almost need to take notes reading this to keep track of who’s who in the past and the future as well as who’s related to someone from the past.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Car accident
styxx's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gun violence, Car accident, and Death of parent
fkshg8465's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
Really needed to DNF this book, but it was so easy to read that I decided to finish it for the sake if finishing it. It tried too hard to be like Agatha Christie, and I was bored from start to finish. The story was weak and so was the storytelling. The plot would’ve had more draw for me if there focus had been on Rose and Emily’s psychological makeups, but rather, the emphasis was on the parallel competition the characters all had of trying to solve the mystery while many of them also were trying to misdirect their own guilt/perception of guilt. Snooze.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
mikathereviewer's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
"‘Don’t worry, Annie, I’m not going to murder you.’
‘I appreciate that, Saxon,’ I reply. ‘I’m not going to murder you either.’ And then we both smile, because this is such a strange thing to say ten minutes after meeting someone for the first time."
There is no way that this book actually had over 500 pages. I started it yesterday and already finished and no I wasn't addicted to it. But I was addicted to some quotes in this book.
+ Funny scenes and interesting plot (I mean, a woman getting more and more crazy about her fortune telling? Sign me up!)
+ Really nice and cool quotes (or maybe I'm biased since one is about chess)
+ Alice in Wonderland reference (one can never do anything wrong with this, I'm a huge fan)
+ Toxic relationships (I have a soft spot for drama and yes — I like to torture myself by reading sad stories)
+ The main character WAS NOT stupid! (Can you believe it?!!)
+ Relatable moments (‘I can’t face Mum’s basement again without backup. Last week when I was cleaning it out there were spiders. Huge ones.’
- Mostly flat characters (more murder mystery and plot than anything else)
- No explanation for things or stuff that was confusing. Example; We get told that Frances isn't the forgiving kind, but in her diary entries we see something different. And also the way another person confirmed it too by saying she is quite forgiving while others wouldn't in the same situation. What is she now??
- Boring ending (wasn't hard to find out who the murderer was and the ending was kinda meh)
- Too many repetitions (we get it who your prime suspect is and we don't need a re-telling of the diaries about one hundred times, just try to advance the plot!)
- Sometimes felt too slow (see above for reasoning)
- Even though the idea was good it felt like nothing special. Average the most. There just wasn't anything that made the book feel special. While reading I had the feeling (except the fortune stuff) that it wasn't anything new from most thriller and mystery books.
- Sometimes we get new info, just for it to be superficial and not go into depth than it could be. There were so many other things that were interesting too while our MC tried to find out who the murderer is but unfortunately they are left again as fast as they were discovered. Why didn't we get to see more of the alphabetical sorted files and the bad stuff each person did. And we never got an explanation for Sam Arlington. The MC just decided it's not important and that she doesn't need to see other files or in general explore deeper.
Only 2 stars as it didn't feel as exciting as I hoped for it to be and it's less than average for me as most things were superficial and we got flat characters which is quite dislike. The ending was predictable too which made me bored for the last 15% to 20% that were left.
If you don't have high expectations for thrillers or in general don't think much about who the murderer might be this might be fun to read. For me who seeks books that are standing out from the rest and really hates it when the murderer is some obvious person I couldn't quite enjoy it as much as I hoped to.
02. September 2024
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Grief, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, and Alcohol
dreambornnicole's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Pregnancy and Toxic friendship
Minor: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Car accident, and Death of parent
disguisedposer's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The book was enjoyable, however, I enjoyed the flashbacks/diary entries more than the present-day portions of the book. I felt like the things that happened in the 1960s were more interesting and easier to get into than what was otherwise happening.
Frances was much more interesting than Annie who was a bit boring, and whose story you didn't get into as much. I hope in future books we learn more about Annie and I start to care more about her & her character. Laura, Annie's mom just seemed awful for most of the book.
The characters were a mix of likable and unlikable. Not just the villains were unlikable, it was more like a 30/70 split of likable and unlikable for me.
I wasn't able to easily figure out the mystery. I do look forward to the next book.
Narrators' Rating: 4 stars
I'd give Annie's narrator about 2.75 stars and Frances' narrator a 4-star rating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Classism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Dementia