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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A diverting mystery with light romance. Vanessa's husband says he's in Stockholm but appears on a newsreel from Vienna, so when a friend asks V to accompany her teen son to Vienna on an unrelated trip, she does, and hijinks ensue. There are horses, a circus, dead bodies, a foul-mouthed parrot (is there any other kind?), and many action scenes.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Sexism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Quick read. Pretty light. Gotta love my traditional British stories, with traditional early 50's morals (married woman can't take a lift with an unmarried, younger male acquaintance because of how it would look). Even though the protagonist is an "independent" and modern woman, she still defers greatly to her husband and notes each time she does something outside of her traditonal role. No matter how quaint the story, it gets a little grating.
This was my first re-read of this book. While there's plenty of action it's a bit lacking on the mystery side. The twists were very obvious, which is unusual for a Mary Stewart book. But overall fairly enjoyable, and it was nice reading this again having now visited some of the places she describes.
Solid Mary Stewart story on audiobook -- her civilized, educated romantic suspense novels set in beautiful and exotic locations left me expecting adulthood to be a lot more fun, frankly.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
I was not actually one of those girls who gets obsessed with horses around age 10-12, but I did find the horses in this book fascinating, much more so than the mystery at the heart of the plot.
I will never give Mary Stewart a bad review.
A little long at the end.
That's all I got to say.
A little long at the end.
That's all I got to say.