Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Cold Clay

Just like the first installment of Shady Hollow, Cold Clay is a perfect, bite-sized cozy mystery. It leads you through the charming town of Shady Hollow and introduces you a delightful cast of characters, both familiar and new. The mystery may not be as strong, but the steady stream of clues makes you feel like you're solving it alongside Vera at a much more even pace than the first installment in the series.

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oldladysadie's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This series is quickly becoming one of my go-to comfort reads. It was such a delight to cozy up with a blanket and mug of tea, and spend an afternoon absorbed in this charming world again. I’m excited to read the next installments!

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saturdayslaughter's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

It was fine, simple. It was nice to follow her through her whole day, and read about the pies and a really nice job and a pretty bookstore. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I was someone who vividly pictures what I read, because it was fun to stop and imagine animals acting it out. The mystery was pretty simple, she kinda just got all the clues without much effort. The prose was simple, and there were a couple of things that really bugged me, but they were minor. The romance subplot didn’t really have anything to it and the misunderstandings weren’t exactly contrived, but they were tropey, I immediately knew she was wrong about his actions multiple times. And it was kind of dumb that she immediately gave up on the relationship after one fight, and then her friend told her ‘he was angry, he didn’t mean it, just talk to him’ and she was immediately like yes that makes sense, we’re above arguments. She has no deep feelings about it she just kinda goes through the plot motions. Yeah, it was fine, I have more nitpicks like that, like a couple moments where it just felt like the author was commenting on a real world thing very obviously, but it was a nice time, glad I read it. Also fuck the police, the cops do some shit they should be punished for doing and the dude has a line that infuriated me, and she literally did the entire investigation for them, seriously the book does not even justify their existence like a lot of crime stuff does

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katiesendlesstbr's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

4 1/2, rounded up. Goodness I have been charmed by this series! The second in the series really shows how much the author duo has improved in their writing. The ending did feel a little rushed, but aside from that, I had such a good time reading and I can't wait for the third one to come out next month!

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